Student Haya Chehada Awarded Prestigious Community College Transfer Scholarship
Cerritos College student Haya Chehada is one of 72 recipients of the Jack Kent Cooke
Foundation’s prestigious Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship. The highly competitive national scholarship will provide Haya with up to $40,000
a year to complete their bachelor’s degree.
Originally from Syria, Haya migrated to the United States in late 2016 and started working at 7-Eleven to help her family. Despite all the difficulties she had as a recent immigrant, Haya did not give up her dream of pursuing a degree. “I knew that education was the key to having a better and peaceful future,” said Haya.
Haya enrolled at Cerritos College in spring 2018, having no idea what to study. She barely spoke English, so she began taking English as a Second Language classes. Soon after Haya began taking accounting classes. She fell in love with the subject and decided to pursue a career in accounting. Haya became involved in campus clubs and has volunteered at the College’s monthly food bank.
Haya currently serves as the president of the Accounting Club. She helped the Club thrive through the virtual environment and triple the Club membership from 19 members to 59 with her dedication and hard work. “It helped me improve my leadership skills and be a better team player. In addition, the Accounting Club received the College’s Curricular Club of the year Award,” she said.
In fall, Haya will be transferring to pursue a bachelor's degree in business administration with an accounting concentration. She was accepted to UCLA, and is waiting to hear from USC. In summer 2022, Haya will be participating in an internship with Ernst & Young, one of the Big Four global accounting firms. Her career goal is to earn a Certified Public Accountant license and work in a large public accounting firm.
“Receiving the Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship is a great payoff for the hard work that I have done in the last four years. This is such a great motivation for me to keep up the hard work, and I am really grateful for it,” said Haya.
The Cooke Foundation Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship is the largest private scholarship in the nation for students transferring from two-year community colleges to four-year institutions that award bachelor’s degrees. To date, over 1,000 students from all over the country have received the Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship. Over 1,300 students from 398 community colleges applied for the 2021 Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship.
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