Lone Star College-CyFair student and future architect Rosa Rodriguez was recently selected as a semifinalist of the highly competitive Jack Kent Cooke (JKC) Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship.
She is one of 19 students named as a JKC semifinalist across the LSC system, which is the most of any college in Texas and tied with Miami Dade College for the most semifinalists nationwide. In all, 485 semifinalists were chosen from a pool of more than 1,300 applicants nationwide this year. The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation scholarship covers a substantial share of educational expenses, providing as much as $55,000 per year for two to three years, to help high-achieving community college students complete their bachelor’s degrees debt-free.
“Becoming a finalist would be a reflection of my constant effort and the motivation that drives me … an opportunity to show those who have always believed in me, not only my work, but what I am capable of,” said Rodriguez, a first-generation college student, the second to attend college in the U.S. after her brother, since her father’s college degree didn’t transfer here when the family moved from Venezuela about six years ago. “My parents started from scratch to give my brothers and me a better life, and I truly want to honor their efforts.”
Rodriguez is currently not only a member of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, but in The Honors College at LSC-CyFair, she is a Chancellor’s Fellow and serves as lead in the Honors College Leadership Program and as a second-year representative on the Honors College Student Advisory Board.
With a love for architecture that developed through drawing, sketching and a passion for mathematics, her dream is to become a design architect and project architect, with a focus on exterior design, blueprints and scale models.
“My goal is to tell stories through design and create spaces where people can connect while feeling welcome and safe,” said Rodriguez, who plans to graduate this May with an Honors Associate of Science degree and the Highest Honors in Research and International Studies designations.
Since 2012, LSC-CyFair has had 6 students awarded the prestigious JKC scholarship. Finalists will be announced this May.