Students Win Scholarships Worth $20-K

$20-K in Computer Scholarships Shared by Four ASU Students

By Kenneth Mullinax/ASU

Four Alabama State University students are sharing equal portions of a $20,000 scholarship that was awarded by the AFCEA Education Foundation Scholarship Fund, which is composed of members representing the River Region’s top computer and information technology (IT) professionals.

ASU students Shelira Vasser, Takeri Chapman, Aiyana Morris and Don'Trey Manley have each been awarded a $5,000 scholarship that was announced at the AFCEA's Virtual Scholarship Luncheon that on July 21. ASU President, Dr. Quinton T. Ross, Jr., was the keynote speaker at the event.

The event was hosted by Eric Sloan, director of the Montgomery chapter of the AFCEA Education Foundation.

"These ASU students who were awarded our AFCEA scholarships are among some of the best and the brightest young IT and computer students that we have seen," said Sloan, president of 1 SYNC Technologies, a prominent Montgomery firm specializing in IT and cybersecurity for business and government. 

STUDENTS REFLECT ON SCHOLARSHIPS AND ASU 

The four ASU scholarship winners had similar expressions of thanks and appreciation about their AFCEA scholarships and experiences at the University.  

Shelira Vasser, a native of Uniontown, Ala., said that she feels honored and blessed to have been recognized by AFCEA. 

"The $5,000 that has been awarded to me will go directly to my tuition and will help me and my family pay for my education," said Vasser, a junior Computer Science major. “ASU has allowed me to grow personally and educationally. It has also given me a second home that is close to the incredible bond that I have with my parents. I have had wonderful professors who advise me educationally, look out for me, and explain to me what I need to do to advance my career." 

Computer Information Systems senior Aiyana Morris stated that she is "overjoyed" because this scholarship will help make her senior year “tuition free.”  

"I feel so blessed because the University has helped me in so many ways by offering me different opportunities and great faculty members who advise me on classes and on how to achieve my career goals," Morris said. "I have to publicly thank Dr. (Kamal) Hingorani, who has helped me in so many ways to be at the top by advising me with my ASU classes, steering me toward internships and explaining to me how to reach my employment goals." 

Union Springs, Ala. is the hometown of Don'Trey Manley, a junior majoring in Computer Information Systems, who also praises ASU and Hingorani for his academic success. 

"I feel very appreciative in winning this scholarship. ASU has helped me in more ways than I could ever imagine," Manley explained by text. "The support I've received from my supervisor and from Dr. Hingorani is honestly amazing." 

Takeri Chapman grew up in Mobile and is a rising-senior majoring in Computer Information Technology.  

She is the first person in her family to attend college. 

"Being the first generation of my family to attend a college makes me extremely happy to win this award that will help me to be able to reduce my college loans," Chapman said by phone. "I feel blessed, happy, shocked and overjoyed. ASU has definitely allowed me to grow in ways that I never knew were possible. Dr. Hingorani has encouraged and pushed me to dream big, accomplish a lot and grow as a person." 

ABOUT AFCEA AND ASU 

Montgomery's AFCEA chapter has a history of working with the University to advance IT opportunities for ASU students. AFCEA also collaborates with ASU to provide education for local junior and high school students about the field of Information Technology.  

AFCEA and ASU collaborations include CAMP IT, a summer camp experience for junior and senior high school students. Also, ASU's Center for Leader and Public Policy has been the host for several years of the "Best Robotics Championships" that pits the best young minds from both public and private high schools in a competition to build robots to accomplish a themed task, which is new and unique to each year's competition.  

SCHOLARSHIP WINNER SUMS UP WINNING IN ONE SENTENCE 

Mobile native Chapman explained that her winning a scholarship is due to one major part of her life. 

"I owe it all to my going to school at ASU." 

News media contact: Kenneth Mullinax, 334-229-4104. 

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