Ebeid Scholarship supports students from diverse backgrounds and their career goals in business and engineering
This article was originally published by the Wayne State University Office of International Programs.
Dreaming about their futures with a little less financial weight on their shoulders, eight students from the Wayne State University College of Engineering and Mike Ilitch School of Business are sharing $12,000 in awards from the Russell J. Ebeid Closing the Gap Scholarship, created by the late alumnus Russell J. Ebeid, M. Engin. ’68.
The Ebeid Family Fund Scholarship housed at the Center for Arab American Philanthropy, an ACCESS Institution, offers $2,500 awards for qualifying Arab American, African American or Latino students enrolled in business or engineering at WSU.
Ilitch School student Jesse Cryor Jr. (right), of Warren, just finished his first year of classes after transferring from Macomb Community College. He was able to transfer 85 credits earned at MCC to WSU, thanks to articulation agreements between the two schools and the MACRAO Transfer Agreement, designed by the Michigan Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admission Officers to facilitate the transfer of general education requirements between Michigan institutions.
The Ebeid Scholarship will help offset Cryor’s tuition fees for the 2018-19 academic year, allowing him to accelerate plans of earning a bachelor's degree in global supply chain management.
“It is the first scholarship I have received and I’m honored and thrilled to have been chosen,” says Cryor, a Detroit business owner and graduate of Western International High School. “(This award) keeps me moving in the right direction.”
The scholarships, which are renewable according to university criteria, were announced during an annual dinner hosted by ACCESS and attended by awardees, who include fellow Ilitch School student Ashley Bland of Romulus and College of Engineering students Laith Somo of Madison Heights and Reema Sweidan of Warren.
Scholarships were renewed for Ilitch School students Trina Abdulnour of Novi and Andrea Steckle of Southfield, and College of Engineering students Jovan Morgan and Mayasa Shaawat of Detroit.
To qualify, applicants also had to have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher and include two letters of recommendation, an essay outlining career aspirations and personal goals, and a list of involvement in organizations and/or student chapters of professional organizations.
