Jack Kent Cooke Young Scholars Selected
Furthering their mission to help young people of promise reach their full potential through education, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation has selected 45 Young Scholars for 2005. The newly named Young Scholars, chosen from over 1,000 applicants for their academic achievement and determination, are current eighth graders from 21 states and the District of Columbia.
The Young Scholars program provides individualized educational services, including tutoring, summer program tuition, music and art lessons, and, mentoring. The program is unique because it focuses on the whole child, the whole day, and the whole year.
Jack Kent Cooke, who built a media empire and also owned the Los Angeles Lakers and Washington Redskins, died in April 1997. He dreamed of a college education for himself, but had to drop out of high school to help his family weather the Great Depression. He set aside the bulk of his estate to create a foundation dedicated to education.
Applications for 2006 will be available in January and can be downloaded from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Web site. Current 7th graders or 6th graders planning to skip the 7th grade are eligible to apply.