Stevens student earns Coca-Cola First in Family Scholarship
Michael Havens of Woodlynne, N.J., is starting a new family tradition this year at Stevens Institute of Technology. He won a $5,000 Coca-Cola First Generation Scholarship as the first in his family to go on to college. The Coca-Cola Foundation started the scholarship initiative as a way to help more students become the first in their family to attend college.
Not only did Michael achieve this distinction on the merits of his performance at Bishop Eustace Preparatory School in Pennsauken, N.J. He also had the honor of addressing his fellow scholarship winners from New York and New Jersey at the First Generation Scholarship ceremonies held Oct. 30 in Madison, N.J.
"Stevens was my number-one choice for college," says Michael. "The Coca-Cola Scholarship made it possible for my parents to afford to send me to my number-one school."
Through a partnership with the Independent College Fund of New Jersey (ICFNJ), the Coca-Cola Foundation is bringing its First Generation Scholarship Program to 43 colleges and universities in New Jersey and New York, including Stevens. The foundation has selected one student from each of the 43 schools to receive a scholarship this year. Each student receives $5,000 toward college, which is renewable for up to three additional years based on academic standing and participation in campus activities.
"We created the Coca-Cola First Generation Scholarships to help make college a reality for more students," said Ingrid Saunders Jones, chairperson of the Coca-Cola Foundation and Senior vice president of the Coca-Cola Company. "It's a way we can recognize the hard work and determination of local students."
At Stevens, Michael will pursue studies in computer engineering. This semester he is excited to be part of a team building a light-sensitive robot, for which he is programming the driver chip. "College, I've been told, is supposed to be the best time of my life," Michael said in his remarks to his peers. "Thanks to Coca-Cola's scholarship, I'm at a school where that can be true."
The Coca-Cola First Generation Scholarship Program was created in 1994 and has since expanded with $3.3 million in funding to support students at 275 universities across 27 states. The Coca-Cola Foundation has invested more than $100 million in a variety of education initiatives around the world during the 1990s.
About Stevens Institute of Technology
Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.
Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.
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