Braddock Scholarship Opens Doors to New Opportunities
The Braddock Scholarship is open to high school seniors who have applied to both the Schreyer Honors College scholars and the Eberly College of Science and intend to pursue a major in a qualifying science field.
The scholarship provides up to $6,000 annually to these students over their four years in college, lessening the financial burden for these ambitious students.
For senior Braddock Scholar Shalome Sine, receiving the Braddock Scholarship was a financial saving grace: “Because of medical issues in my family, my parents were not in a position financially to help me pay for school. The Braddock Scholarship made it possible for me to attend Penn State.”
The scholarship is a big draw to students considering Penn State. “The scholarship was a major factor in choosing to attend Penn State in the first place,” said senior Braddock Scholar Janine Mistrick.
The experience doesn’t end when the students receive the scholarship. The Braddock Scholars become a helpful science peer community for each other. The scholarship program includes events and meetings where the scholars can share ideas with their peers or hear faculty and staff speakers present on topics like fellowships, research opportunities, international experiences, and career path options.
“What I really enjoy about this scholarship are the meetings that gather the other students with faculty who have super helpful insight on how to make the most of my time at Penn State and where I can take my science degree,” said senior Braddock Scholar Sarah Chang. “Having those small discussions as an underclassman helped expand and shape what kind of career I would want to have after I graduate, especially since I had a narrow perspective of the opportunities out there for science majors.”
Sine agreed. “The Braddock Scholarship has allowed me to explore all of my options as a scientist, and has given me the opportunity to then do research in my chosen field.
The weight of the reputation of this scholarship program also helps these students obtain experience and opportunities they might not have been given a chance for without it.
“The backing of the Braddock Scholarship helped me show professors at a time when I had no particular lab or field skills that I was a dedicated scholar who was passionate about science and could be counted on to perform well in their lab,” said Mistrick.
“Being able to sign my name as ‘Shalome Sine, Braddock Scholar’ on my application email for a new lab was a significant part of what impressed the graduate students who recruited me,” added Sine.
The Braddock Scholarship has allowed the scholars the financial freedom to pursue academic and research experiences they are passionate about. Mistrick, a biology major, was accepted into an REU this past summer that allowed her study the ecology of the little brown bat in Alaska. Sine’s honors thesis research in a neuroscience lab helped her decide to pursue graduate school to be a clinical pyschologist. Chang has decided that between graduation in May and beginning an M.D./Ph.D. program, she’d like to challenge herself with an interesting biomedical research project.
“The Braddock Scholarship helped relieve the growing financial pressure so that I was completely free to explore my interests with little limitation,” Chang said.