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2024 FOUNDERS' CENTENNIAL SCHOLARSHIP
Graduating Female High School Students
The 2024 scholarship award, named for Triumphant Founder Fannie Pettie Watts, was given to a deserving female high school senior to cover educational costs up to, and not to exceed, $125,000 total. The award is targeted to honor a female high school senior who exhibits personal integrity and excellence through academic achievement and community involvement, and the awardee must demonstrate a moderate to significant need for financial assistance in attaining her higher educational goals. The recipient may complete her undergraduate studies in the field of her choice at an accredited four-year college or university of her choice.
Application Deadline
Applications and all related materials must be received using the ZNEF Application Portal by February 1, 2025, at 11:59 pm Eastern.
Eligibility Requirements
• Must be a female high school senior who qualifies for free or reduced fare lunch based upon U.S. Federal guidelines.
• Must be graduating in May or June of the award year (2025) and enrolling as a full-time student at an accredited college or university in the fall of the same year.
• Must have a minimum 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale.
• Must demonstrate a moderate to significant financial need.
• Must demonstrate a commitment to community service and involvement.
2023 Founders' Centennial Scholarship Winner
JADA BARNES
Jada sophomore at Howard University in the nation's capitol, where she is also a Bison cheerleader. She is majoring in pediatric nursing and will continue on to medical school.
"This honorable scholarship affords me the opportunity to attend a prestigious HBCU, where I can be unapologetically black and build my academic base with people who look like me, so I'm excited for the way Howard University will catapult me into the next phase of my life," says Jada. The young student is so appreciative of the fact that her mother no longer has to struggle to support her dreams. "I was so stressed when I realized how much more my mom had to sacrifice to give me this dream. She would have had to take out loans and work extra jobs just for me to attend. This would have been such a strain on her teacher salary. When I got the initial phone call from the ZNEF representative, I called my mom and all we could do was cry tears of joy. Now I know she can just focus on visiting me at my home for the next four years."
Through scholarships funded by its chapters, Zeta has given more than $4 million in the past five years to help students, like Jada, achieve their college dreams. "Jada's zeal for social justice and academic achievement exemplifies the spirit of Zeta's founders. She was the overwhelming choice for the Founders' Centennial Scholarship-- just look at her well-rounded accomplishments," says Valerie Hollingsworth Baker, ZNEF Chair & 25th International President of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated. " Add to that being a cheerleader, in the 4.0 club and her own self-awareness and focus! I believe strongly that she will do well, and I'm so pleased ZNEF and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated, can help her accomplish her goals."
Learn More
2022 Founders’ Centennial Scholarship Recipient
Skyler Evans
Skyler Evans is a Sophomore at The University of Alabama hailing from the great state of Louisiana, majoring in Political Science with a minor in Communication Studies. She is a member of the Alabama Forensics Council and a speech and debate National Finalist and Semi-Finalist. Last spring, she was named to the President's list for having a 4.0 GPA. That
semester, she was also pinned into the Championship chapter of Collegiate 100. When not competing, she serves as an executive board member of Collegiate 100. The Black Student Union and the Pre-Law Society are also organizations she is involved with. Finally, she works for The University of Alabama Career Center.
2021 Founders’ Centennial Scholarship Recipient
Janae Smith-Williams
On December 1, 2021, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated, an international women's service
organization, and the Zeta National Educational Foundation, Inc. (ZNEF) announced that Janae
Smith-Williams was awarded $125,000 as the recipient of its Triumphant Founder Pearl Anna Neal Centennial Scholarship. Smith-Williams, a 2021 graduate of Howard High School of Technology in Wilmington, DE was chosen from more than 5000 graduating seniors across the U.S. Born deaf, she overcame a difficult childhood and myriad communication challenges while maintaining a 3.68 GPA as a student athlete on both the cross country and soccer teams.
Additionally, she was a member of the National Honors Society and Howard Mock Trial Club, and a committed volunteer within the deaf community.
Currently, Smith-Williams is a psychology major at Macalester College in Minnesota and plans
to become a youth mental health counselor
2020 Founders’ Centennial Scholarship Recipient
Cayla Withers
The Zeta National Educational Foundation (ZNEF) proudly presented Ms. Cayla D. Withers as the first recipient of the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated Arizona Cleaver-Stemons Centennial Scholarship for up to $100,000 towards her college education.
Cayla is a 2020 graduate of the A. L. Brown High School of Kannapolis, North Carolina. In addition to being involved in numerous community activities, Cayla excelled in Advanced Placement (AP) and STEM-related coursework, graduating with a 4.0 GPA. She was the president and founder of the local junior chapter of the National Black Engineers at her school. Cayla is the
complete package – outstanding student, personable individual, community conscious, goal-oriented.
Cayla enrolled at Stanford University in the fall-2020 school year pursuing a Bachelors’ Degree in Aerospace, Aeronautical, Astronautical, and Space Engineering. Cayla’s life-goal is to achieve a PhD in aerospace engineering and work for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
