Every year, a list of Coca-Cola Scholars is released, made up of 150 high school seniors who are changing their communities and the world for the better.
This year’s list includes Rayna Malhotra, who’s become a familiar figure here on WDIY for hosting Teen Scientist, one of the station’s Youth Media Program shows.
Every month on Teen Scientist, Malhotra welcomes young people and experts doing groundbreaking work in STEM disciplines. The show has earned three awards for Outstanding Radio Public Affairs Program/Program Series from the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters (PAB), with its third win this year.
Each of the 150 teens who make up the 36th class of Coca-Cola Scholars will receive a $20,000 scholarship for college. More than 6,900 people around the world make up a large network of alumni.
Winners were chosen from a pool of almost 104,000 applicants, meaning that they’re part of 1/6th of a percent of total applicants.
Malhotra currently attends Moravian Academy in Bethlehem. In a post from the school celebrating the accomplishment, they noted her and the other winners’ “superior leadership, service, and academics” and referred to them as “change agents.”
The Coca-Cola Scholars Program is the largest achievement-based scholarship program offered by a United States corporation, with the company providing more than $3 million in college scholarships to this year’s winners. Over the course of the program, they’ve awarded more than $84 million.
Next year’s program application will be available August 1 through September 30.
