Celebrating National Scholarship Month

The Actuarial Foundation is proud to celebrate National Scholarship Month. The observance of National Scholarship Month was established in 1998 by Scholarship America to encourage young people to attend college. Throughout the month of November, we will be sharing students’ stories of how Foundation scholarships have helped them to achieve their goals.

Throughout her high school career, Ava Brown pursued her interest in big data and mathematics. Now, Ava is continuing to fuel these passions with a goal to revolutionize the way the world approaches risk and customer segmentation. As a member of the first cohort of the Foundation’s STEM Stars Actuarial Scholars Program, Ava is now a first-year student at Stanford University studying Mathematical and Computational Science with a focus on financial applications. We are humbled by Ava’s ambition and proud to join her on her college journey. The STEM Stars Actuarial Scholars Program will give her access to mentoring and tutoring as well as immersion experiences and exposure to internships and job shadowing opportunities.

“I am so thankful for The Actuarial Foundation’s support as I start this new chapter in my life, and truly believe that you are enabling me to make the most of my opportunities in college and fully immerse myself in everything the Silicon Valley has to offer. I have always been one of the few women in my STEM classes and the only Black student. With your support and four years of uninhibited discovery of math applications at Stanford, I know I can blaze a trail for others to follow as a Black woman in STEM.”
—Ava Brown, University Student and member of the inaugural STEM Stars Actuarial Scholars Program

Thanks to our network of incredibly generous individual and corporate supporters, Ava is starting her college career ready to succeed. Thank you for all you do to help the students we serve achieve their dreams!