Eight Student Leaders Earn Act Six Leadership Scholarships to Whitworth and Gonzaga
March 5, 2019
Families, schools, and communities are celebrating in Spokane. Act Six announced today that eight emerging urban and community leaders from Spokane will receive scholarships to Whitworth University and Gonzaga University. Colleges will provide full-tuition, full-need scholarships over four years.
Selected through a rigorous three-month competition, these diverse student leaders were selected for their commitment to serving on campus and at home, passion for learning, eagerness to foster intercultural relationships, and willingness to step out of their comfort zones.
The media and public are invited to attend the community celebration to recognize the newest Act Six scholars on Monday, March 11, at 6 p.m. at Gonzaga Preparatory.
Following is a list of this year’s Act Six recipients:
Whitworth University: (Cadre Seventeen) Alexia Campos Flores, Shadle Park High School, Vincent Gao, West Valley High School, Bol Pennington, Mica Peak High School, Jainee Weidemann, Lewis and Clark High School
Gonzaga University: (Cadre Eleven) Jocelin Garcia, Gonzaga Preparatory School, Tia Moua, John R Rogers High School, Sierra Stinson, University High School, and Joe Zuniga, Central Valley High School
About Act Six
Act Six seeks to develop urban leaders to be agents of transformation on campus and in their home communities. Since the program's inception, more than 800 ethnically diverse and mostly first-generation, low-income Act Six scholarship recipients from Tacoma, Seattle, Yakima and Spokane, Wash.; Portland, Ore.; Minneapolis-St Paul, Minn.; Chicago, Il.; and Indianapolis, Ind. have enrolled at thirteen private colleges and universities.
Act Six develops leaders through a simple, but powerful, four-step strategy:
1. Recruit and select diverse, multicultural cadres of the most promising urban and community student leaders.
2. Train and prepare these groups of students in the year prior to college, equipping them to support each other, succeed academically and grow as service-minded leaders and agents of transformation.
3. Send and fund the cadres together to select colleges across Washington, Oregon, Minnesota, Illinois, and Indiana on full-tuition, full-need scholarships.
4. Support and inspire by providing strong campus support, ongoing leadership development and vocational connections to inspire scholars to serve their home communities. Act Six alumni continue their leadership once they step foot into their communities. Eighty percent of Act Six scholars earn their bachelor’s degrees within six years, more than double the rate for low-income, first-generation students nationwide. Two-thirds of the program’s graduates are working or serving back in their home communities.
Following next week’s celebrations, scholars begin an intensive six-month training program that involves weekly meetings with Act Six staff, retreats and campus visits. Learn more about Act Six online at www.actsix.org.
Located in Spokane, Wash., Whitworth is a private, liberal arts university affiliated with the Presbyterian church. The university, which has an enrollment of more than 3,000 students, offers more than 100 undergraduate and graduate degree programs.
Contacts:
Alexis Nicholson, Act Six Spokane Program Supervisor, YMCA of the Inland Northwest (509) 720-5613 or anicholson@ymcainw.org
Tim Herron, Act Six Founder and President, Degrees of Change (253) 444-0010 or tim.herron@degreesofchange.org
Julie McCulloh, Dean of Admission, Gonzaga University (509) 313-6591 or mcculloh@gu.gonzaga.edu
Ayaka Dohi, Assistant Director of Admissions, Whitworth University (509) 777-4626 or adohi@whitworth.edu
The media and public are invited to attend the community celebration to recognize the newest Act Six scholars on Monday, March 11, at 6 p.m. at Gonzaga Preparatory.
Gonzaga University: (Cadre Eleven) Jocelin Garcia, Gonzaga Preparatory School, Tia Moua, John R Rogers High School, Sierra Stinson, University High School, and Joe Zuniga, Central Valley High School
About Act Six
Act Six seeks to develop urban leaders to be agents of transformation on campus and in their home communities. Since the program's inception, more than 800 ethnically diverse and mostly first-generation, low-income Act Six scholarship recipients from Tacoma, Seattle, Yakima and Spokane, Wash.; Portland, Ore.; Minneapolis-St Paul, Minn.; Chicago, Il.; and Indianapolis, Ind. have enrolled at thirteen private colleges and universities.
Act Six develops leaders through a simple, but powerful, four-step strategy:
1. Recruit and select diverse, multicultural cadres of the most promising urban and community student leaders.
2. Train and prepare these groups of students in the year prior to college, equipping them to support each other, succeed academically and grow as service-minded leaders and agents of transformation.
3. Send and fund the cadres together to select colleges across Washington, Oregon, Minnesota, Illinois, and Indiana on full-tuition, full-need scholarships.
4. Support and inspire by providing strong campus support, ongoing leadership development and vocational connections to inspire scholars to serve their home communities. Act Six alumni continue their leadership once they step foot into their communities. Eighty percent of Act Six scholars earn their bachelor’s degrees within six years, more than double the rate for low-income, first-generation students nationwide. Two-thirds of the program’s graduates are working or serving back in their home communities.
Following next week’s celebrations, scholars begin an intensive six-month training program that involves weekly meetings with Act Six staff, retreats and campus visits. Learn more about Act Six online at www.actsix.org.
Located in Spokane, Wash., Whitworth is a private, liberal arts university affiliated with the Presbyterian church. The university, which has an enrollment of more than 3,000 students, offers more than 100 undergraduate and graduate degree programs.
Contacts:
Alexis Nicholson, Act Six Spokane Program Supervisor, YMCA of the Inland Northwest (509) 720-5613 or anicholson@ymcainw.org
Tim Herron, Act Six Founder and President, Degrees of Change (253) 444-0010 or tim.herron@degreesofchange.org
Julie McCulloh, Dean of Admission, Gonzaga University (509) 313-6591 or mcculloh@gu.gonzaga.edu
Ayaka Dohi, Assistant Director of Admissions, Whitworth University (509) 777-4626 or adohi@whitworth.edu
