We are proud to announce that Jendayi Johnson, a Communication Sciences and Disorders student at Columbia University, has won our 2016 JustJobs Scholarship award.
Jendayi’s essay was inspirational and thoughtful. Jendayi was interested in becoming a speech-language pathologist after her grandmother “suffered a stroke that limited her ability to speak”. According to Jendayi, “it was impressive to see a professional use her degree to help someone who had lost such a fundamental skill regain her speech capabilities”. Throughout her college career, however, she has had to overcome the belief she “wasn’t good enough to handle the demands of college”. After overcoming many obstacles, Jendayi is now pursuing a masters degree that will be the first step of many towards achieving her goal of fortifying her “clients’ abilities to communicate their thoughts, opinions, and desires” and continuing on the trajectory that other Black scholars who came before her created.
Jendayi’s intelligence, passion, and obvious drive will no doubt allow her success in her chosen career as a Speech-Language Pathologist.
The six finalists – Jendayi Johnson, Raz Tzameret, George Nail, Preston Lingle, Antonio Sakkis and Jacob Huls – were selected from hundreds of other applicants for their dedication to learning, desire to make a positive impact on the world, and how their incredible stories have helped mold their future career paths. Choosing one winner was an incredibly difficult decision considering the exceptional student applicants and quality of their essays.
We want to thank our site visitors and all who voted to help us select a winner. The support shown through positive comments left for these students affirms both their career paths and the wonderful impact they already have on the lives of others.
To apply for the next JustJobs Scholarship, visit the scholarship page and check if your school has registered for the program.