EdX and Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Announce Middle School Scholarship Challenge

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Jan 14, 2015, 08:30 ET

LANSDOWNE, Va., Jan. 14, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation and edX today announced a scholarship challenge for advanced middle school students. Every eligible seventh grade student who successfully completes one of the five selected edX courses will secure a semi-finalist position in the prestigious Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Young Scholars Program.

The Young Scholars Program, a selective pre-college scholarship for high-performing middle school students with financial need, includes individualized academic advising, financial support, and a pathway to the foundation's $40,000 per year College Scholarship.

The selected edX courses, which are designed for advanced high school and college-level students, are as follows:

UT AustinX Jazz Appreciation (Starts Jan 20, 10 weeks)
UC BerkeleyX Frankenstein (Starts Feb 2, 4 weeks)
HarveyMuddX Programming in Scratch (Starts Feb 2, 6 weeks)
DartmouthX Introduction to Environmental Science (Starts Feb 3, 6 weeks)
HarvardX Super-Earths and Life (Starts Feb 10, 6 weeks)

"Through this unique partnership, we hope to identify academically gifted students to apply to the Young Scholars Program who we may be missing through traditional outreach," said Harold Levy, executive director of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation and former chancellor of New York City public schools. "The courses are rigorous, so seventh graders earning a certificate are likely the kind of students who would thrive in the foundation's scholarship programs."

"We are proud to partner with the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation to identify and support enthusiastic and motivated young scholars who may otherwise not have an opportunity to further their education," said Anant Agarwal, edX CEO. "Our edX mission to provide quality education to everyone aligns with the Young Scholars Program, and we are honored to reach these students online where they are learning today."

All of the selected edX courses offer free honor code certificates. The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Young Scholars Program receives 1,000-2,000 applications each year from some of the brightest students in the US. Typically, 500 applicants are advanced as semi-finalists.

Registration for the edX courses is open and selected courses begin as soon as January 20, 2015. Applications to the Young Scholars Program must be submitted by April 14, 2015. Details about the partnership and scholarship challenge can be found at www.jkcf.org/edx.

About edX
EdX is a nonprofit, open-source enterprise offering online courses from more than 60 member institutions, composed of both leading global universities and colleges and a diverse group of prominent organizations from around the world. Founded by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, edX is focused on transforming online and on-campus learning through groundbreaking methodologies, game-like experiences and cutting-edge research on an open-source platform. Based in Cambridge, MA, USA, edX is focused on people, not profit.

About the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation
The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is dedicated to advancing the education of exceptionally promising students who have financial need. Because the Foundation believes that high-performing, low-income students will excel educationally when given the resources to develop their talents, the Foundation offers them support from middle school to graduate school by providing the largest scholarships in the country, in-depth academic counseling, and other direct services. The Foundation also provides grants to prominent organizations that support high performing, low-income students with innovative programming. Founded in 2000 by the estate of Jack Kent Cooke, the Foundation has awarded over $125 million in scholarships to 1,800 students and $79 million in grants. www.jkcf.org

SOURCE Jack Kent Cooke Foundation