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Two HCC students are semifinalists for Cooke Transfer Scholarship

Hagerstown Community College students Leah Cowden, of Smithsburg, and Tehya Poole, of Fairplay, are semifinalists for the highly competitive 2024 Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship.

Cowden and Poole have been named by the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation as two of 459 community college students nationwide. They were chosen from a pool of more than 1,600 applicants, who attend 194 community colleges in 37 states, plus Washington, D.C., and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Cowden is a 2022 graduate of Smithsburg High School and will earn an associate degree in business administration from HCC in May. She has been accepted into the agriculture communications program at Oklahoma State University, and is awaiting a decision from Virginia Tech’s community, leadership, and development agriculture program before making a choice. Her future plans are to pursue a career with the Department of Agriculture and provide clarity and inclusivity within the agriculture industry.

Poole is a 2022 graduate of the Boyd J. Michael, III Technical High School, and will earn an associate degree in cybersecurity from HCC in May. She plans to attend Towson University in the fall to continue on the cybersecurity track. After completing a bachelor’s degree, she plans to pursue penetration testing to help secure people’s intellectual property.

This Cooke Foundation Scholarship aims to help community college students who have demonstrated exceptional academic ability, leadership, and service transfer to top four-year institutions and avoid student debt. The award, which is last dollar funding after all institutional aid, can provide as much as $55,000 per year for two to three years to complete a bachelor’s degree at any accredited four-year undergraduate institution in the U.S.

(April 2, 2024)