Baltimore, Md. -- UMBC senior Ian Stucky is one of fifty recipients of the Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship, created this year to support students from the Washington Region as they pursue advanced degrees. Awardees were chosen from an applicant pool of nearly 700 students.

“We chose individuals with exceptional academic promise,” said Matthew J. Quinn, executive director of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, “but great intellectual ability was only one of our criteria. We chose students who had a special spark, who have overcome real adversity and who have a real commitment to giving back to society.”

Owings Mills, Md. native Stucky, 19, is graduating in May with a B.A. in Modern Languages and Linguistics (German and Spanish) and will complete a M.A. in Intercultural Communication this summer before heading to William and Mary (Va) Law School. Stucky is UMBC's 2002 Valedictorian.

Stucky, a UMBC Humanities Scholar, began his studies at UMBC at age 16 and is a member of the Ford Motor Company/Golden Key International Honor Society, a USAA All-American Scholar and a Rhodes Scholar Semi-Finalist for Maryland/D.C. He is also co-founder of the Modern Languages and Linguistics Theatre Club and a champion diver on UMBC's NCAA Division I Swimming & Diving Team.

Stucky plans to pursue a Juris Doctorate with a concentration on the relationship between law and ethics. "I plan to then use my training in languages, linguistics, cultures, and societies in combination with my forthcoming legal education to work as a jurist either in the United States or in the international courts,” said Stucky.

To be eligible for this year's scholarship, a college senior had to be a resident of, be attending a college or university in, or plan to attend a graduate school in the greater Washington region (Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia). A group of twelve academic advisors from across the country assisted the Foundation in the selection process.