KC Scholars changed the future of 695 Kansas City students by awarding college scholarships and awards to area high school students. UMKC is a popular choice for KC Scholars award recipients.
Aaron Belaustegui, a KC Scholar and new UMKC Roo, received his diploma from Lincoln College Preparatory Academy in a May ceremony at Swinney Recreation Center. He will be back in the fall as a UMKC student. The KC Scholars scholarship has made a big difference in his future.
“The scholarship means a lot,” Belaustegui says. “It’s presented me with many opportunities and goes a long way to helping with college.”
Besides the opportunities at UMKC, Belaustegui has a personal connection to UMKC.
“My father used to work here as a Spanish professor, and he would bring us to campus,” Belaustegui says. “I fell in love with UMKC as a kid. I knew I wanted to spend time here.”
Kristian Foster (BA history ‘00, MA sociology ’03) is the principal of Lincoln College Preparatory Academy, one of KC Scholars’ partner schools. She says scholarships escalate students’ potential for success.
“Scholarships such as KC Scholars help our students to get one step closer to the post-high school goals of a college education,” Foster says. “While Lincoln prepares all students to be academically successful in college, providing financial support allows them to focus on the learning and preparation needed at the university level.”
“The scholarship means a lot. It’s presented me with many opportunities and goes a long way to helping with college.” —
She notes that while most of her students receive some form of financial aid for college, they would incur a significant amount of student loan debt without the award.
“To have the opportunity to earn a college degree and start their career nearly debt-free puts our students ahead of the curve,” Foster says.
KC Scholars, launched in 2016, currently awards approximately 700 college scholarships annually for students from the KC metro area to attend one of 17 partner colleges and universities in Missouri and Kansas, including UMKC. There are 46 recipients of KC Scholars grants currently enrolled at UMKC.
As a UMKC alumna and legacy – her mother was a first generation graduate from UMKC - Foster knows her students who choose UMKC will have a life-changing experience.
“I know the benefits that earning my education from UMKC has offered both myself and my family,” Foster says. “I was able to get first-hand classroom experience during my undergraduate program and college teaching experience during my master’s program. As a graduate student I have been exposed to people from all walks of life and I’ve had the chance to learn more than what we studied in class.”