Kayla PennickThe seventh cohort of Rudd Scholars includes 15 Kansas high schools who have chosen to attend Wichita State University.
- Annaliese Jorgenson – Hillsboro High School
- Jose Urbina-Renteria – Wichita North High School
- Alexander Baird – Campus High School
- Faith Ekart – Sterling High School
- Kylee Mohr – Great Bend High School
- Richard Gwyn Jr. – Wichita Southeast High School
- Vatedis Coleman - Wichita Southeast High School
- Isabelle Christensen – Southeast of Saline High School
- Kane Huston – Paola High School
- Maimoona Mohammad – Wichita Heights High School
- Mya Scott – Conway Springs High School
- Vivian Chau – Wichita East High School
- Israel Torres Ayala – Wichita Northeast Magnet High School
- Adam Bosworth – Wichita North High School
- Shiloh Goetzinger – Hugoton High School
Each Rudd Scholar will receive a full-ride scholarship, which includes tuition, fees, on-campus housing, and considerable networking and coaching support along the way. All Rudd Scholars are from Kansas and will attend Wichita State, Emporia State, Fort Hays State or Kansas State.
“We’re excited to welcome our seventh class of Shocker Rudd Scholars to Wichita State in the fall,” said Bobby Gandu, assistant vice president, strategic enrollment management and undergraduate admissions. “The Rudd Foundation has blessed these students and their families with a gift which allows them to pursue all their collegiate hopes and dreams in a debt-free, powerful mentor-and-coaching environment. Being affiliated with their classmates and previous scholars delivers them an incredible network of friends and business professionals who give them a second-to-none edge when they pursue post-college career and graduate school opportunities.”
In addition to living on campus and carrying a full load of classes toward their college degree, scholars will receive mentoring and success coaching to help them graduate in four years. They will also participate in many developmental activities outside the classroom, network with leaders in their future professions, build strong relationships among themselves and serve to help the next generation of scholars through an active and connected alumni association after graduation.
“We have no doubt these students will be extraordinarily successful, just as their Shocker Rudd Scholars predecessors have been at Wichita State,” Gandu said. “Those alumni have leveraged their Rudd Scholarship boost with Wichita State’s educational and applied learning experiences to become engineers, accountants, professionals serving in nonprofit organizations and progressing through dental and medical schools. Shocker Rudd Scholars are competitive not only for nearly every major opportunity and award Wichita State offers, but for all of the professional opportunities that await them in Kansas and beyond.”
This brings the greater total of Rudd Scholars studying at WSU in the fall of 2024 to 63 students, the most of any Kansas Board of Regents institution. Since its inception, the Rudd Foundation’s scholarship program has awarded over 200 scholarships, representing an overall investment of over $10 million in Kansas students.
The Rudd Scholarship, sponsored by the Rudd Foundation, aims to remove financial barriers to a college education. Chosen scholars are expected to achieve a high level of excellence on campus in preparing themselves to be leaders in their profession and in their communities after graduation.
Corri Roberts, vice president of the Rudd Foundation, said the program focuses on going beyond meeting the financial needs of the students.
“The Rudd Scholarship is more than financial assistance, focusing on programming that extends Beyond the Dollar, Beyond the Classroom, and Beyond the Degree," Roberts said. “With 125 active scholars and 74 alumni, our community supports each other in reaching their full potential and chasing ambitious goals, reflecting Mr. (Leslie) Rudd’s vision of a lifelong network for learning and growth.”
