Lawson State student Taylor Grace is the only Alabama recipient of the Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship, a national award that pays up to $55,000 a year to help students complete a bachelor’s degree. Taylor, an aspiring aerospace engineer, will continue her education at Clark Atlanta University and later pursue a dual degree at Georgia Tech.
According to the Cooke Foundation, more than 1,300 community college students applied for the scholarship this year. The pool was whittled down to 485 semifinalists and eventually only 60 recipients, including Taylor.
Scholarships like this play a critical role in helping community college students persist and complete bachelor's degrees. National data show while the majority of community college students have a goal of earning a bachelor's degree, only 16 percent actually do so.
It takes more than funding alone to help them realize their goal. Taylor and her fellow scholarship recipients will receive personalized advising and access to a network of more than 3,900 Cooke scholars and alumni. That means they have expanded opportunities for networking, mentoring, and possible internships.
For Taylor, 22, the journey toward aerospace engineering started early in life—and with a moment she never forgot.
In elementary school, she and her Midfield classmates watched a video of the 1986 space shuttle explosion. Seeing the tragedy left her with questions and a fascination for space travel. "It really grew in fifth grade as I watched space documentaries for hours and hours and even fell asleep watching them," Taylor recalled. By middle school, she knew she wanted a career in aeronautics.
Taylor initially attended a four-year university, but it was not the right fit. She left the college and transferred to Lawson State where it was slow going at first. That changed when a faculty member recognized her potential and encouraged her to join the STEM Scholars program—an experience she credits with helping her thrive.
"I wasn't that involved the first summer I attended classes, but in a math class that fall, Dr. Shawanda Thomas invited me to STEM," Taylor said. "That's where I flourished."
In addition to the STEM program, she participated in mentoring and networking programs hosted by the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. In early 2025, she attended TMCF's first Workforce Summit in Alabama and won a $15,000 scholarship from the Cal and Annette Johnson HBCC Scholarship Fund. In the spring of 2026, she participated in the Computational Research Access Network (CRANE), which focuses on plasma physics and scientific computing.
"It is amazing what exposure does for our students, and Taylor is a shining example of how Lawson State embraced and nourished her development in a STEM career," said Dr. Bruce Crawford, vice president for instruction at the college.
"The grant-funded programs that have been part of STEM initiatives have enabled our students to expand their career options and to see themselves as scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians,†he said. “This national scholarship award to Taylor shows that what we are doing, with support of the administration and exceptional instructors, is working!â€
Now, before Taylor begins work on her bachelor's degree, she has one more win to tend to: a prestigious summer research internship with the U.S. Department of War at Naval Air Station Patuxent River. Earning the internship was made possible, she believes, by having access to so many opportunities and helpful people at Lawson State.
"The community - the hidden community at Lawson...that is what has made the biggest difference for me," Taylor said. "From the outside, people may think of this as any other community college where you pass your classes, go to work, or go on to the next thing. But it's really the hidden community of getting to know the president, program directors, my fellow STEM Scholars, culinary students, and student ambassadors, and more. That's my biggest takeaway."
