150 students out of 150,000.
Of the 0.1% of people nationwide who are chosen to become a renowned Coca-Cola Scholar and recipient of $20,000, senior Avni Kabra was nationally recognized for her dedication to leadership, service, and action.
“Everybody took the opportunity to show sides of themselves that aren’t shown in the application, like personality. I brought that to my interview because they look for leadership and service. I feel like these are qualities I align with so I was able to talk about it much easier,” Kabra said.
There are three stages to becoming a Coca-Cola Scholar. The first stage consists of filling out basic information such as GPA, transcript, and extracurriculars. From there, select students are chosen to become
a regional finalist who represent the top 10 to 12 people from each state. The final stage to become a Coca-Cola scholar consists of interviews and essays.
Essay topics include: How have you made a difference in your community? What is someone or something that’s had a huge impact on you?
“In my essays, I talked a lot about the volunteering events I’ve done with LEO Club as president. I’m also part of this national non-profit that provides resources to underserved communities, which is super exciting. I talked a lot about my grandma who had a serious impact on me and inspired me to go into science and math,” Kabra said.
Kabra reflects on getting awarded for her accomplishments.
“It’s so great to be recognized because there are 149 other people who have done something so great in their field of passion. Every year, this community of scholars goes on to college and you see that they’ve made an impact. Some of the Coke scholars today have million-dollar businesses and startups that have become successful. I think it’s empowering to know that I could be one of those people eventually,” Kabra said.
For the past 34 years, the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation has aimed to “invest in our future – offering college scholarships to exceptional high school students dedicated to leadership, service, and action that positively affect others.”
For Kabra, this not only means using the scholarship to fund her next four years at Yale University, but also building up a network of connections and opportunities.
“I found that in high school extracurriculars are a super great way to supplement the education I’m getting in college. I’m hoping that what I can do with the Coca-Cola Foundation is meet people who are going to further my interest extracurricularly. Through research, or starting an initiative, whatever it may be, I know that I have that backing, and Coke scholars gives me that,” Kabra said.
