KNOXVILLE — Mary Denman of Knoxville is now a sophomore studying biosystems engineering and other environmental matters at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, thanks to a Jack Kent Cooke Foundation scholarship that helps promising students transfer from their two-year colleges to universities.
Denman, 22, who was Pellissippi State Community College’s outstanding graduate in mathematics and natural science for 2009-2010, is one of 40 students nationwide who received one of the foundation’s undergraduate transfer scholarships.
An honor student heavily involved in volunteer activities and peer tutoring, Denman coordinated her college’s participation in RecycleMania, a nationwide competition to promote waste reduction. More than 12,000 pounds of recyclable materials were collected at Pellissippi State as a product of her efforts.
“I realize that my passion is not just for recycling, but for the environment as a whole,” Denman said. “The environment includes everything: land, water, air and life itself. The relationships within our world are complex, and every niche must be cared for in order to sustain balance among them.”
Denman’s career goals are to work for the EPA and to conduct alternative energy research for NASA.
The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is a private foundation dedicated to helping young people of exceptional promise reach their full potential through education. The foundation provides challenging opportunities to high achievers from lower-income families through its various grants and scholarships.
The foundation provides each student a scholarship worth up to $30,000 a year for up to three years, which will allow them to transfer to four-year colleges and universities and complete their undergraduate degrees.
Since 2002, the Undergraduate Transfer program has helped more than 365 students and provided more than $13 million in scholarships.
To learn more about Denman and her career goals, view her profile on the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation website, http://www.jkcf.org.
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C O N T A C T :
Bridget Hardy (865-974-2225, bhardy4@utk.edu)