Williams Alum Wins Knight-Hennessy Scholarship| 11:56AM / Friday, March 15, 2019 | |
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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Eva Fourakis, a 2016 graduate of Williams College, has been awarded a highly selective Knight-Hennessy Scholarship.
The scholarship allows recipients to pursue graduate studies at Stanford University. Fourakis will be one of 69 scholars from around the world to begin their studies this fall, as part of the 2019 cohort of Knight-Hennessy Scholars.
Hailing from Middleton, Wisc., Fourakis received a bachelor's degree in mathematics and psychology from Williams. As a Knight-Hennessy Scholar, she plans to pursue a juris doctor at Stanford Law School. An aspiring public defender, she hopes to combine her education and interests to provide legal representation to low-income populations.
"I want to study law because I think it is where my particular set of skills can best be put to use to help those in our society who are consistently held back and discriminated against by our institutions," Fourakis says. "My life calling is first and foremost centered on lifting up those who have been mistreated by our institutions here in the United States, whether that's our immigration system, our criminal justice system, or another system that I have yet to learn enough about."
At Williams, Fourakis was a research assistant in the psychology and mathematics departments as well as editor-in-chief of the student newspaper and a junior advisor.
"As a double major who also took courses in many other departments, I understand how different viewpoints and approaches are necessary to solve a problem," says Fourakis, who also taught math to middle school students from low-income families as a member of AmeriCorps in Austin, Texas, and volunteered at the Alkyone Refugee Day Center in Greece. "Williams taught me the importance of a cross-disciplinary education from day one, which is something I very much look forward to continuing as a Knight-Hennessy Scholar."
After Williams, Fourakis was a lab manager at Princeton University’s Baby Lab, where she designed and conducted studies, and prepared results for publication. Her work has been published in peer-reviewed math and psychology journals. She also did community volunteer work, tutoring children from low-income families in Trenton, N.J., and supporting the Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey.
While a student at Stanford Law School, Fourakis looks forward to engaging with people from many different backgrounds.
"As part of the wonderful, caring, and ambitious cross-disciplinary community of Knight-Hennessy Scholars, I am very excited to see where the next three years will take me," she said.
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