ASU Alumni Association welcomes new class of 30 Medallion Scholars


ASU Alumni Association Medallion Scholars

The ASU Alumni Association recently feted 30 new recipients of the Medallion Scholarship at a dinner at Old Main in Tempe. More than 100 students currently receive the renewable, $3,000-per-year scholarship, supported by sales of the “Sparky” state license plate.
Photo by: Arizona State University Alumni Association

The Arizona State University Alumni Association recently welcomed 30 incoming ASU freshmen into the Medallion Scholarship program, the Alumni Association’s signature scholarship initiative.

The Medallion Scholarship program incorporates components of leadership, scholarship and service. The scholars were introduced with a dinner at Old Main on the Tempe campus.

Medallion Scholars receive four-year, renewable scholarships of $3,000 annually, provided they actively participate in a mentorship program, contribute volunteer hours to the Alumni Association and other service organizations, maintain a satisfactory grade-point average and remain in good standing as an ASU undergraduate.

This year’s class of Medallion Scholars, who are projected to graduate in 2019, is:

•    Hibah Agwani, Perry High School, Gilbert
•    Cierra Apodaca, Basha High School, Chandler
•    Olivia Besthoff, Gilbert High School, Gilbert
•    Madeline Briguglio, Fountain Hills High School, Fountain Hills
•    Sydney Cereska, Pinnacle High School, Phoenix
•    Kendall Chan, Horizon Honors High School, Phoenix
•    Vincent Ciaramitaro, Red Mountain High School, Mesa
•    Celeste Cruz, Flagstaff High School, Flagstaff
•    Briana Diaz, Phoenix Union Bioscience High School, Phoenix
•    Alexis Dong, Mesquite High School, Gilbert
•    Mackenzie Dunnahoo, Marcos de Niza High School, Tempe
•    Joelle Dykstra, Red Mountain High School, Mesa
•    Desiree Figueroa, Arizona School for the Arts, Phoenix
•    Terence Funk, Peoria High School, Peoria
•    Hannah Graff, Basha High School, Chandler
•    Hanna Lalani, Hamilton High School, Chandler
•    Sergio Mejia, ASU Preparatory Academy High School, Phoenix
•    Alec Moss, Scottsdale Preparatory Academy, Scottsdale
•    BethEl Nager, Tesseract School, Phoenix
•    Rachael Nowak, BASIS Scottsdale, Scottsdale
•    Ariel Patterson-Gonzales, Arcadia High School, Phoenix
•    Sarah Purdy, Arizona College Prep – Erie, Chandler
•    Cameron Ribail, Fountain Hills High School, Fountain Hills
•    JamieLee Richardson, Agua Fria High School, Avondale
•    Nicholas Serpa, Campo Verde High School, Gilbert
•    Michael Starkey, Sunnyslope High School, Phoenix
•    Karla Valenzuela, San Luis High School, San Luis
•    Madeline Vitale, Desert Mountain High School, Scottsdale
•    Keenan Woodburn, Brophy College Preparatory, Phoenix
•    Alexandra Wyroba, Horizon High School, Phoenix

More than 100 students currently receive the scholarship. During the most recent academic year, Medallion scholars received $300,000 in financial support.

Arizona vehicle owners with a “Sparky” license plate – ASU’s official collegiate license plate issued by the state Motor Vehicle Division – pay $25 annually for their plates, $17 of which supports the Medallion Scholars. Sparky license-plate sales began in 1989, and now there are more than 16,000 Sparky plates on vehicles throughout the state.

Reconstituted in 2006, the Medallion Scholarship Program was born out of the Alumni Association’s previous Medallion of Merit Scholarship. The original scholarship program traced its beginnings to the 1960s and provided merit-based financial assistance to thousands of students from across the state.

For more information on the Medallion Scholarship Program, visit alumni.asu.edu/services/student-scholarships/medallion-scholarship. To learn more about the “Sparky” plate program or to purchase a plate, visit sparkyplates.com.