Scholarships: Created and lived by Dukes

XAVIER ADKINS (’24)
Scholarship: Centennial Scholar
Major: Elementary Education
Hometown: Richmond, VA

Xavier Adkins described the Centennial Scholar cohort as “a room full of friendly faces that I know I have something in common with.” As a student, Adkins worked as an adviser through Upward Bound, an intensive advising program that helps local high school students to consider and apply for college. “I think it’s actually the best part of my college experience,” Adkins said. “It’s really helped me be a mentor in a way that I think I really needed in high school.” Since graduating in December, Adkins has stayed in Harrisonburg as the student-services coordinator for Valley Scholars. “The reason I came into education was to support students, and students that really need the extra push, and that’s what these programs are entirely.”

DIOMA OGWARA (’26)
Scholarship: Warden Dukes Pay It Forward
Major: Theatre, minor in Political Science
Hometown: Lorton, VA

Thanks to a scholarship match initiated by Kathy (’92) and Eric (’93) Warden, and more than 950 donors who gave to the Dukes Pay It Forward Annual Scholarship Fund, 100 Dukes have been able to say “yes” to JMU. Junior Theatre major Dioma Ogwara (bottom right) is one of 50 students who will graduate from the first Dukes Pay It Forward cohort. “I am so grateful that I have been given this fellowship and the opportunity to come to JMU. It’s been a very fun, stressful, creative, kooky adventure,” he said. “I’ve been in so many productions, and currently I’m devising a piece for Spring 2025.” Ogwara is also a first-gen mentor to 12 students in the Centennial Scholars Program. “I’m giving them advice; I’m getting to know them as people and trying to show them the ways I’ve been successful in my own way,” he said, “but [also] teaching them everyone’s success is different, and we’re all on a different path.”

DUNCAN KELLEHER (’27)
Major: Business Management
Scholarship: 50 to Infinity Scholarship
Hometown: Vienna, VA

Duncan Kelleher wanted to stay in his home state and attend a prestigious business program, and thanks to leadership donors to the Fifty to Infinity Scholarship fund, his dream came true at JMU. “I got the schol-arship, and I was just, I was so excited. The Fifty to Infinity Scholarship made my decision for me,” he said. In his first year, Kelleher found inspiration in an unexpected class. “[Computer Information Systems with Tom Dillon] was one of the hardest classes I’ve taken, but I just learned so much. I never thought of myself as somebody who enjoyed computer programming at all ... Now I’m thinking my future will probably have something to do with computers ...” Kelleher is part of GOLD Scholars, a cohort of students awarded merit-based scholarships to study business at JMU.

ESTHER SAINT-GERMAIN (’26)
Scholarship: Speights Endowment
Major: Biotechnology
Hometown: Orange Park, FL

Florida native Esther Saint-Germain was drawn to JMU for its sense of family. “I was searching for a home away from home, and JMU provided that in every way,” she said. The sophomore track and field student-athlete, specializing in sprints, is the recipient of the Speights Endowment, an award specifically for track and field student-athletes at JMU. “Running has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I started when I was just 4 years old, and it quickly became a passion,” she said. “Being a Speights scholarship recipient is more than an honor; it’s a responsibility and a constant reminder to give my best in everything I do. It motivates me to work hard on and off the track, and continue striving with the perseverance, dedication and leadership that this scholarship represents.”

NAOMI MINWALLA (’26)
Scholarship: Witherspoon Scholarship
Majors: Political Science, Spanish, Honors
Hometown: Loudoun County, VA

After a JMU study abroad trip to Spain in 2023, Naomi Minwalla applied for the Witherspoon Scholarship, which awards outstanding Honors students funding to support transformative, off-campus summer experiences, and returned to Seville, Spain, last summer to study symbols of power in architecture. “There’s something about the architecture that’s so different to what I’ve seen in the U.S.,” she said. “And people don’t realize, the foundation of politics was originally based on symbolism.” What began as a fascination on a study abroad trip has now become the basis of her honors thesis. “A lot of work does go into making the proposal, the budget, getting a faculty member to supervise you, but it is so worth it. Absolutely worth it.”