DURHAM -- Duke University has selected 14 incoming first-year students from North and South Carolina for its prestigious Benjamin N. Duke Memorial Scholarship, which covers full tuition, room, board and mandatory fees for eight semesters.
The full value of each scholarship, created with funds from The Duke Endowment, is more than $220,000 over four years. The award is given to students from the two states who have a demonstrated potential for leadership and an affinity for community service, in addition to high academic achievement.
The scholarship also includes leadership development activities and two summer programs, one in the Carolinas and one abroad, during the recipients' undergraduate career at Duke.
The students were selected from 26 finalists who attended the scholarship finalist weekend at Duke in March.
The scholarships were established by The Duke Endowment to honor Benjamin Newton Duke, one of the founders of Duke University.
Locally, this year's recipients include Itzamara Santillan of Oxford, a graduate of Granville Central High School in Stem, and the daughter of Ofelia Ramirez and Daniel Castro.
"Duke University needs the best and brightest high school students from North and South Carolina to reach our full potential as an institution. The vision of the Benjamin N. Duke Scholarship is to continue and expand the vital linkage between Duke University and the two states that figured so prominently in James B. Duke's indenture that created Duke University," said Donald Taylor, associate professor of public policy and director of the Benjamin N. Duke Scholarship program.
"These 14 students have shown themselves to be superb both in and out of the classroom, embodying our core values of community, empathy, intentionality and imagination. Their parents, high schools and entire communities should be very proud of them. We believe they will thrive at Duke, and help make our community a better one," Taylor said.
For more information, visit www.bnduke.org online.
