The Park Scholarships program at North Carolina State University has named 40 students to its Class of 2023.

Biographies of each new Park Scholar are available: Park Class of 2023

The Park Scholarships program brings exceptional students to NC State University based on outstanding accomplishments and potential in scholarship, leadership, service, and character. The program develops and supports Park Scholars in these areas, preparing them for lifelong contributions to the campus, state, nation, and world. The Park Scholarship is a four-year scholarship valued at approximately $110,000 for in-state students and approximately $200,000 for out-of-state students.

“As a preeminent research enterprise and a land-grant institution dedicated to service, NC State is a leader at the intersection of scholarship, leadership, service, and character, the very traits that the Park Scholars exemplify,” said Eva Feucht, director of the Park Scholarships program. “The university is well-positioned to launch these scholars on a trajectory of large-scale impact in service to others, and we are excited to see the Class of 2023 join the 1,000 Park Scholars who have come before them in doing just that.”

The 24th class of Park Scholars was selected from a pool of more than 2,400 outstanding applicants from 42 states and 95 of North Carolina’s 100 counties. A Selection Committee comprising more than 420 accomplished NC State alumni, faculty, and friends conducted application review, interviews, and outreach.

The Class of 2023, representing 13 U.S. states, includes student body presidents, varsity athletic team captains, Eagle Scouts, National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists, dedicated employees of part-time jobs, and sustainability activists. Among this group is a published photographer, a musician with thousands of monthly listeners on Spotify, a third-degree black belt in karate, and an intern and researcher with the National Cancer Institute. Their service work and philanthropic interests run the gamut: members of this cohort have volunteered with the Boys and Girls Club, Habitat for Humanity, Relay for Life, and the YMCA. One founded a nonprofit organization to promote support for siblings of those with special needs, another collects books for a primary school in rural Kenya with the goal of increasing literacy, and several teach disadvantaged youth in their local communities.

Park Scholarships include opportunities for innovative enrichment activities such as grants for undergraduate research and study abroad, making this award one of the most prestigious and comprehensive undergraduate scholarships in the nation. Scholars have recently received several distinguished national scholarships, including Goldwater Scholarships (Nikil Milind ‘21 and Ana Sofia Uzsoy ‘21), two Knight-Hennessy Scholarships (Ziad Ali ‘19 and Madison Maloney ‘19), the Marshall Scholarship (Kobi Felton ‘18), National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships (Ephraim Bililign ‘17, Charlotte DeVol ‘19, Madison Maloney ‘19), and the Truman Scholarship (Ashley Lawson ‘18). They lead major service initiatives such as the Krispy Kreme Challenge, which has donated over $1.7 million to the North Carolina Children’s Hospital, and Service Raleigh, a partnership with the Goodnight Scholars that activates 1,500 volunteers for an annual citywide day of service.

Park Scholarships are named for the late Roy H. Park ’31, an NC State alumnus who created the charitable Park Foundation, dedicated to education, media, and the environment. The Park Foundation has committed nearly $145 million to support the scholarship since launching it with an initial grant in 1996. This support includes their 2013 commitment of $50 million to begin a Park Scholarships endowment at NC State. Now, hundreds of alumni, students, families, Selection Committee members, and friends join the Park Foundation in funding the program; Park Scholarships recently received 700 gifts in a single day on NC State’s inaugural Day of Giving.

Learn more at park.ncsu.edu.

posted 2019.05.02