Six incoming first-year students and two rising sophomores have been selected for the Ingram Scholars Program. They are among more than 1,000 students who applied for the prestigious merit scholarship, which is awarded each year to students who have demonstrated excellence and passion academically and in service.
Incoming members of the Class of 2027 are:
- Jackson Heis of Dallas, majoring in human and organizational development and minoring in philosophy
- Kendall Reese of Katy, Texas, majoring in law, history, and society, and medicine, health, and society with a concentration in inequality, intersectionality and health justice.
New members of the Class of 2028 are:
- William Cabaniss of Farragut, Tennessee;
- Eric Feng of Yorba Linda, California;
- Meredith Haber of Bondville, Vermont;
- Remington Holder of Amelia, Ohio;
- Katie Sasamoto-Kurisu of Chicago, Illinois; and
- Bennett Vernon of Los Angeles, California.
Of these new scholars, Faculty Director Kelly Goldsmith says: “We couldn’t be more excited to be welcoming our new Ingram Scholars! These eight individuals are poised to make great contributions to Vanderbilt, to the Nashville community and far beyond!”
These eight will join the more than 300 current Vanderbilt students and alumni who have been named Ingram Scholars since the first awarding of the scholarships in 1994. The program was conceived in 1993 by E. Bronson Ingram, president of the Vanderbilt University Board of Trust from 1991 until his death in 1995, to encourage students to combine a professional career with a commitment to community service and giving. Since Ingram’s passing, his wife, Martha Rivers Ingram, and their sons have been instrumental in the program’s operation.
Ingram Scholars engage in a minimum of 16 hours of civic and community service each month in collaboration with well-established organizations in service to the Nashville community addressing a range of needs. During their sophomore years, Ingram Scholars create and propose a sustainable and collaborative summer service project for the following summer. Currently, 12 Ingram Scholars are implementing their summer service projects domestically and abroad, serving communities as distant as Chennai, India, and as close as Nashville. The program encourages the scholars to create durable service projects that become self-sustaining. Ingram Scholars are awarded a full tuition scholarship with housing benefits and a stipend for a summer project.
For more information, visit the Ingram Scholars Program website.
