OXYTALK
Committed to the Public Good Photo by Eric Moore ’83
As its staunchest advocates will attest, the Barack Obama Scholars Program expands the legacy of the nation’s 44th president, builds the bench for public service and civic engagement, and broadens access to an Oxy education
Cameron Peters ’18, an urban and environmental policy major from San Diego, was named the first Obama Scholars Fellow. As an Army veteran and community college transfer with a clearly demonstrated commitment to the public good, Peters embodies the goals of the Obama Scholars Program.
28 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
WINTER 2018
It’s hard to argue that the near future—and probably the future that lurks just up the road—will require great things from the next generation of leaders. For the world at large, 2018 brings more than its share of uncertainty. But, as Louis Pasteur observed more than 150 years ago, “Fortune favors the prepared mind.” For 130 years now, Occidental has been preparing minds to do great things with the vagaries of fortune. This fall, the College takes that mission one step further with the launch of the Barack Obama Scholars Program, a comprehensive, merit-based scholarship program designed to identify and empower exceptional students committed to the public good. “I’m so humbled by the Barack Obama Scholars Program at Oxy, and proud of its mission to identify promising young people from all backgrounds with an emphasis on first-generation students, our veterans, and community college transfers,” Obama wrote when the program was announced September 27. “Not only to give them access to higher education, but to train the next generation of leaders and active citizens, and fill them with the conviction that they too can change the world.” Through mid-December, Occidental had raised nearly $8.2 million for the Obama Scholars Program from more than 90 donors—a group that includes alumni, students, parents, faculty, foundations, and friends of the College. Among those in the last category are Jane and Glenn Hickerson of San Francisco. Although Glenn himself graduated from Claremont McKenna College in 1959, his mother and her sisters all attended Oxy. “Jane and I both have great respect for President Obama—he was really an inspiration to young people,” says Glenn, president of Hickerson Associates, a market-