Northampton Student Awarded Full-Tuition Scholarship

NORTHAMPTON, PA — A recent Northampton Area High School graduate has ben named the winner of the 12th Annual Scholarship Competition.

Sydnee Cooper, of Northampton, was one of over 100 students who took the three hour exam that covered an array of topics like arts, science, and the humanities. She was announced as one of 25 students eligible to go on to the next stage of the competition. Cooper and four others took part in the final stage, which focused on an interview for the scholarship.

Cedar Crest College President Dr. Elizabeth M. Meade called her to tell her she won.

“I cried, my mom cried and my family cried," says Cooper. She is a first-generation college student. "It was not only a deal huge for me, but for my entire family.”

Cooper applied after hearing her friend planned to attend the school. Cooper and her family have experienced poverty and homelessness at certain points, and she says she was very unsure about what her career in higher education would have been without winning the competition.

“I didn't really know what I was going to do [about college],” she says. “Then I applied here and was told I was eligible for the competition. I don't come from a very well-to-do family, and so the idea was that if I did not win the competition, I would go to community college. I couldn’t afford to not win it.”

(Courtesy of Carson Easterly)

Now a freshman at Cedar Crest, Cooper is currently majoring in secondary education, with plans to take on a second major in mathematics. She is also very involved with the school's theatre.

“I am so happy with my decision to come to Cedar Crest because I love campus life. The community is so small, and I love being at a women’s college,” Cooper says.