Coca-Cola has announced the recipients of their 35th annual Coke Scholars scholarship. Each year 150 lucky high school seniors are awarded a $20,000 scholarship, and this year nine lucky Ohio natives were selected as recipients. This year alone 91,000 applications were submitted, meaning less than 1/6 of 1% of applicants were selected. Those with exemplary academic records as well as demonstrated leadership skills and the drive to affect their community positively have been chosen by the Coca-Cola Scholars Program.
The students that hail from Ohio come from all corners of the state. They include Hashem Albezreh of Butler High School, Varuni Chopra of North Royalton High School, Annie Johnson of Dublin Coffman High School, Reya Singh of Marysville High School, Vinaya Sivakumar of Ursuline Academy, Will Smialek of Dublin Scioto High School, Sanjana Velu of William Mason High School, Emily Wilson of Hathaway Brown School, and Yikun Zhou of Westlake High School.
The Coke Scholars alumni is a network of 6,750 individuals who have become leaders in their chosen fields and communities nationwide. In the 35 years since its inception, the Coca-Cola Scholars Program has awarded $81 million towards the education of its recipients. This year alone, $3.1 million will be awarded. Congratulations to all the recipients and best of luck!