7 Indian American students receive Upakar scholarships

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Seven Indian American students were awarded Upakar Scholarships with two receiving the Upakar Textbook Scholarship, one receiving the Virginia for Education Scholarship, one receiving the Ajay Ojha Memorial Scholarship, and three receiving the new Khuba Watumull Scholarship.

Krishna Kotak of Mt. Prospect, Illinois and Sricharan Sheshasai of Cedar Rapids, Iowa were awarded the Upakar Textbook Scholarship and will receive $250 each.

Rakesh Jony of Sugarland, Texas was awarded the Upakar Virginia for Education Scholarship, while Robin Abrol of East Elmhurst, New York was awarded the Upakar Ajay Ojha Memorial Scholarship, in memory of board member Ajay Ojha; both will receive up to $8,000 tuition over the course of four years.

Rupa Duggirala of Colorado Springs, Colorado, Tejas Medapalli of Sugarland, Texas and Veenadhari Kollipara of Bellevue, Washington were awarded the new Upakar Khuba Watumull Scholarships and will receive a $2,000 tuition scholarship per year for four years.

The Upakar Khuba Watumull Scholarship was created through a partnership with Neetu Watumull to honor her late father, Khuba Watumull, who served the community through his charitable work in education.

This year’s scholars will join the 17 other Upakar Scholars who will be renewed for the 2018-2019 academic year.

According to a press release, Upakar was founded in 1997 in Washington D.C. to combat the stereotype that every Indian-American child can afford a four-year college education without being overwhelmed with student debt.

Upakar has awarded 158 scholarships to students who are born in India or have at least one parent born in India.

The scholar must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident with a raw high school GPA above 3.6 that exceeds 3.3 in college while financial need is determined by the family’s adjusted gross income.

Upakar scholarship applications for 2019-20 will be available in February 2019 with a submission deadline of April 30, 2019.