The Comcast Foundation today announced that Edina’s Emily Cherkassky, a graduate of Edina High School, has been named a 2013 recipient of the annual Leaders and Achievers Scholarship Program. The Comcast Foundation was started in 1999 to provide charitable support to local communities and to empower and enrich lives across the country. Cherkassky will be recognized at a special reception honoring all Twin Cities 2013 Leaders and Achievers Scholarship recipients at 11:30 a.m., June 20, at the Saint Paul Hotel. The event will be hosted by Ralph Martinez, Sr. Regional Vice President of Comcast in the Twin Cities. Honored for her leadership, Cherkassky led school events that raised funds for VEAP (Volunteers Enlisted to Assist People), Adopt A Family, Armful of Love, and led the ABC Fun Run, which benefits A Better Chance (ABC) Foundation. She was Secretary of the Student Council and Model United Nations, a member of the Math team and worked on the student newspaper. Cherkassky was a National Siemens semifinalist, National Merit Scholar semifinalist, AP Scholar With Honor, Twin Cities Regional Science Fair silver medalist and Junior High School Symposium Paper Competition winner. Cherkassky will attend Harvard University to study Economics. “Each year, we are excited to provide scholarships for these talented students,” said Martinez. “Comcast seeks students who demonstrate leadership abilities in school activities and who reflect a strong commitment to community service. These students are our future leaders and we hope these scholarships will help to power their dreams for success.” The Comcast Leaders and Achievers Scholarship Program provides one-time $1,000 scholarships to high school seniors who strive to achieve their potential, who are catalysts for positive change in their communities, who are involved in their schools and who serve as models for their fellow students. The philosophy behind the program is to give young people every opportunity to be prepared for the future, to engage youth in their communities, and to demonstrate the importance of civic involvement and the value placed on civic involvement by the business community. Since the national program’s inception in 1999, Comcast has provided scholarships to over 19,000 students totaling nearly $19 million. In the Twin Cities, Comcast started its student scholarship program in 2004 and to date has honored more than 340 students, awarding over $365,000. The Comcast Foundation was founded by Comcast Corporation in June 1999 to provide charitable support to qualified non-profit organizations. The Foundation primarily invests in programs intended to have a positive, sustainable impact on their communities. The Foundation has three community investment priorities—promoting community service, expanding digital literacy and building tomorrow‘s leaders. Since its inception, the Comcast Foundation has donated more than $123 million to organizations in the communities nationwide that Comcast serves. More information about the Foundation and its programs is available at www.comcast.com/community.
