The Goodnight Scholars distinguished speaker Fredi Lajvardi speaks in Talley Student Center about his past high school students, who, despite being undocumented immigrants, were able to build a robot which beat that of MIT. Lajvardi stated that "though those four boys [his students] struggled and only one got the American dream, they opened the doors for so many more." He continued to advocate for STEM and for diversity within STEM. When speaking to the future teachers in the audience he commented that the biggest thing missing was the ability to inspire and motivate the students and, of himself, thought "instead of a teacher, I became an obstacle remover. I prefer the term facilitate."" />
Nicholas Faulkner/Archive
The Goodnight Scholars distinguished speaker Fredi Lajvardi speaks in Talley Student Center about his past high school students, who, despite being undocumented immigrants, were able to build a robot which beat that of MIT. Lajvardi stated that "though those four boys [his students] struggled and only one got the American dream, they opened the doors for so many more." He continued to advocate for STEM and for diversity within STEM. When speaking to the future teachers in the audience he commented that the biggest thing missing was the ability to inspire and motivate the students and, of himself, thought "instead of a teacher, I became an obstacle remover. I prefer the term facilitate."
Since 2008, the Goodnight Scholars Program has been investing in students in STEM majors at NC State University. Students from North Carolina with middle income family background, Goodnight Scholars are high achieving students who receive scholarship funding for their education and enrichment opportunities.
“Our program is unique because we really are one of, if not the only, middle income, need and merit-based hybrid scholarship program,” said Jason Perry, assistant director of the Goodnight Scholars Program.
“Lower income families, through grants and other financial aid, still have those kind of opportunities for helping to fund their college education,” Perry said. “Higher income families are typically able to afford the cost of higher education, either out of pocket or through investments and also are competitive for a lot of scholarship programs as well, that don’t have a merit-need based hybrid like we do. Often times it’s middle income families that are getting squeezed out of the equation, so to speak. The Goodnights wanted an opportunity to help fund these students.”
Atif Mahmood, a sophomore studying biological sciences, is among the middle income, North Carolinian students who the program is geared toward.
“I really liked that [the program] was specific for middle income families,” Mahmood said. “I think it adds to the familial and community aspect of the program, because we all have so much in common to start with, such as majoring in STEM disciplines and being from North Carolina.”
Mahmood, who was originally attracted to the program for its financial aspect, liked the program because of how different it was from other scholarships. He liked how down to earth the scholars seemed and how the program seemed to involve more than just a scholarship.
“It’s impacted me in a lot of ways beyond financial aid,” Mahmood said. “They do a lot of professional development programs, and meeting with faculty members you get to see successful people who have made themselves into something you would aspire to be. That really motivates you.”
Over the years, the Goodnight Scholars Program has evolved from a $8,800 yearly scholarship to an all-encompassing program that not only includes the $19,500 yearly scholarship money for four years, but a variety of learning opportunities that include travel, professional development workshops, a freshman seminar, networking opportunities and more.
“Starting in 2013, it’s been a community where students not only receive their scholarship, which has increased significantly, but have access to a variety of STEM-based developmental programs and service events,” Perry said. “The students that we take in per year has increased as well. We started out at 25, but now it’s at 50 students per year.”
Sarah Bristol, a senior studying mathematics and mathematics education, saw many of these changes just within her four years at NC State.
“It was a really different program when I started out,” Bristol said. “They were only offering about half the money, and they only had one director and had just added a staff member. They also had a lot less programming. We were the guinea pigs; our year was the first year they tried out the Goodnight Scholar programming.”
Bristol, who entered NC State intent in studying engineering said that while the program is flexible with scholars changing their majors with STEM disciplines, it will not apply if they do something outside of those fields.
The application process for the program is also lengthy and in-depth. Starting in December, incoming freshmen who have been invited submit their applications to be selected as one of the 100 finalists who attend Finalist Interview Day in February. Scholars are notified of their acceptance in March.
“We have about 700 applications that we go through,” Perry said. “Students are invited to apply to the program based on a variety of criteria, particularly their academic success as well as county demographic information. We do look to service counties of our state that are generally underrepresented. Predominantly, a lot of students from the northeast are underrepresented at NC State. We want a holistic approach to our program, and that means bringing in students from all kinds of different backgrounds and academic success.”
Tin Phan, a sophomore studying biochemistry, has found his time in the Goodnight Scholars Program to be extremely enriching and amazing.
“I’ve really enjoyed the community the program has provided,” Phan said. “There are so many opportunities in the program. Every month the Goodnight Scholars hosts professional and social events for students to attend, and if you look at other Goodnight Scholars they are involved in so many research opportunities and social justice issues. There’s a chance to network with someone who’s doing something that you are interested in.”
The Goodnight Scholars Program also allows students to gain active experience with their mentor program. Phan found working with his mentor to be very valuable.
“We have also been able to work with professionals in the field we aspire to be in,” Phan said. “Working with Dr. Obinna Adibe at Duke Pediatrics Hospital has really been an eye-opener for me. It was amazing to do my first physical exam on a patient with my mentor.”
Gaining experience in a professional setting is not the only way Phan has benefited, however.
“The program definitely helped me to go out of my regular zone; for example, I’m involved in the Goodnight Scholars Lego Brick Build community group for local disadvantaged youth from the Wake County Boys and Girls Club,” Phan said. “It was really humbling and awe-inspiring to me at the end of the event to see the scale of the event and to see what I could accomplish with a team of Goodnight Scholars. I couldn’t imagine these kind of opportunities when I applied to the program or what we could do together as a team.”
Reflecting on his experience in the Goodnight Scholars Program so far, Mahmood said that it really pushed him to grow and expand his skillset.
“We haven’t reached the pinnacle of where we could be, but that’s with any program,” Mahmood said. “That fact is that they have built it into more than just a scholarship, and that’s really great.”