The MLK Scholarship, a local trust fund scholarship given to students of color in the New London area since the late ’60s, announced its 2024 list of scholars, including a senior from FHS.
Mahi Patel, a senior who is the president of BSU, Key Club, and the Keyettes, was one of twelve students across New London County who won the $20,000 four-year scholarship. The scholarship, which began to calm tensions in the aftermath of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, has soon grown to help minority students get financial aid to educational institutions in the New London County area.
The scholarship requires students to fill out an application which includes letters of recommendation and an essay.
“Honestly the application part of it wasn’t hard because I was trying to be myself,” Patel remarked. “I didn’t even have anyone really read or critique my essay, which I don’t recommend. I just trusted myself, my beliefs, and my values.”
Applicants were then narrowed down and were selected for an interview with the board of trustees who oversee the scholarship. These interviewees were then narrowed down into the final list of scholars.
“I practiced alone in my room with different interview questions, I had my family ask me questions, I even had a Zoom call with Ms. Hodge to practice for the real interview,” Patel recalls. “But if I’m being honest I was more nervous practicing for it than I was in the room of five board members interviewing me.”
This Tuesday, the scholars gathered at the Foxwoods Premiere Ballroom in Mashantucket for the 43rd Annual Awards Ceremony and Dinner where they gave speeches.
“I was very nervous going into [the speech], but when the speech came around I was confident. The other speeches made me a little emotional,” Patel remarked. “I got to talk to eighth graders [and encouraged] them to strive for this scholarship because along with the money comes a lot of recognition and honor that will never leave you. It was overall a very great night, and my outfit was a cherry on top .”
Last year, Fitch Class of 2024 members Gianni Drab, Calvin McCoy, and Katheryn Regan were recipients of the scholarship.
