Broward College Student and Alumna Earn Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarships

Fort Lauderdale, Fl. (April 26, 2017) – Broward College is proud to announce that a student and alumna have been announced as 2017 recipients of the prestigious Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship. Quratulain Amin and Yanelle Cruz are among 75 students in the country to receive the award. They were selected from a nationwide pool of over 2,000 applicants for their academic achievement, persistence, desire to help others, and leadership. The addition of Amin and Cruz brings the number of Broward College students awarded to 20, making the institution second in the nation for Jack Kent Cooke scholars.

"Broward College students are continuously recognized as Jack Kent Cooke scholars because of the dedication they demonstrate to their studies, our outstanding faculty, and the wraparound educational services we provide,” said Broward College President J. David Armstrong, Jr. “We are proud of Quratulain and Yanelle for their stellar academic achievement and we look forward to seeing great things from both of them in the future.”

Quratulain Amin was born in Karachi, Pakistan and moved to South Florida after graduating high school. She is a member of the Robert ‘Bob’ Elmore Honors College where she is an active member of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society and serves in the role of vice president. Recently, Quratulain was named to the Florida College System 2017 All-Florida Academic Team. Quratulain will graduate this May with a 4.0 GPA. She will transfer to the University of Miami to pursue a bachelor’s in Biomedical Engineering with the goal of becoming a cardiac surgeon. Her twin sister also was a semi-finalist for the Jack Kent Cooke scholarship.

Yanelle Cruz Bonilla is an international student from Tegucigalpa, Honduras and the first in her family to attend college. In May 2014, Yanelle left to attend Broward College with only enough money to pay for one semester. Despite many financial challenges, she graduated with a 4.0 GPA and highest honors in May 2016. While at a summer internship program hosted by The Fund for American Studies in Washington, D.C., she was accepted to a one year public policy fellowship hosted by the Fund, and was hired as a Strategic Communications intern at the Urban Institute. She currently is entertaining acceptances from multiple schools and will continue her education with the goal of becoming a social policy researcher and analyst in the hopes that her work will inspire change for minorities.

Each year, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation provides up to $40,000 to top community college students with plans to continue their education. The award covers a portion of each student's educational expenses including tuition, living expenses, books, and required fees towards their bachelor’s degree. Awards vary for each recipient and is based on the cost of tuition as well as other grants or scholarships he or she may receive. Jack Kent Cooke Scholars additionally are eligible for graduate school funding up to $50,000 per year for up to four years.

Past recipients include Sarah Wiggill, 2004; Sally-Anne McDonnell, 2006; Michelle Mills and Ben Walker, 2007; Paola Mariselli and Sarah Santos, 2008; Whitney Johnston, 2010; Faithful Okoye, 2011; Ronald Bray and Joseph O'Neill, 2012; Miklos Haranghy and Duckenson Joseph, 2013; Paul Harvel, 2014; Jarredd Simpson, David Millar and Malak Benkhadra, 2015; and Sergey Sterlyadev and Ihsane Benkhadra, 2016.