The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation in Lansdowne, Virginia, has announced scholarships to sixty community college students so they can transfer to four-year colleges and complete their bachelor's degree.

The foundation's Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship program will provide exceptional community college students with a scholarship valued at up to $30,000 over three years. Ranging in age from 18 to 51, this year's diverse cohort of scholarship recipients includes twenty-four students who were born outside the United States.

Recipients include Curtwin Bismark of Zimbabwe, who graduated from Houston Community College with honors and plans to pursue a degree in economics. Other scholars include Aichen and Ai Ling Sung, sisters who immigrated to Chicago from Taiwan when their father, a minister, accepted a church assignment. The sisters spoke little English when they arrived, but have since graduated from Wilbur Wright College with honors and plan to pursue degrees in biology and accounting, respectively. Twila Jones, a 38-year-old mother of four who went to Mexico on a church mission after high school, also received a scholarship and hopes to attend Franklin and Marshall College, where she will pursue her dream of becoming an immigration attorney.

"Community college gave them a chance to explore their dreams," said Cooke Foundation executive director Lawrence Kutner. "We're helping them take the next step by removing the financial burden of attending a top-quality school."

For a complete list of Transfer Scholarship recipients, visit the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Web site.