Maldonado Named Semifinalist for Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship

Hanceville, Ala. — Wallace State Community College is proud to announce that recent graduate Vianney Verdin Maldonado has been selected as semifinalist for the highly competitive Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation.

“We are extremely proud of and excited for Vianney,” Wallace State President Dr. Vicki Karolewics. “She is extremely deserving of this honor. During her time here at Wallace State, she was very active in campus organizations, even starting two new clubs for students and a student-led podcast.”

Maldonado was named the college’s Student of the Year in 2024 and was recognized by the Alabama Community College System with her selection for the 2024 All-Alabama Academic Team.

This transformative scholarship empowers exceptional community college students with financial need to transfer to the nation’s top four-year institutions while avoiding the burden of student debt. The award, which is last dollar funding after all institutional aid, can provide as much as $55,000 per year for two to three years to complete a bachelor’s degree at any accredited four-year undergraduate institution in the U.S.

“Our Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship represents a lifeline for exceptional community college students to actualize their academic dreams,” said Giuseppe “Seppy” Basili, Executive Director of the Cooke Foundation. “This year’s semifinalists exemplify the extraordinary talent found within community colleges across America, and we’re excited to congratulate this group as we celebrate a quarter century of work as a Foundation.”

Maldonado is one of 467 community college students across the United States selected as a semifinalist from more than 1,600 applicants from 212 community colleges in 43 states.

Previous Wallace State students who were named semifinalists for the Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship include Bryant Simmons in 2021, Aljohn Cellis in 2020 and Chelsea Allen in 2008. Cellis and Allen each went on to win the prestigious scholarship. 

The Foundation will announce the 2025 Undergraduate Transfer Scholars in May. For more information and a list of semifinalists, visit https://www.jkcf.org/our-stories/2025-transfer-scholarship-semifinalists.

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About Wallace State

Wallace State Community College (Ala.), a member of the Alabama Community College System, is a comprehensive community college in north central Alabama offering more than 200 options in academic, health and technical programs of study leading to an associate degree, certificate or transfer, as well as workforce-credit training and adult education. An Achieving the Dream Leader College, nationally recognized by the Aspen Institute as a finalist for the 2025 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, ranked by Southern Business and Development among the Top 3 institutions in the South for workforce development, named a Center of Excellence by the National League for Nursing and the National Security Administration, rated the Top Online Community College in Alabama, a Military Friendly Institution and an All-Steinway School, Wallace State is an outstanding place for students to pursue their education and career goals. Classes are offered online and on campus, day, evening and on weekends, with numerous start dates each year. Visit Wallace State’s beautiful main campus located on 300-acres in Hanceville, Ala., our satellite location in downtown Oneonta, Ala., find us online at www.wallacestate.edu, or call 256.352.8000.