Five college juniors from Georgia received a public service scholarship created by the Obama Foundation and Airbnb Co-Founder and CEO Brian Chesky.
Among the 100 recipients of the scholarship were Stanford University student Esther Ceballo Ortiz from Fayetteville; University of Alabama at Birmingham student Wajiha Mekki from Lawrenceville; Georgia State University Lucero Mendez from Snellville; Vanderbilt University student Samantha Mitike from Duluth; and Duke University student Henry Stephens IV from Grovetown.
The Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholarship provides students with up to $50,000 in financial aid and a two-year program to help kick-start their careers in public service. Recipients can access work-travel funding, personalized career guidance, the Obama Foundation network and a 10-year travel stipend.
This year’s cohort hails from 44 states and territories, according to a Tuesday announcement by former President Barack Obama, former First Lady Michelle Obama and Chesky.
According to the press release, many members of this year’s cohort expressed an interest in public health topics, such as mental health, healthcare access, technology and reproductive rights.
Of the five recipients from Georgia, three are interested in pursuing careers in public health. Ceballo Ortiz is interested in finding solutions for maternal and child health inequities affecting minority communities across the world and is planning to pursue a master’s in public health. Mitike will focus on improving healthcare access for LGBTQ+ youth and aims to create a startup to help marginalized communities get healthcare resources. Mekki wants to help mitigate health inequities through diplomacy and plans to pursue a foreign service career with a focus on healthcare programs.
As for the other recipients from Georgia, Mendez will focus on increasing public transportation access during his scholarship, hoping to eventually study urban planning at the graduate level. Stephens will focus on breaking down homeownership inequities through housing policies. His aim is to become a civil rights attorney targeting discriminatory lending practices.
A $100 million donation by Chesky to the Obama Foundation funds the scholarship, which is now in its third iteration.
“When Michelle, Brian, and I launched the Voyager Scholarship in 2022, we were excited to see what young people with a passion for public service could do when given the right support,” Barack Obama said in the press release. “The past two cohorts have shown tremendous passion, curiosity, and collaboration – all while working hard across their college campuses. Today, as we welcome our third cohort of Voyagers, I’m more hopeful than ever that our future is in good hands.”
According to Chesky, the first two cohorts of Voyager Scholarship recipients traveled to 80 countries.
“We created the Voyager Scholarship to help the next generation of leaders build bridges and develop the tools needed to take on the next generation of challenges,” Chesky said in the press release. “I’m thrilled to welcome our third cohort of Voyagers, and am inspired by how the program is evolving, with each group building on the last to design a better future.”
