Community College of Vermont student Autumn Morse of Brattleboro has been awarded a highly competitive Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship by the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. The award will provide Morse with up to $55,000 a year to complete her bachelor’s degree.
Morse is completing her associate degree in health science this summer and will transfer to Suffolk University to study radiation science. For Morse, who once doubted her ability to finish high school, receiving the transfer scholarship is a reminder she can do anything she sets her mind to.
“I feel like I’ve achieved something,” she said. “I’m breaking the cycle of stigma that has happened for generations in my life.”
Morse is a member of CCV’s chapter of the national honor society Phi Theta Kappa. She is the only Vermont student to receive the Cooke scholarship, which, in addition to the monetary award, provides recipients with opportunities for internships, study abroad and graduate school funding as well as connection to a thriving network of over nearly 3,000 Cooke Scholars and alumni.
This year, more than 1,200 students from 332 community colleges applied to receive the scholarship. The Cooke Foundation evaluated each submission based on students’ academic ability and achievement, financial need, persistence and leadership.