Project focuses on elite scholarship programs for underrepresented students

May 17, 2011

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A free one-day symposium will be held July 30 at the University of Florida to encourage Florida’s high-achieving underrepresented students to seek elite scholarship and fellowship programs.

The Emerging Scholars Project also wants to identify the students who can benefit from programs such as the Rhodes, Fulbright and Marshall scholarships. The symposium will bring together representatives from the scholarship and fellowship programs, national speakers and collegiate advisers for a day of in-depth dialogue, interactive seminars and resources aimed at empowering Florida students to apply for these programs.

The project was created by former UF Student Body President Jamal Sowell and former Florida State University collegiate scholar-athletes Myron Rolle and Garrett Johnson.

“It is an honor to promote a project such as this with Myron Rolle and Garrett Johnson, who have blazed their own paths to success while showing others that nothing is impossible,” said Sowell, special assistant to UF President Bernie Machen. “I am elated for the opportunity to bring this project to the University of Florida and Gainesville community in order for underrepresented students to obtain a chance to compete for these competitive scholarships and change the world.”

As a member of the president’s cabinet, Sowell acts a strategic adviser and offers counsel and support to Machen and board of trustees. He graduated with a religion degree in religion from UF in 2005, followed by master’s in higher education administration and policy from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2007. The former UF Hall of Fame inductee also served as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps in Afghanistan, where he conducted and planned counterinsurgency operations.

Rolle, a 2009 Rhodes Scholar, was drafted by the NFL’s Tennessee Titans in 2010 after postponing his football career in order to complete a master’s degree in medical anthropology at the University of Oxford in London. A magna cum laude graduate of Florida State University, he earned his bachelor’s degree in exercise science in 2 ½ years and plans to attend medical school after concluding his NFL career.

A 2006 Rhodes Scholar, Johnson is an adviser to the ranking member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where his portfolio includes Afghanistan, Pakistan, Haiti and development policy. In 2008, he was awarded a master’s degree in migration studies from the University of Oxford. The 2005 magna cum laude graduate of FSU earned a joint degree in political science and English literature, and also served as a special assistant to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Johnson was the 2006 NCAA indoor and outdoor shot put champion and was ranked among the top 15 shot put throwers in the world for four consecutive years.

Interested students are encouraged to log onto www.myronrolle.com/emerging-scholars-project or visit the program’s Facebook page, Emerging Scholars Project, for more information and to access the program application, selection criteria and requirements. The deadline for application submissions is June 30.

Businesses or organizations interested in partnering with the Emerging Scholars Project should contact Wendy Grant at wendy@wendolyngrant.com.