What is even better than a $10,000 scholarship? What about a $10,000 scholarship that is awarded to the receiver by an astronaut? This might seem like nothing more than an absurd dream, but now that Auburn has been added to the list schools eligible for Astronaut Scholarship, there will most likely be [Z1] a student from Auburn who will receive this great honor.
As of now, there are only 40 schools that can produce candidates for the Astronaut Scholarship, and this list includes many prestigious schools like MIT and Virginia Tech. Tammy Sudler, the President and CEO of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, said that individuals from the Huntsville area including astronaut Jan Davis had recommended adding Auburn to the schools able to send scholarship applicants. Before a school can be added to the list, it must meet certain requirements on the number of male and female STEM[Z2]
students graduating annually, the amount of research being conducted at the school, and more. Auburn met the foundation’s criteria and has agreed to nominate 8 of the top STEM students as applicants for the scholarship.
The 8 nominees, who must be Sophomores or Juniors, will be chosen around October, and from then until the spring, the candidates will be narrowed down by Auburn faculty until two are chosen to be reviewed by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation’s committee. This committee then generally picks one of the two candidates, and the recipients are declared around March or June. The process is not easy, but the benefits of receiving an Astronaut Scholarship are numerous. Sudler said, “[Recipients] are recognized as Astronaut Scholars, they get to become part of our unique mentor program where we have astronauts [and] industry leaders mentor them.” In addition, many recipients of this scholarship have gone on to receive Rhodes and Churchill scholarships.
Students at Auburn have already earned a wide array of honors and awards over the years, and it is exciting that there is yet another opportunity for Auburn students to be recognized for the “work, hard work[Z3]
” they put into their respective studies each day.
[Z1]Sudler did say its possible for both candidates from a school to be rejected but its pretty rare
[Z2]Should I explain somewhere what STEM stands for?
[Z3]I did not realize I was quoting the creed until after I wrote this
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