$18 Million in UC Scholarships at Stake in Cincinnatus Competition

The number 13 will turn out to be a lucky one for 10 future freshmen entering the University of Cincinnati next fall, as the 13th annual Cincinnatus Scholarship Competition on Feb. 7 offers 10 full, four-year scholarship awards of $80,000 to pay for tuition, books, room and board, and fees. The competition holds a total of $18 million in scholarships. Everyone heads home a winner with no less than $2,000 per year in four-year awards.

Lucinda Cohen, assistant director of UC Student Financial Aid, says 1,400 high school seniors representing 31 states are expected on campus for the Feb. 7 competition for a day of essay and leadership exercises. Joined by their parents, the campus is expecting a total of 3,000 visitors that Saturday, guided by 175 faculty and staff assessors, presenters and event coordinators, as well as 525 current UC Cincinnatus scholars serving as guides at the competition. The competition will fill 100 classrooms across campus.

In addition to the 10 full $80,000 awards, the competition also holds

• 100 Founders awards of $24,000 ($6,000 per year)
• 200 University awards of $14,000 ($3,500 per year)
• Century awards of $8,000 ($2,000 per year)

“Going into the competition, I was amazed at the number of people I saw at registration,” says Cincinnatus scholar Mark Schutte of Mason, Ohio, a UC freshman civil/environmental engineering major awarded an $80,000 four-year scholarship after competing in Cincinnatus last February. “When I came into the competition, I really wasn’t expecting to go as far as I did, so I’m looking forward to meeting these competitors so that I can pass along that if I can do it, they can do it, too,” says Schutte, one of the 525 Cincinnatus scholars who will be volunteering at the competition.

The nation’s top high school seniors were invited to compete in Cincinnatus XIII after applying to UC last fall. To be considered for competition, they needed to meet a minimum 3.2 high-school GPA with further eligibility determined by the academic program they selected at UC.

Because of UC’s commitment to building a generation of civic-minded leaders, the Cincinnatus competition also considers the competitor’s record of community service. Each scholarship recipient performs 30 hours of community service per academic year. UC’s Student Financial Aid Office reports that 3,169 students are currently Cincinnatus scholars, which would amount to 95,070 hours of community service that these students will contribute to serving the community over this academic year.

UC Chief Diversity Officer and Vice President of Student Affairs Mitchel D. Livingston will deliver the 9 a.m. student keynote address in Fifth Third Arena at Shoemaker Center.

UC alumna Cindy Chiang, a 2004 graduate of the UC College of Engineering with a BA in biomedical engineering and a 2004 recipient of the university’s Presidential Leadership Medal of Excellence for exemplary UC graduates, will address the competitors at 1 p.m. in Fifth Third Arena.

Chiang was a Century-level Cincinnatus scholarship recipient and UC Honors student who created Camp Bearcat, an overnight retreat for first-year students. She is a past president of the UC women’s honorary, Cincinnati Women in Excellence and Spirit Together (CWEST), served as Vice President of Sigma Phi’s women’s honorary, former president of the Panhellenic Council, and was UC’s 2002 Homecoming Queen. Chiang also worked as a tour guide for UC Admissions and participated in the co-op program at Ethicon Endo Surgery, a Johnson & Johnson company.

Following graduation, Chiang began her career at Procter & Gamble in Consumer and Market Knowledge on the Bounty Paper Towels brand. As a resident of Chicago, Ill., Chiang currently is an assistant marketing manager for the Wrigley Company – responsible for new product innovation on the newest gum brand, ‘5.’

In the evenings, Chiang is continuing her education at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and will receive her MBA in 2010.

UC’s 2008 freshman class was celebrated as the most academically prepared freshman class ever on the Uptown Campus, with freshmen in UC’s baccalaureate colleges averaging a 24.8 on the ACT. Their SAT test scores averaged 1125 last fall, compared with an average of 1109 in fall 2007.  The 2008 freshman class also held a record 44 National Merit Scholars.

Cincinnatus Agenda Highlights for pre-registered participants, Feb. 7

8 a.m. – Registration for previously invited candidates only, Fifth Third Arena at Shoemaker Center

8:50 a.m. – College-Conservatory of Music aluma and graduate student Jennifer Brown Araya, who was awarded a full Cincinnatus Scholarship in 2004, will sing the national anthem.

8:55 a.m. – Twelve full Cincinnatus scholarship awardees will present the flags to their corresponding colleges.

8:58 a.m. – Morning welcome delivered by Caroline Miller, senior associate vice president and associate provost for enrollment management.

9 a.m. – Keynote address from Mitchel D. Livingston, chief diversity officer and vice president of student affairs

9:15 a.m. – Essay and problem-solving exercises across campus (closed to media)

Noon – Lunch in Fifth Third Arena

1 p.m. – Address by UC alumna Cindy Chiang

1:45 p.m. – College sessions

3-5:30 p.m. – Optional residence hall open houses for Calhoun, Daniels, Dabney, Morgens and Turner Halls, and the Stratford Heights living community on Clifton Avenue

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