Making Their Way
They have served on local school boards, conducted climate-change research, built state-level political action committees, and led mental health campaigns, all while still in high school.
The newest class of Emory Scholars—twenty-one recipients of the university’s top merit scholarships—combine academic achievement with a commitment to leadership and community service.
The Emory Scholars Program has sought the most talented students with a demonstrated eagerness for real-world impact since 1981, the first year of the Robert W. Woodruff Scholarships. Woodruff, the former president of The Coca-Cola Company, made news with a $105 million gift to Emory in 1979, part of which was used to create his signature scholarship, designed to draw Ivy League–bound students to Emory instead.
Emory Scholar Tom Garrett, of Burnsville, North Carolina
“We’re excited to welcome such a vibrant, diverse, and promising group of students to Emory,” says Edmund Goode, assistant director of the Emory Scholars Program. “We’re ready to empower them to make meaningful contributions to our campus, the city of Atlanta, and beyond.”
This year, Emory College, on the Atlanta campus, welcomed fourteen Woodruff Scholars, while five Woodruff Scholars will spend their first two years on Emory’s original campus in Oxford, Georgia. The Atlanta campus also has two Jenkins Scholars, named for the founder of the Publix grocery store chain.
Emory Scholar Grace Johnson, of Greenville, South Carolina,
While Emory Scholars hail from around the world, they say they were drawn to Emory by the university’s interdisciplinary strengths.
Jenkins Scholar Tom Garrett 23C is weighing majors in psychology, neuroscience and behavioral biology, and history. “Emory is ideal for overlapping interests, and it’s just such a welcoming place. I’m not worried about finding something I love.”
Emory Scholar Sachi Madan, of Bellevue, Washington
Grace Johnson 23C, an Oxford Woodruff Scholar from Greenville, South Carolina, is considering a Spanish major and will run cross country. “I know I’ll thrive in the more connected Oxford environment and can expand my impact from there,” she says.
Sachi Madan 23C lived abroad before her family settled in Bellevue, Washington. She plans a double major in politics and international studies. “The opportunities are so unique at Emory, like encouraging study abroad as part of research,” Madan says. “You can really make your own way here.”
