MPOWER Global Citizen Scholarship Winners Include Innovative Engineer Focused on Sustainability
MPOWER Financing is excited to announce the winners of our Global Citizen Scholarship! Our first cycle of 2021 ended July 21st, and our scholarship committee reviewed over 4,600 applications representing over 154 countries and 333 universities. We were extremely impressed by all of the applicants’ accomplishments and their commitment to global change.
After a difficult deliberation, our scholarship committee selected a grand prize winner to receive $5,000, and a runner-up of $2,000, and an honorable mention of $1,000. These winners include international students from Palestine, India, and Zimbabwe. The talent and potential of these students are exceptional, and we are honored to name the following recipients as MPOWER Global Citizen Scholarship recipients.
Read on below for their impressive profiles!
July 2021 winners:
Grand Prize Winner: Yazid Barhoush, Public Health + Epidemiology Student
Palestine, Drexel University
Yazid is a Master’s student at Drexel University, pursuing a degree in Public Health. In his essay, Yazid wrote of growing up in the long-running political conflict in Palestine. From a young age, he became involved in his community, volunteering with Save the Children. He worked as a clinical researcher in his undergraduate studies, and covered “sickle cell disease, microbiology, and epigenetics,”. He is passionate about the intersection between social justice and healthcare, and is currently working on an ebook titled, “Applications and Spatial Analysis using R: Environmental and Health Science,”.
Yazid is starting his Master’s this fall, with a focus on epidemiology. Once completed, he hopes to return to Palestine and set up mental health centers focused on trauma-informed care. “My goal is to return to Palestine and utilize epidemiological methods while working in higher education to research conflict as a social determinant of health,” he wrote.
“I am grateful to be selected as a finalist for the MPOWER Global Citizen Scholarship. It will allow me to achieve my career goals. This unconditional support will permit me to become a globally engaged individual who will contribute positively to global health,” he said. “This initiative from MPOWER Financing displays their commitment toward aiding international students in pursuing their educational aspirations.”
Runner-up Prize Winner: Macdonald Chirara, Innovative Engineer Focused on Sustainability
Zimbabwe, Colgate University
Macdonald is an incoming student at Colgate University, pursuing a degree in Computer Science. Our scholarship committee was greatly impressed by his passion for sustainable energy solutions. Macdonald wrote about his childhood experiences in Zimbabwe, and the great lack of resources and energy poverty. “I finally came up with an electricity generator that uses biodegradable material as input.”
Macdonald is passionate about science and researching innovative solutions with local resources. In his essay, he explains his future goals as well. “I look forward to a future where I can use the skills I gained in college to open one of the largest innovation hubs in Africa,”.
“I am incredibly excited to have been selected as a winner of the MPOWER Global Citizen Scholarship! I am so grateful to MPOWER Financing for empowering international students through the Global Citizen Scholarship,” he said. “This scholarship will give me financial peace of mind and allow me to focus more on my academic studies. MPOWER has given me a reaffirmation that my dreams are possible. I am one step closer to my goals because you have made a significant impact in my life.”
Honorable Mention: Preethi Muralidharan, Advocate for Sustainable Farming
India, University of Illinois
Preethi is a Master’s student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, pursuing a degree in Agricultural Production. Preethi shared an inspiring story in her essay about working on a farm in India early in her career. “While working on the farm, I encountered various difficulties faced by farmers, especially water scarcity, which led to low yields,” she wrote. These issues often resulted in farmers giving up their ancestral lands and even committing suicide. Preethi realized that serious attention is needed to improve the quality of farming in India, and she organized and conducted workshops to help farmers in implementing better techniques.
She aspires to empower farmers with specialized techniques and spread awareness to become self-sustained and independent. Preethi’s ultimate goal is to establish her own company, which will help farmers learn about sustainable agriculture. “I am determined to be instrumental in averting the plight of farmers,”.
“I will be very happy to receive this award as this will be useful for me in many ways. This will help me build my career and will reduce my tuition burden,” she said. “I have never won any scholarships in my life so I will be glad to receive one. This will boost my confidence and motivate me to reach greater heights.”
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We’d like to congratulate all of our winners, and we encourage all international and DACA students to apply to the next round of Global Citizen Scholarships, which is open through October 15!
