Two Indiana University Indianapolis students have been awarded prestigious national scholarships: one for research excellence and one to further skills in a language considered critically important to U.S. interests.
Malachi Aklilu, a first-year student from Whitestown, Indiana, who plans to major in political science with a minor in Arabic and Islamic studies, won a Critical Language Scholarship to study Turkish. He will spend the summer in Turkey learning the language, living with a host family and exploring the culture. 
“It really opened up my eyes,” he said. “What I learned by living there nine months felt equivalent to three years of learning in school.
“I had zero language skills in Turkish before I went there. Just asking for directions, ordering food, meeting new people — everything was so much harder. The experience had a big impact on me, because being back in the U.S., daily tasks and even just speaking is so much easier. I used to be very introverted, and the experience helped me develop as a person.”
The Critical Language Scholarship is funded by the U.S. Department of State. It provides immersive summer programs for American students to learn languages of strategic importance to national security, economic prosperity and global engagement.
Aklilu ultimately wants to be a Foreign Service officer and work as a diplomat.
Rachel Schweiger, a junior from Pewaukee, Wisconsin, who is majoring in biology and neuroscience and minoring in chemistry, won the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship. The program is administered by the Goldwater Foundation and honors outstanding undergraduate students interested in pursuing research careers in sciences, engineering or mathematics.
Schweiger developed a passion for research as a freshman, after originally preparing for medical school.
“Getting into med school is so competitive; a lot of places want you to get involved in research,” she said. “To get a head start, I applied for a research technician position at the IU School of Medicine my first semester. I worked there for a year and discovered that I really liked the intricacies of research life, and I was more interested in that than getting clinical experience. I decided to keep doing research every semester I’ve been here.” 
She applied for the Goldwater Scholarship because of its focus on research.
“I was interested in tailoring my research experiences to be worthy of a major award, and the Goldwater is based on experience and your potential to become a research leader,” Schweiger said.
The scholarship provides up to $7,500 per academic year for tuition and fees. For many recipients, the award is about more than monetary compensation.
“A big aspect of being named a Goldwater Scholar is the prestige,” Schweiger said. “Because you must be nominated and have a certain amount of research experience, and the research essay must include proprietary data, a project that you’ve conducted and all original literature. It’s known that the application process is very strenuous.”
The Goldwater Scholarship and the Critical Language Scholarship are among several national scholarships that are supported by the new IU Indianapolis Office of Scholar Development.
The office was created in August within the Honors College to support students who are interested in applying for such awards, or who are strong candidates to apply but may not know it.
“We’re graduating amazing students, and I know these scholarships exist,” said Kristy Sheeler, dean of the Honors College. “But there hadn’t been a coordinated, intentional effort to leverage all of the great work we do to provide a pathway for students to put themselves in the best position to apply.”
The office is led by faculty fellows Jennifer Guiliano and Kathleen Marrs, and scholar support specialist Shay Mays.
Mays’ expertise in scholarship development comes from personal experience. After strategically researching and applying for financial aid to avoid taking on additional student loans for graduate school, she won $100,000 in scholarships. Mays attended IU on the Indianapolis campus and earned a master’s degree in social work.
The journey boosted her career in social work and inspired passion projects to help other students and families navigate financial aid and scholarship processes. She has over 10 years of experience as a financial aid coach and wrote a book on the subject in 2014.
“I put everything I knew into a book, and I started doing workshops and partnering with different organizations around the city — the Indianapolis Public Library, the Girl Scouts, any organizations that wanted to learn more about how to access free money for college,” Mays said.
“When I saw the scholar support specialist position at my alma mater, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. This is exactly what I want to do, and exactly where I want to be.”
Mays joined the Office of Scholar Development in November and has been integral in building relationships by meeting with faculty, staff and students, and raising awareness of national scholarships through email campaigns, workshops and information sessions.
The office is also creating an infrastructure to assist students with the logistics of applying for scholarships. Schweiger said the office’s Canvas modules helped her navigate the complicated Goldwater application.
“The course had assignments for each section of the application because it’s so long, and that really helped me pace myself,” she said. “I think the process would have been more stressful and confusing without that support.”
Mentoring is also part of the support system. Interested IU Indianapolis faculty, staff or community members are encouraged to consider joining the office’s Board of Mentors.
“If you can lend your expertise and experience to review an essay or scholarship application, it would give that scholar even more of a competitive edge,” Mays said.
As the IU Indianapolis Office of Scholar Development becomes more established, Sheeler expects more scholarship success stories like those of Aklilu and Schweiger.
“Our students are future change-makers,” she said. “They are researchers and scientists who are going to help solve problems in the state, individuals who want to work in government and public service and want to do it right here.
“These are amazing students who you’re going to want to keep your eye on, because you’re going to hear about them, now and in the future.”
