SATURDAY: Unique UC Scholarship Competition Draws a Record Crowd of Competitors

Cincinnatus Hotline: 513-556-3400

The University of Cincinnati will celebrate its 10th annual Cincinnatus Scholarship competition with a record number of students to vie for more than $12 million in scholarship awards. Lucinda Cohen, assistant director of Student Financial Aid, says a total of 2,094 high school seniors from 40 states – as well as a student from Hong Kong and one from Germany -- will compete on campus for four different levels of scholarship awards, including 10 full awards of $72,000 to pay for tuition, fees, room and board and books. An additional 235 are opting for accepting the lowest-level scholarship without attending the competition, a new option of the scholarship offered this year.

The largest crowd of competitors, 1,450 students, will arrive on campus Saturday, Feb. 11. Connie Williams, director of UC Student Financial Aid, says that with their parents, the total number of Cincinnatus visitors to campus that day is expected to be as high as 3,000, along with 350 faculty and staff and 450 current Cincinnatus scholars who regularly volunteer to assist with the competition. Alternative dates for students who cannot attend the Feb. 11 competition will be held the following two Fridays in February.

Cohen adds that because of the special anniversary of Cincinnatus – as well as UC|21 strategies to place students at the center of the university and attract the nation’s top achievers to UC – the competition holds a special element this year. Two UC alums, the first students to receive full Cincinnatus scholarships after attending the very first competition in 1997, will address students during lunch beginning at noon in Fifth Third Arena at Shoemaker Center.

Bucyrus, Ohio, native Danny Kalb, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business and marketing in 2001, eventually went on to engineering school and is now working in the music industry in California. This week, one of his projects is up for a Grammy Award. Kalb was engineer on musical artist Beck’s Guero album, nominated for a Grammy in the alternative music category.

Also speaking at the luncheon will be Cleveland native Angela Wilson Bondurant, a full Cincinnatus Scholar who graduated in 2002 with a degree in computer engineering. Now residing in Delaware, Ohio, Angela works as a project manager for Verizon Wireless. “I still see the benefits of Cincinnatus,” Bondurant says. “I am able to encourage youth from the inner cities and rural areas to never give up on their dreams to graduate from college. The Cincinnatus Scholarship gave me access to gaining both academic knowledge and the wisdom to live a healthy and more fulfilling life.”

The nation’s top high-school seniors were invited to the Cincinnatus competition after applying to UC last fall. To receive their invitation, the students had to carry at least a 3.0 grade-point average and have one of the following requirements:

• High school rank in the top five percent of the class
• ACT composite of 26
• SAT combined score of 1170

In addition to the 10 full $72,000 scholarship awards, the competition 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)

Beyond UC academics, candidates are also evaluated for scholarship levels based on their commitment to and participation in community service. UC’s Cincinnatus Scholars are required to perform 30 hours of community service per year as part of their scholarship commitment. Cohen says that last year UC’s Cincinnati Scholars completed 75,525 hours of community service.

The University of Cincinnati, which welcomed a record class of more than 5,000 first-time freshmen last fall, also welcomed its largest class ever of Cincinnatus Scholarship recipients – 1,026 of them. The newest group of competitors is arriving on campus just as UC’s MainStreet corridor to blend living and learning is completed. The final and most complex piece of that construction project, the $112.9 million Campus Recreation Center, opens its fitness facility this month. The center’s living quarters, state-of-the-art classrooms, restaurants and convenience store opened over fall and winter quarters. Part of the Cincinnatus Scholarship competition will be held in the Rec Center’s six classrooms. A total of 74 classrooms across campus will be used for the competition that features essay and problem-solving exercises.

Cincinnatus Agenda, Feb. 11

8-9 a.m. – Registration for previously invited participants at UC’s Fifth Third Arena

9 a.m. – Mitchel D. Livingston, UC Vice President for Student Affairs and Services, welcomes students.

9:15  a.m. – Essay and problem-solving exercises

Noon-1:15 p.m. – Luncheon and address in Fifth Third Arena at Shoemaker Center

1:45 p.m. – Presentations about Honors Scholars program

2:45 p.m. – College receptions

4-5:30 p.m. – Optional tour of Daniels and Turner residence halls