Past Recipients

Our scholarship committee faces a difficult decision each year as we receive many qualified applicants. Our recipients are typically in the top 10% of the graduating class and often have a GPA of 4.0 or above thanks to the Advanced Placement courses they pursue. Recommendation letters from teachers, coaches, and employers describe highly motivated students, mature and professional with good teamwork skills. Their applications show their vision for themselves as engineers, inspired by parents, TED talks, and innovations that have changed their lives. SWE Richmond is proud to support these young women in their engineering education.

Grace Zhang (2022 recipient) graduated from Deep Run High School in Henrico County. She interned in a robotics lab at Virginia Commonwealth University, working on the user experience for industrial machines for small manufacturers. Her Senior Capstone project was an app that uses a phone's camera to advise a user on how to recycle an item. Her career goal is to design autonomous mobile robots to increase efficiency in recycling plants. She plans to study computer science at the University of Virginia.

Kiera O’Flynn (2021 recipient) graduated from Maggie Walker Governor’s School. She enjoys the combination of language and mathematics that are inherent in computer science. She was a part of her school’s robotics team where she enjoyed programming the robot and other team tasks. She also participated in a robotics and software engineering research project at VCU. She plans to study computer science at Carnegie Mellon University.

Parul Goswami (2020 recipient) graduated from The Center for Medical Sciences at Godwin High School in Henrico County. She is interested in pharmaceuticals and even helped conduct a drug potency test on Multiple Myeloma cells at VCU. Her many interests provide a unique perspective and allow her creativity to show. She is studying computer science at the University of Virginia.

Heather Moses (2019 recipient) graduated from Clover Hill High School in Chesterfield County. She participated in several computer science days at VCU and attended a SWE weekend event at the Rochester Institute of Technology. She enjoyed her high school JAVA course in which she created a “Rock, Paper, Scissors” program for the fun of it. She is studying Software Engineering at Rochester Institute of Technology.

Catherine Alexander (2018 recipient) graduated from the Collegiate School. She wanted to be an astronaut when she was young and realized she wanted to pursue an education and a career in engineering because she enjoyed designing and building things in order to help others. Catherine is studying mechanical engineering at Duke University.

Julia Kerns (2017 recipient) is interested in robotics engineering. She has gotten started on her path by serving as the captain of her FIRST Robotics team at Veritas School and attending summer science programs. Julia is studying mechanical engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Tabitha Gibbs (2016 recipient) has wanted to be an engineer since sixth grade, and she has gained significant engineering experience on her FIRST and VEX robotics teams. She was the valedictorian of her class at Henrico County's Engineering Specialty Center. Tabitha is pursuing a degree in robotics engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

McKenna Epperson (2015 recipient) graduated from Freeman High School in Henrico County. While still in high school, she pursued her interest in engineering through the UVA SWE section’s campus visit program and through a job shadow of an engineer at Dominion. She now attends UVA and will be volunteering on the host side of SWE’s campus visit program. McKenna is looking for an internship and researching which major to pursue.

Chioma Anene (2014 recipient) earned college credit while attending Highland Springs High School through the High Tech Academy partnership between Henrico County Public School and VCU. Chioma is currently studying at the Rochester Institute of Technology. She is interested in aerospace engineering and is looking for a summer internship.