Welcome Act Six Scholars

Act Six Scholars
March 09, 2018

SPOKANE, Wash. – Gonzaga University will welcome eight new Act Six Scholars to the incoming class of 2022. The urban and community leaders from Spokane, and the Tacoma-Seattle area will receive full-tuition, full-need and four-year scholarships as members of the latest Act Six cohort.

Selected through a rigorous three-month competition, these diverse student leaders were chosen for their commitment to serving on campus and in their communities, their passion for learning, eagerness to foster intercultural relationships, and willingness to step out of their comfort zones.

The media and public are invited to attend a community celebration to recognize the newest Act Six scholars from Spokane (including four new scholars going to Whitworth University) at 6 p.m., Wednesday, March 14 at Gonzaga Preparatory School. The celebration for new scholars from the Tacoma-Seattle area will be held in Tacoma at Urban Grace Church at 6 p.m., Tuesday, March 13.

Following are this year’s Act Six recipients who will enroll at Gonzaga this fall:

Gonzaga University (Cadre Ten)

  • Stephanie Assonken: Cheney High School (Cheney)
  • Mary Benjamin: Shadle Park High School (Spokane)
  • Tara Phung: Lewis and Clark High School (Spokane)
  • Marissa Ribeiro: Joel E. Ferris High School (Spokane)
  • Richard Boulay: Mount Tahoma High School (Tacoma)
  • Pedro Martinez: Auburn Mountainview High School (Auburn)
  • Ekua Monkah: Foster High School (Tukwila)
  • Samridhi Singh: Henry Foss High School (Tacoma)

About Act Six 

Act Six seeks to develop urban leaders to be agents of transformation on campus and in their home communities. Since the program’s inception, more than 700 ethnically diverse and mostly first-generation, low-income Act Six scholarship recipients from Tacoma, Seattle, Yakima and Spokane, Washington; Portland, Oregon; Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota; Chicago; and Indianapolis, Indiana have enrolled at 13 private colleges and universities. 

Act Six develops leaders through a simple but powerful, four-step strategy: 

• Recruit and select diverse, multicultural cadres of the most promising urban and community student leaders.
• Train and prepare these groups of students in the year prior to college, equipping them to support each other, succeed academically and grow as service-minded leaders and agents of transformation.
• Send and fund the cadres together to select colleges across Washington, Oregon, Minnesota, Illinois, and Indiana on full-tuition, full-need scholarships.
• Support and inspire by providing strong campus support, ongoing leadership development and vocational connections to inspire scholars to serve their home communities.

Act Six alumni continue their leadership once they step foot into their communities. Eighty percent of Act Six scholars earn their bachelor’s degrees within six years or less, more than double the rate for low-income, first-generation students nationwide. Nearly two-thirds of the program’s graduates are working or serving in their home communities. Among alumni who have been out of college for three or more years, 31 percent have earned a postgraduate degree or credential. 

Following the celebrations, scholars begin an intensive six-month training program that involves weekly meetings with Act Six staff, retreats and campus visits. 

For more information, contact Julie McCulloh, Gonzaga’s dean of admission, at (509) 313-6591. Learn more about Act Six online.