Princeton Teen Wins $10K Davidson Fellows Scholarship

PRINCETON, NJ — A Princeton teenager who plans to attend Princeton University in the fall won a $10,000 Davidson Fellows Scholarship, the Davidson Institute announced on Monday. Allison Huang, 18, won for her writing project, “Personal Culture: Voicing the Experiences of Postcolonial Youth Navigating Identity in a Globalized World.”

Huang is one of only 20 students across the country to receive this honor. They will all be recognized at a reception in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 27. The Davidson Fellows Scholarship program offers $50,000, $25,000 and $10,000 college scholarships to students 18 or younger, who have completed significant projects that have the potential to benefit society in the fields of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, literature and music.

“I am thankful that Davidson has plugged me into a web of fabulous young minds—activists, musicians, and entrepreneurs of the future,” Huang said.

In her portfolio, Huang explores the experiences of South Asian post-colonial teenage youth seeking their place in an English-speaking world. There are many differences, but Huang also found many similarities between her struggles and others in her position. Every individual seeks to belong, but is often shut out from questioning, challenging, and seeking precedent for the fibers of their identities.

Huang won first prize in the Rider University High School Writing Contest in May. Her work has been recognized by Imagine Magazine’s Creative Minds Contest, the 2016 Save The Earth Poetry Contest, the Lewis L. Milberg Secondary School Poetry Contest, and the National YoungArts Foundation, among others.

Huang also has a passion for food. She enjoys baking, basting, frying, sautéing and eating, in addition to writing.

“We are thrilled to recognize the 2017 Davidson Fellows not only for their incredible projects, but also for the journey they forged to reach this point,” Davidson Institute founder Bob Davidson said. “Every year I am amazed by the depth of the Fellows’ accomplishments. Through encouragement and recognition, the Davidson Institute for Talent Development anticipates that gifted students like these will be among the pioneers who will solve the world’s most vexing problems.”

The Davidson Fellows Scholarship has provided more than $7.1 million in scholarship funds to more than 300 students since its inception in 2001, and has been named one of the most prestigious undergraduate scholarships by U.S. News & World Report. It is a program of the Davidson Institute for Talent Development, a national nonprofit organization headquartered in Reno, Nev. that supports profoundly gifted youth.

The attached images of Allison Huang were provided