Rocio Ortega is a passionate advocate for the 600 million girls in developing countries who do not have the opportunities she’s had in the U.S. As a high school sophomore, she was first exposed to the concepts of female empowerment and feminism through GlobalGirl Media, a nonprofit organization that teaches the tools of digital media…

Erin Witmer was a well-rounded student in high school – an athlete, a serious classical musician and at the top of her class. She says she was known as a “brainiac” because of her interest in science and engineering. Her father, who was a scientist, continually encouraged her to do science projects and her proficiency…

Justin Hattan and Quintin Haynes received their Coca-Cola Scholarships 11 years apart, but even though time and thousands of miles separated them, their paths were very similar and their destination was the same. They grew up in small towns, were student athletes and were involved in youth service organizations in high school. Justin was a…

Lamees El-sadek learned a lot about life growing up in a small, rural Mississippi town. As an Egyptian Muslim living in an ethnically separated Southern Baptist community, she became acutely aware of systematic population differences in income, education, health, and civil treatment according to race, religion and residence. While her parents had gone to college…

Nakeesha Seneb has always known that she wanted to be a storyteller. In the early chapters of her own story, she grew up in a family of limited means, where she was the first to finish high school and the first to go to college. An avid reader, she was smart; she tested well and…