Huntington Beach, Calif. — Three Golden West College students have been selected as semifinalists in the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation’s Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship competition, announced on March 9. Thong Ho, Nghi Le, and Chloe Niebla were among the semi-finalists chosen from a pool of more than 1,700 applicants representing 215 community colleges in 38 states.
The Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship is a prestigious national award that supports high-achieving community college students as they transfer to top four-year institutions to complete their bachelor’s degrees. The scholarship provides up to $55,000 for three years, as well as college planning support, ongoing advising, and the opportunity to network with the larger Cooke Scholar Community.
Winners of the scholarship will be announced in April.
“On behalf of the entire Golden West College community, I would like to extend my congratulations to Thong, Nghi and Chloe for the hard work and dedication recognized by this achievement,” says GWC President Tim McGrath. “This tremendous accomplishment also is a testament to our dedicated student services support staff and academic counselors, whose commitment to student success is what sets Golden West College apart as an institution of higher education.”
Cooke Transfer Scholars are chosen based on exceptional academic ability, leadership, service, and a determination to complete their bachelor’s degrees at top four-year institutions. “By lifting the financial burden of pursuing a four-year degree off their shoulders, our goal is to help students take full advantage of a four-year college experience without taking on student debt,” said Seppy Basili, Executive Director of the Cooke Foundation in a press release. “This year’s selected semifinalists reflect the deep bench of talent across our community colleges today, and we’re looking forward to getting to know them better in our final application review process.”
To learn more about the Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship, visit the Jack Kent Cooke website.
Golden West College Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship Semifinalists:
Nghi Le is majoring in Business Administration at Golden West and plans to transfer to California State University, Fullerton in Fall 2023. Her future career goal is to be a business manager. She loves languages and is taking Spanish and Japanese classes this semester.
Thong Dac Ho is currently majoring in Mechanical Engineering at Golden West College. He plans to transfer to California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. In the future he plans to become a Research and Development Engineer for cars. He is very passionate about playing soccer - he says “soccer is a way for me to de-stress from the responsibilities of school.”
Chloe Niebla is majoring in geography and anthropology at Golden West College. She has applied to California State University, Long Beach, California State University, Northridge, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego, and UCLA. Her dream school is UCLA, so that she can utilize everything this prestigious university has to offer. In the future she hopes to have a chance to study abroad and get into the field of geographical research. In her free time she enjoys building welding creations and working on cars.
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Located in the coastal community of Huntington Beach, also known as “Surf City,” Golden West College is highly regarded for academic quality and innovation. Founded in 1965 as part of the multi-college Coast Community College District, GWC provides enriching and innovative programs that help students: transfer to four-year institutions, earn associate degrees, complete certificates in career and technical education, advance their careers, and demonstrate college readiness.
