Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America (LEDA) empowers a community of exceptional young leaders from under-resourced backgrounds by supporting their higher education and professional success in order to create a more inclusive and equitable country. It includes a free seven-week Summer Institute at Princeton University. This highly competitive scholars program requires students to complete the three-round application including academic information and test scores, a personal statement and supplemental essay, a writing sample, biographical information, information on extracurricular activities, and family financial information. The final step is an interview for the finalists.
Congratulations to Michelle Perales Panduro from Hoover who has been awarded the honor of being inducted into the 15th cohort of this program. Michelle attributes part of her success to her Hoover High School counselor, Andrea Munoz. "Ms. Munoz set individual appointments to help me fill out financial and academic information in the application and offered me her office if I ever needed a space to work. She encouraged me to keep pushing through the application although I thought I didn't have a chance to get into LEDA. She was also very willing and excited to write a letter of recommendation for me even though she has a plethora of students," Michelle said.
Congratulations Michelle and best of luck!