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Bianca Akins
 Bianca Akins. Photo by Ben Powell |
Computer Science, Kelsie R. Troutman Endowed Scholarship Recipient
College didn’t always look like a possibility for computer science major Bianca Akins. Akins’s mother passed away when she was 11, and family financial hardships made pursuing a college degree challenging. But she persevered.
“With the federal loans and grants, I was able to support my first semester,” Akins says, “but then I got my second semester bill and I started to panic.”
Then she received the Kelsie R. Troutman Endowed Scholarship, one of a number of scholarships supporting students in Mason’s College of Engineering and Computing.
“It was just a huge relief,” she says. “I felt safe knowing that I could go into my next semester of college and not have to worry about my financial situation.”
Growing up, school was always a safe place for Akins. “I always felt comfort in it, and I really loved learning and growing.”
The scholarship offered Akins immediate help with her college expenses, but it also created a more lasting effect. It was a vote of confidence for her, especially as a woman pursuing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
“For somebody to see that potential in me and to be able to recognize me and grant me a scholarship, I feel like that's telling me that I can do it,” she says. “It gives me the determination to continue on into the future. I would love to one day be able to help people in the way that I've been helped.”
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