Local students awarded Grawemeyer Scholarship at UofL

The Grawemeyer Scholars Program is part of the University of Louisville’s family of prestigious full-ride-plus “Mentored Scholarship Programs,” which includes the McConnell Scholars Program and the Brown Fellows Program.

Each year, ten Grawemeyer Scholars receive a four-year-renewable scholarship, based on their promise for undergraduate research, leadership, and service to the University, as exemplified by their test scores of an ACT of 31 or higher, high school GPA of a 3.75 minimum, letters of recommendation, and records of extracurricular achievement.

Only ten scholars are chosen annually, two scholars are from the local area this year (and the only two students from Eastern Kentucky). Katherine Whitaker, a recent graduate of Whitley County High School and Ryan Shackleford, a recent graduate from Corbin High School have been named Grawemeyer Scholars at UofL for the 2018 incoming class.

The University of Louisville established the Grawemeyer Scholarship to honor UofL alumnus and benefactor H. Charles Grawemeyer, the namesake of the University of Louisville Grawemeyer Awards. As a part of their scholarship, students will have the opportunity to attend the awards banquet where the esteemed Grawemeyer Award recipients are named for their innovative ideas and research.

The international Grawemeyer Awards program has brought influential authors, Academy Award-winning composers, and world leaders to Louisville’s campus. Grawemeyer Scholars receive a dedicated program of civic, cultural, and leadership education during their freshman year, during which Program administration and UofL faculty work to match them with an undergraduate research experience in any field of study offered at the University.

Katherine would like to study anxiety and stress in children or Humanistic Psychology Research during her undergraduate studies at Louisville.

Ryan stated that he would like to work with pharmaceutical or biological research to further advancements in medicine.

The scholarship may also be used to fund a semester abroad, which the Program strongly encourages and works with the Study Abroad Office to facilitate.

Katherine stated her travel abroad interests would be in a French speaking area of Europe or possibly a semester at sea where she could utilize her French language skills.

Ryan said that he would welcome the opportunity to study abroad or complete a co-operative in the United Kingdom or Italy to further his educational goals, cultural experiences, or research interests.

Both Whitaker and Shackleford are no strangers to achievement. Both students graduated high school with Highest Honors and were successfully active in extracurricular clubs and activities.

“I look forward to the challenges and opportunities ahead in college” said Shackleford.

In addition to being selected as a Grawemeyer Scholar, Ryan was accepted into the Guaranteed Entrance to Medical School (GEMS) program at the University of Louisville Medical School. Ryan will be majoring in Chemical Engineering/Pre-Med for his undergraduate focus.

Katherine plans to major in Biology or Psychology, with potentially focusing on Neuroscience.