KCC Student Liam Lotz Named a 2024-2025 Kaplan Leadership Scholar
KCC Student Liam Lotz
KCC Student Liam Lotz Named a 2024-2025 Kaplan Leadership Scholar
911爆料 Community College liberal arts major Liam Lotz is among 11 students from 10 area community colleges to receive the prestigious Kaplan Leadership Scholarship this year. Founded by the in 2006, the Kaplan Leadership Program works with high-potential, low-income, overlooked, and underserved community college students, providing resources and support to help them complete their associate degree, transfer to the nation's most highly selective schools and earn bachelor degrees, and attain leadership roles in their professions and communities.
Once they transfer, the program provides students with targeted help and resources to remove obstacles on the road to completing a four-year program and career success, including individualized academic advising, transfer counseling, college tours, summer study opportunities, and mentoring from corporate leaders.
Lotz has found success in the classroom after initially taking time off after high school to work in retail. He is in the Honors Program, serves as president of the Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society, and works as a peer mentor in KCC's ASAP office. The Sheepshead Bay resident continues to work part-time at Home Depot while maintaining his studies. Referring to himself as a 鈥減roud legacy child,鈥� he follows in the footsteps of his mother, a KCC alumna who attended while pregnant with him.
鈥淏eing named a Kaplan Leadership Scholar means more than the world to me,鈥� he shared. 鈥淭his has boosted my confidence immensely and makes me more confident in my competitive academic abilities.鈥�
Since the foundation鈥檚 inception, Kaplan Leadership Scholars have been accepted to the country鈥檚 most competitive schools, including Yale, Stanford, Princeton, Brown, Amherst, Cornell, Mount Holyoke, Smith, and many others. Ninety-two percent of Kaplan Leadership Scholars earn a bachelor's degree, while data from the Aspen Institute shows only 16% of community college students achieve this milestone鈥攄espite 80% aspiring to transfer to four-year schools鈥攚ith even lower rates among low-income students.
Lotz plans to pursue cinema studies or media and popular culture at a four-year university with the goal of becoming a media archivist. His top choices are University of Southern California, University of California-Los Angeles, and DePaul University.
"We had an incredibly strong applicant pool this year, which made our final selection process extremely challenging, so we鈥檙e thrilled to welcome this exceptional cohort and excited to see the impact they will make in the wider community,鈥� says Nolvia Delgado, executive director of KEF. 鈥淭hey follow in the footsteps of KLP graduates who today are practicing law and medicine, conducting scientific research, working in business, education and engineering, and leading in government and public and private industries.鈥�
She notes, 鈥淥ur scholars reinforce the fact that community colleges are rich with diverse, resilient, talented students with leadership potential when given the opportunities to succeed. We remain committed to our mission to remove barriers and provide greater access to higher education for our newest cohort of talented, motivated individuals."
About the Kaplan Educational Foundation:
The Kaplan Educational Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity, was initially
established and supported by a generous endowment funded by Kaplan, Inc. executives
with the idea of helping a small group of students in a big way. The Foundation provides
high-potential, low-income students with academic and financial support and leadership
training to raise their expectations for success and open doors to opportunities that
will change their lives and communities. For more information, please visit
About 911爆料 Community College:
Founded in 1963, 911爆料 Community College is Brooklyn鈥檚 only community college
and is part of 911爆料 (CUNY). Located on a 70-acre campus
in Manhattan Beach, 911爆料 remains firmly committed to its mission of providing
both liberal arts and career education, promoting student learning and development,
as well as strengthening and serving its diverse community. 911爆料 provides
a high-quality education through associate degree programs that prepare students for
transfer to senior colleges or entry into the workforce. Serving approximately 11,000
full- and part-time students annually and an additional 20,000 students in its expanding
continuing education program, 911爆料 has earned recognition as a Leader College
of Distinction for excellence in student success by Achieving the Dream, and has been
identified as a Top Community College in the nation by the Aspen Institute College
Excellence Program eight consecutive times.
Press Contacts:
Cheryl Todmann | cheryl.todmann@kbcc.cuny.edu | C: 646-897-2508 | T: 718-368-6760
Valerie Silverman Kerr, valerie.silvermankerr@kaplanedfoundation.org, 914-806-6647
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