Students in an engineering-based scholarship and leadership program said a new $11 million investment from a DMV-based foundation will bolster student financial aid and create expanded service opportunities for participants, strengthening the program’s impact on future engineers.
Officials announced last month an $11 million donation from the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation to expand the Clark Scholars Program, which provides GW engineering students with financial aid, leadership experience and professional development opportunities. Program participants and faculty said the grant will broaden the program’s impact by increasing the financial aid available to students, even after the Clark Foundation closes at the end of the year as it finishes paying out the late founder’s assets to philanthropic causes.
Royce Francis, the faculty director of the program and an associate engineering professor, said in addition to tuition assistance, the program also provides financial support when students study abroad, unpaid internship opportunities and need-based support for engineering projects they work on.
Francis said the program is offering a new course this fall focused on using engineering through community service, which the grant is helping to support. Students currently taking the class are working with So Kids SOAR, a local nonprofit that provides recreational and skill-based activities for people with disabilities, to audit the nonprofit’s systems and internal operations to suggest improvements to better support a mentor program at So Kids SOAR, Francis said.
“They already have a satisfaction survey that they do with the parents and the families of the mentees but looking at what they do concretely and what they do in their program,” Francis said. “That’s what they wanted the engineering students to do.”
GW Clark Scholars also have the opportunity to join other universities’ Clark Scholars Programs in an annual summit – which GW will host next year – where they connect with other program participants, participate in team building and hear from guest speakers, which Francis said allows scholars to develop leadership skills and network with program alumni.
The Clark Scholars Program started at GW in 2011 with an $8 million grant from the late A. James Clark, a former GW trustee who started the foundation, according to a University release. Before Clark died in 2015, he requested most of his assets be spent in a philanthropic way within 10 years, which is why the foundation will close at the end of this year. The foundation donated an additional $18 million to the GW program in 2017.
Despite the closure, GW’s Clark program will continue to operate because the grant supports the GW program’s endowment, Director of Higher Education and Strategy at the Clark Foundation Natalie Grandison said.
The Clark Foundation invests in programs across the country that meet the foundation’s criteria of supporting initiatives either in engineering, helping post-9/11 veterans or D.C.-based initiatives to provide resources and opportunities to engineering students. GW’s Clark Scholars Program is one of 11 across the country, including others at the universities of Virginia and Maryland.
Students in the program, who are eligible for both merit- and need-based scholarships, are required to engage in activities that reflect the foundation’s values of action, effort and giving back to the community, including a leadership boot camp at the beginning of each year. The program’s requirements also include all students studying abroad, community service, maintaining a minimum 3.3 GPA and attending social events throughout the semester.
Francis said 43 students are currently in the program, which accepts applicants through the new student admissions process when prospective students apply in their senior year of high school and reach out to first-year GW students who meet the academic and financial aid criteria. Applications to the program are evaluated by a panel of faculty, engineers, alumni and current scholars and are selected for the program based on financial need, academic performance, engagement in engineering and leadership skills, according to the program’s website.
Aidan Schurr, a junior studying biomedical engineering, said he was introduced to the Clark Scholars Program when he attended GW’s admitted students’ day and met students in the program. He said he wanted to be a scholar because he was interested in the student leadership opportunities, like the leadership boot camp and scholarship that the program provided.
“When I came to GW, I met a bunch of people on admitted students’ day who were in this, and they were the brightest, my most favorite people,” Schurr said.
Schurr, who is now studying abroad at Queen Mary University in London as part of the program’s requirement, said he is looking forward to how the funding will impact the program, particularly with the new course that focuses on identifying and building service-learning projects for the D.C. community. He said that the projects in the class will involve making a real impact in D.C. and supporting people in need.
“They have the bandwidth now to help us in some kind of way that we didn’t see before,” Schurr said.
Students in GW’s Clark Scholars Program have the opportunity to study abroad with five partner institutions in Europe, Asia and Australia. Scholars are also expected to achieve a minimum of 5 hours of community service a semester, which can include partner projects with other Clark Scholars or individual service projects.
Schurr said the program has allowed him to engage in professional development events like networking events and leadership conferences and provided him a platform to use his ideas to lead by collaborating with his peers on projects, including a science magazine he helped launch last year.
“Being in a community of like-minded people, being able to lead in the engineering school, which I cared deeply about, and being given the support from faculty and advisors who understand my goals and want to support me has been super nourishing,” Schurr said.
Ilinca Hirtopanu, a senior studying computer science and math, said she received an email during her first year inviting her to the program as long as she met its academic and financial requirements. In addition to paying part of her tuition, Hirtopanu said the Clark Scholars Program gave her the opportunity to make new friends and connections in her major.
“A lot of it was the financial aspect, but I also love the community there, and I’m really lucky that I got to be a part of it,” said Hirtopanu.
The program offers many community-building events for the scholars, like the annual leadership summit and group-bonding activities like ice skating, bowling and an escape room. Hirtopanu said she thinks the program’s new grant will provide more resources to students who demonstrate financial need, as well as allow for more community-building opportunities, like the annual summit held by the Clark Foundation.
“I have met and been friends with rocket scientists through this program,” Hirtopanu said. “And it’s inspiring. It’s like, this is a GW student. They did it. You can do it too.”
Olivia Landriscina, a senior studying electrical engineering, said the Clark Scholars Program allowed her to experience opportunities — like traveling while abroad and making professional connections — that she otherwise would not have had the ability to do because of the financial support.
“I never would have studied abroad, and the money that they gave us, the stipend for going abroad, I traveled a ton with it,” Landriscina said.