Opening Doors to Student Success

Body images and the ways society responds to the human form is a theme that’s defined artist Wes Holloway’s work—and his life. In 2003, Wes suffered a traumatic spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the chest down.

A recipient of the Morris Louis Art Student Assistant Fund and the Martha Von Hirsh Memorial Scholarship, Holloway is committed to pursuing his dreams of becoming a professional artist, while focusing his craft on deconstructing stereotypes of masculinity, sexuality and body ideals.

“Attending GW puts me in a place where…I am able to tie my artwork into the issues, with the hope that I will create meaningful change in viewpoints and policy,” he said. “Complex problems demand creative strategies. These scholarships have given me the ability to uplift my voice.”

“I can speak to people through art in ways that I can’t always do with words,” he said. “Art has helped open my eyes to what other people have lived through and the universality of what we all go through.”

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The GW Law student spent decades navigating the labyrinth of immigration law and now uses that understanding to help fight for civil and human rights.  

“I want to serve humanity, and I can see how it might seem weird to join the military in order to help people,” he said. “But people think the same thing about the law: it’s a field that can do a lot of harm, but it has the potential to do so much good. I think being in the military and being on that side of it will teach me some of the realities of humanitarian law in a way that will allow me to apply that knowledge to make real change.”  

"I applied to law school with a dream and a desire to effect change, but with no idea how I would afford it. [Donor funding] goes a long way in making law school possible for me.”

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Scholarship funding has allowed Grace Seo to devote more energy to her academics and the opportunity to connect with professors and the diverse community of GW.

”It’s really important to not only be involved in your academics and pursue what you want to do as a career, but also—because GW is so diverse—it’s so important to embrace your own culture and heritage,” she said. “Being a part of the Asian-American Student Association has allowed me to meet people who share the same types of problems and issues and perspectives.”

Read more at GW Today

A recipient of the Corcoran Scholars award and Steiner Scholarship, Ms. Reddy is involved with the band and orchestra at GW, and formed a brass quintet in her first year at the university. She appreciates the many concert series hosted by the GW music department, and especially loves the Fridays at Five performances. “Fridays at Five is a great opportunity for students to perform their works in front of a kind and receptive audience. I’ve enjoyed playing at these performances, as well as learning more about other Corcoran students’ works,” she says.

Scholarship funding allows students the freedom to take advantage of all that GW has to offer.

Read more about Laya

Allison Cameron knew even as a high school student that she wanted to go to medical school, which would probably entail considerable out-of-pocket expenses.

She chose GW in part because its urban campus and large, diverse student population would offer an exciting new context in which to explore and expand her interests.

”I was always of the mindset that I want to do that thing I’m passionate about, regardless of whether it would be word for word everything they want on a med school application,” she said. “I would rather do things that I really love while I have the time in college.”

Many of those things were made possible by aid, including staying on campus one summer to research the effect of pesticides on honeybee memory, a paper she’s now working on getting published, after years as an undergraduate researcher in the biology department’s honeybee lab.

”There’s so many things I know I wouldn’t have been able to do if not for financial aid,” Cameron said. “I took the EMT class at GW, and being able to take that as part of my course load was super helpful. That’s given me so many opportunities, and now it’s my job.”

Read more at GW Today

“With the help of the award from the Richard Lahey and Carlotta Gonzalez Lahey Fund, I can attend GW where my world has opened to a wide range of new experiences.”

“Learning from and with a diverse set of peers, and to work and connect with established artists, drive me to keep expanding my knowledge-base and skill-sets.”

Read more about Andrew