post image

TowerCares Announces 2019 Scholarship Winners

The Foundation awards $25K to five college-bound students pursuing careers in the STEM fields, including one repeat winner from last year’s program.

[Laurel, MD]  For the second year in a row, Victoria Nelson will be entering college this fall with an extra $5,000 in her pocket to help pay for tuition and expenses. The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) student and Elkridge, Md. resident is one of five $5,000 winners in the 2019 TowerCares Foundation College Scholarship Program. Notably, Tori, as she’s known by family and friends, was also one of five $5,000 scholarship winners in last year’s program, bringing her two-year TowerCares scholarship award total to $10,000.

“I was very excited to see that one of our 2018 scholarship winners reapplied for the award and won again,” says Rick Stafford, TowerCares Foundation President. “We know how expensive college can be these days, particularly for those who are pursuing degrees in STEM-related fields. We are pleased to help offset the cost of her education at UMBC for Ms. Nelson and her parents.”

Tori is entering her senior year at UMBC, where she is majoring in Geography and Environmental Science. One of her career goals listed on her scholarship application is to “study climate change and figure out ways to decrease its impact on both humans and earth’s ecosystem as a whole…[and to] share my knowledge and findings with as many people as possible so that they can be aware of what is happening to our planet and how they can help.”

Tori joins four other exceptional students—three of them also Maryland residents and one from Northern Virginia—who each received a one-time scholarship award of $5,000 from the Foundation this year. The five winners were selected from a pool of over 200 applicants. 

2019 TowerCares Foundation Scholarship Program recipients:

Suzie Byun, of Ellicott City, Md., who is entering her junior year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Ms. Byun is studying Computer Science and Molecular Biology.

Timothy Cortese, of Eldersburg, Md., who will be a freshman at Wake Forest University. Mr. Cortese plans to study Mathematics and Business.

Samantha Lund, of Annapolis, Md., who will be a freshman at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Ms. Lund plans to study Physics.

Emily Moran, of Reston, Va., who will be a freshman at James Madison University. Ms. Moran plans to study Biotechnology.

Victoria Nelson, of Elkridge, Md., who is entering her senior year at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). Ms. Nelson is studying Geography and Environmental Science.

The scholarship winners were selected by an independent judging organization and based upon accomplishments in academics, leadership, community service and extracurricular activities. Preference was shown by the judges for students planning to pursue degrees in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, or, in keeping with TowerCares’ mission, children of parents who serve our country as civilians or members of the military.

“Looking at all of the winners’ accomplishments, I am impressed that they have achieved so much at such a young age,” says Al Smith, TowerCares Foundation Secretary. “TowerCares is proud to recognize the successes of these five exceptional students, and we are pleased to help relieve some of the financial burden of the cost of higher education for them and their families.”

For more information about the TowerCares Foundation, visit towercaresfoundation.org.