Biology Major, Lauren Mejia, Receives $10,000 HENAAC-NAVSEA/SPAWAR  Scholarship

November 15, 2013

By Kim McDonald

Lauren Mejia, recipient

Lauren Mejia, a first-year general biology student in the Division of Biological Sciences, has won a $10,000 HENAAC-NAVSEA/SPAWAR scholarship, funded by the U.S. Navy in partnership with the organization, Great Minds in STEM, to “an outstanding, incoming, first-year college student, attending a Hispanic Serving Institution and pursuing a major in STEM.” This highly competitive scholarship is renewable up to four years and includes a summer internship. Mejia graduated from Monrovia High School, in the top five percent of her class, and with a 4.14 GPA.

Biology Dean Bill McGinnis, who hopes to persuade more women and members of minority groups to consider careers in science, says the award is particularly valuable at a time of declining financial support for higher education. “ I think it is wonderful that Lauren has won this prestigious award,” he says. “For me, it is a particular pleasure, being a Navy veteran who spent nearly four years on the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise.”