Eleven outstanding high school students from Carterville High School, Carbondale Community High School, Herrin High School, and the Illinois Math and Science Academy have earned merit-based scholarships from the Garwin Family Foundation (GFF) to attend highly selective enrichment programs in STEM and the Fine Arts this summer.
Student Scholarship Recipients for the Summer 2023 Program:
Myra Anderson
Myra Anderson, a rising junior at Carterville High School, will attend the University of Michigan’s Michigan Math and Science Scholars program. While at the program in July, she will complete the course Dissecting Life: Human Anatomy and Physiology.
In addition to classroom instruction, Myra will learn about the complexities of the human body through comparative anatomy dissection, observations, and studying plastinated and osteological anatomical donors within the University of Michigan Medical School’s Gross Anatomy Laboratory.
Myra is the first student from Carterville High School to be selected for a Garwin Family Foundation’s scholarships for Talented Students in Arts, Sciences, and Math program.
Sydney Davis
Sydney Davis, a rising junior at Carbondale Community High School, will travel to New York City to participate in Writopia Lab’s summer program. Writopia is a university-based program located at The New School of Social Research and is dedicated to developing young writers.
During the two-week program, she will complete their Advanced Writing Seminar and focus on writing screenplays. She will spend her mornings participating in workshops with published authors and produced playwrights. In the afternoons, she will write and tour the publishing capital of the world.
This is Sydney’s second summer participating with the Garwin Family Foundation. Last year, she attended the Iowa Young Writers’ Studio at the University of Iowa.
Yahri Edmond
Yahri Edmond, a rising senior at Carbondale Community High School, will further her artistic talents at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago. At SAIC’s Early College Program Summer Institute, Yahri will study with faculty and practicing artists. In addition to exploring a variety of art media, she will utilize resources at the Art Institute of Chicago and its third-largest collection of art in the world.
“We want our students to be able to master not just one medium, but to have the freedom to move and explore throughout different disciples; to experiment; to take risks; to find the right solutions for each individual problem.” — Rafael Vera, ECPSI instructor
In addition to a priceless experience, she will earn college credit and expand her portfolio. This Yahri’s first year participating in the Garwin Family Foundation program.
Ini-Obong Ekpe
Ini-Obong Ekpe will be a senior at Carbondale Community High School. This summer she will attend the University of Michigan’s Michigan Math and Science Scholars program. While at the program in July, she will complete the course Dissecting Life: Human Anatomy and Physiology.
In addition to classroom instruction, Ini will learn about the complexities of the human body through comparative anatomy dissection, observations, and studying plastinated and osteological anatomical donors within the University of Michigan Medical School’s Gross Anatomy Laboratory.
This is Ini’s first year participating in the Garwin Family Foundation.
Abdul Hadi
Abdul Hadi is a senior at Carbondale Community High School. This summer, he will attend the University of Chicago’s Summer Immersion where he will study Biology and Its Modern Applications. Over the three weeks, he will learn about basic concepts that form the crux of life from both structural and functional perspectives. He will learn about biological applications in medicine, drug discovery, nanotechnology, forensics, and bioengineering.
Yoonseo Jung
Yoonseo Jung is a senior at Carbondale Community High School. She has been selected to attend the University of Chicago’s Summer Immersion program and will complete their rigorous Pathways in Economics course.
Yoonseo will learn different approaches to economic research and experimentation that has led the University of Chicago to be renowned in the study of economics. She will study macroeconomics, microeconomics, game theory and field experiments.
This is Yoonseo’s third year participating in the Garwin Family Foundation Summer Program. She previously completed programs with Stanford University.
Safwan Morshed
Safwan Morshed is a senior at Carbondale Community High School. He has been selected to attend the University of Chicago’s Summer Immersion program and will complete Physics of Stars: An Introduction.
Over the three-week program, Safwan will learn about the theory of stellar structure and how it helps us determine the age of stars, how they create heavier nuclei from lighter nuclei, and how they evolve from birth to death. In addition to classroom lectures, the students will collect their own measurements to advance their understanding of stellar structures, such as temperatures and luminosities of stars, using robotic telescopes controlled remotely.
Safwan is a first-year participant with the Garwin Family Foundation.
David Weng
David Weng is from Carbondale and attends the Illinois Math and Science Academy. David has been accepted to the University of Chicago’s Summer Immersion and will study Communicating Effectively: Free Expression, Civic Argument, and Public Advocacy.
Throughout the course, David will develop essential skills in critical thinking, argument, writing, perspective-taking, and research skills. Over the three-weeks, he will research, build, and present a persuasive case on a current civic issue.
In addition to attending the University of Chicago, David will participate in the Awesome Math Program. This will be his second year studying with Awesome Math and being sponsored by the Garwin Family Foundation.
Robert Wigfall
Robert Wigfall will be a junior at Carbondale Community High School. This summer he was selected to attend Harvard University’s Pre-College Program. He will spend two weeks on their historic campus and study an Introduction to Ethics.
During this program, Robert will learn tools to address questions surrounding ethical choices and learn the most important ethical frameworks (utilitarianism, Kantianism, and virtue ethics). He will then apply these frameworks to real-world moral problems and discuss what to do in situations where those principles might conflict.
This is Robert’s second year participating in the Garwin Family Foundation summer sponsorship program. Last year, he attended the University of Chicago and developed a passion for bioethics.
Bill Xu
Bill Xu will be a junior at Carbondale Community High School. This summer, he has been accepted into MIT’s (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Beaver Works Summer Institute and study Remote Sensing for Disaster Response.
Over the month-long course, he will examine how big data can be used to solve big problems like natural disasters. The goal of the program is for participants to explore, leverage, and transform open source information and imagery to generate actionable intelligence to support a disaster or humanitarian response
This is Bill’s first summer participating in the Garwin Family Foundation sponsorship program.
Kaleb Yoast
Kaleb Yoast is a senior at Herrin High School and is Herrin’s first student to be selected for a Garwin Family Foundation’s scholarship for Talented Students in Arts, Sciences, and Math program.
This summer he will attend the University of Michigan’s Michigan Math and Science Scholars program and study organic chemistry. During the two week program, He will be introduced to techniques and concepts taught in the first term of organic chemistry at the University of Michigan. While the course will include laboratory exercises, it will explore concepts through problem solving.
Best wishes to all during the summer program!
For additional information about the Garwin Family Foundation Scholarship for Talented Students in Arts, Sciences, and Math program, contact Vanessa Sneed, GFF Student Sponsorship Program Administrator, at programmanager@garwinfamilyfoundation.org
