Congrats! Winners of 2017 ITWomen Scholarships for Tech, Engineering

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2017 Scholarships for Tech and Engineering 

The ITWomen Charitable Foundation has awarded a total of $56,000 in college scholarships to the winners of its 2017 scholarship competition. ITWomen president Claire Marrero and executive director Patricia Mundarain presented each of the seven young women with an $8,000 four-year renewable scholarship to help them pursue their technology and engineering degrees. Jo Moskowitz, Citrix Director of Corporate Citizenship, welcomed guests to the event  graciously hosted by Citrix, an ITWomen Sustainable Partner, at the company’s Fort Lauderdale headquarters.

The festive dinner held May 31 gathered families, ITWomen members and the scholars to get to know each other. ITWomen executives and board members provided students career advice and lessons learned for the years ahead. 

Recipients of the 2017 ITWomen Scholarships, their high schools and STEM degree paths are:  

• Maria Zapata, Hialeah Gardens HS – Aerospace Engineering, UF.
• Myah Cobbs, Robert Morgan Educational Center, Computer Science, UCF.
• Aranique Brown, Northeast HS, Computer Science, UF.
• Kiara Mohammed, G. Holmes Braddock Sr HS, Computer Science, FIU.
• Sara Kvaska, Young Women’s Preparatory Academy, Computer Science, Harvard.
• Hui An Ooi, Nova HS, Engineering, Carnegie Mellon.
• Jennifer Viart, Northeast HS, Computer Science, Miami Dade College.

ITWomen Scholarship Benefits 
ITWomen presented the girls with Goodie Bags filled with donations for their first year away at college. The gifts include a Keurig coffee maker, backpack, tee-shirt from Citrix, coffee mugs, a year’s supply of coffee, tea and chocolate from The Talent Source, a toaster, Bluetooth speakers, a handful of gift cards, and more.

 

This year’s scholars are also privileged to get a professional video interview and makeup session this summer, which they can use for their portfolios. ITWomen member Madisen Farley, 21, initiated the video project two years ago with the support of Citrix.  Madisen was hired as an intern after an ITWomen field trip in high school inspired her to go for a career in tech.  She is studying in the area of User Experience. 

ITWomen board of director member Margaret Brisbane chairs the ITWomen Virtual Mentor program, in which each of the students will be paired with a female technology professional during their college years and beyond.

“When we find your mentor, these are women committed to YOU. This is a person you reach out to when you have a
question, if you are frustrated, and you don’t want to call Mom or Dad,” Margaret told the girls. “Your mentor is a professional person who will be a guide for you, who has been through it.” 

Scholarship Ambassador Catherine Skelly along with ITWomen members also provide additional resources for scholarship recipients as they seek internships and post-grad jobs on their life journey.  

Special Thanks to Citrix

Claire Marrero thanked Citrix for its key support over the years:  “Citrix has been a fundamentally key part of our ability to do good in the community, from resources such as people to help us reach girls in classrooms, to help
inspire them about careers in what technology and engineering is all about, to host field trips, to
support us in camps and obviously to support our scholarship fund that has enabled us to give 98 girls
scholarships.”

Claire also extended a shout out to ITWomen members who who were present including  Board advisors Sheila Hanlon Ravindran, and Raj Rawal, and Prof. Susan Clemmons, Margaret Brisbane,  Christine Zambrano, Patricia Sotolongo Mundarain  and virtual mentor Fiolina Burnett.  

Thank you to the supporters and partnerships who made these scholarships possible.  

About the ITWomen Charitable Foundation Scholarship Program
The scholarship competition is part of ITWomen’s mission to increase the numbers and impact of women across technology. With so many accomplished and deserving candidates, ITWomen rigorous selection process takes into account financial need, academic and leadership accomplishments, charitable work and more. ITWomen has awarded more than a half million dollars in scholarships to 98 female graduates from high schools throughout the south Florida region. ITWomen Scholarship winners have pursued STEM degrees at colleges throughout Florida and beyond, including Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, MIT and more. 

— Christine Zambrano 
ITWomen VP Digital Content