We’re thrilled to have had the opportunity to honor 36 Utah high school seniors with $60,000 in college scholarships through the 2016 Comcast Leaders and Achievers Scholarship Program last Wednesday, May 18.
The Comcast Leaders and Achievers Scholarship Program provides one-time $1,000 scholarships to students who strive to achieve their potential, who are catalysts for positive change in their communities, who are involved in their schools, and who serve as models for their fellow students. This year, four of the students were surprised with $5,000 President’s scholarships, and one student was surprised with a $10,000 Founder scholarship at the ceremony. The $5,000 scholarship winners included: Wesley Allen from Grantsville High School, Chris O’Brien from St. Joseph Catholic High School, Marilyn Salguero from Kearns High School and Nikita Siddamsettiwar from Jordan Applied Tech. The $10,000 scholarship winner was Ethan Crawford from Bountiful high school).
We also surprised five of the students with a laptop computer to use at college! It’s always a fun time at the Utah State Capitol.
Here’s a shot of lovely Madison Sudweeks from Corner Canyon High School in Draper just after winning a laptop. Photo by Kim Raff.
Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes was the keynote speaker at the Comcast Leaders and Achievers Ceremony which was held at the Utah State Capitol Rotunda. The senators and representatives representing each student’s district also graciously took time to help present awards and converse with their students. Following the ceremony students and their families were taken on a tour of the State Capitol building.
“As part of our renewed commitment to deliver the best customer experience, we’re investing heavily in new training and tools for our customer service reps to give them everything they need to address our customer’s needs the first time around. We’re also investing in our communities,” said Merlin Jensen, Area Vice President of Operations for Comcast. “We understand that so much of Utah’s future success depends on strong schools, and students who have a passion to learn and grow throughout their academic careers – and lives.”
The philosophy behind the program is to give young people every opportunity to be prepared for the future, to engage youth in their communities, and to demonstrate the importance of civic involvement, and the value placed on civic involvement by the business community.
The Comcast Leaders and Achievers Scholarship Program was launched nationally in 2001, and Comcast has awarded nearly $25 million in scholarships to help nearly 25,000 high school students throughout the country to pursue their higher education goals.
2016 Comcast Leaders and Achievers Scholarship Recipients
| First | Last | School |
| Wesley | Allen | Grantsville |
| Seth | Berlin | Timpanogos HS |
| Alondra | Betancourt | Utah County Academy of Sciences |
| Claire | Breiholz | Park City HS |
| Preston | Capener | Layton HS |
| Rebekah | Chase | Box Elder HS |
| Ashley | Chidester | Maple Mountain HS |
| Ethan | Crawford | Bountiful HS |
| Olivia | Flores | Intech Collegiate High School |
| Judith | Solorio-Diaz | DaVinci Academy |
| Jessica | Ivie | Cooperhills HS |
| Hannah | Koford | Fremont HS |
| John Luke | Lee | City Academy |
| Abigail | Limas | Layton Christian Academy |
| Yazmin | Marin-Chavez | American Preparatory Academy |
| Matthew | Matautia | Roy HS |
| Emilee | Matheson | Clearfield HS |
| Abraham | McMurray | Independence High |
| Diana | Michelle | Orem HS |
| Roman | Murga | Syracuse HS |
| Vicky | Nguyen | Taylorsville HS |
| Christopher | O’Brien | St. Joseph Catholic High School |
| Jesus | Oseguera | Ben Lomond HS |
| Trent | Perry | West HS |
| Marcela | Rodriguez | Ogden HS |
| Marilyn | Salguero | Kerns HS |
| Nikita | Siddamsettiwar | Jordan Applied Tech |
| Elizabeth | Smith | Timpview HS |
| Tanner | Stallings | Herriman HS |
| Madison | Sudweeks | Corner Canyons HS |
| Garth | Talbot | Payson HS |
| Finau | Tauteoli | Hunter HS |
| Vesa | Tevaga | Academy for Math, Engineering & Science |
| Joshua | Transtrum | American Fork HS |
| Whitney | Uong | Itineris Early College High |
| Spencer | Vogrinec | Viewmont HS |
About the Comcast Foundation
The Comcast Foundation was founded by Comcast Corporation in June 1999 to provide charitable support to qualified non-profit organizations. The Foundation primarily invests in programs intended to have a positive, sustainable impact on their communities. The Foundation’s focus areas are volunteerism, literacy, and youth leadership development. Since its inception, the Comcast foundation has donated more than $64 million to organizations in the communities nationwide that Comcast serves. More information about the Foundation and its programs is available at www.comcast.com/inthecommunity.
