Jack Kent Cooke Finalist 2025

Two Kingsborough Community College Awarded JKC National Community College Transfer Scholarships

Kingsborough Community College students Tanzeela Jahangir Chaudhry and William (Liam) Lotz, recipients of the 2025 Jack Kent Cooke Foundation’s Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship.

Two Kingsborough Community College Awarded JKC National Community College Transfer Scholarships

May 13, 2025

Kingsborough Community College students William (Liam) Lotz and Tanzeela Jahangir Chaudhry are among 90 high-achieving community college students who have been selected nationwide to receive the prestigious Jack Kent Cooke Foundation’s Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship. The highly competitive scholarship aims to help the Cooke Scholars complete their undergraduate education with as little debt as possible. It provides last-dollar funding of up to $55,000 per year for up to three years and eases the financial burden of completing a four-year degree.

Beyond funding, Scholars receive personalized advising to guide their academic and professional journeys. Scholars also gain access to a nationwide network of more than 3,400 Cooke Scholars and Alumni, along with opportunities for internships, study abroad, and graduate school support—ensuring they have every tool needed to thrive beyond community college.

“This year’s cohort reflects the remarkable talent and determination thriving in community colleges nationwide,” said Giuseppe “Seppy” Basili, executive director of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. “As we mark 25 years of impact, we remain committed to amplifying the successes of these students and opening doors to the opportunities they deserve.”

 “The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation has recognized two exceptional students who reflect the intelligence, ambition and diversity of the Kingsborough student body,” said Kingsborough Community College President Suri Duitch. “We are incredibly proud of Tanzeela and Liam for earning this prestigious recognition and look forward to all they will accomplish. Their success also highlights the power of programs like CUNY ASAP and Phi Theta Kappa, which provide the structure, support, and community that help students thrive and reach their full potential.”

This year’s selection process drew more than 1,600 applications from community colleges across the nation. The 90 new Scholars, one of the largest cohorts in the Foundation’s 25-year history, were selected from a semifinalist pool of 467 students. Applicants were evaluated based on their academic achievement, unmet financial need, persistence, and leadership qualities. Nine of the 90 finalists attend CUNY community colleges.

A complete list of the 2025 Cooke Transfer Scholar finalists and their respective community colleges is available here. To learn more about the Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship, visit the website here.

 

About KCC’s Finalists

TANZEELA JAHANGIR CHAUDHRY

Tanzeela Jahangir Chaudhry moved from a small village in Pakistan to New York in 2022 to explore the educational opportunities offered here. She chose to major in graphic design with a concentration in user experience (UX) design because she felt it resonated with her passions, which include drawing, calligraphy, painting, arts and crafts, and designing, and her Myers-Briggs personality type indicator—extraverted, intuitive, feeling, and judging. She also enjoys the challenge of problem-solving. “When I combined them, I realized that I could be a good UX designer.”

Her long list of accomplishments includes leadership roles in several clubs and Phi Theta Kappa (PTK), the international honors society, and leading sustainability and research initiatives on campus, like a PTK project that helped bring more refillable water stations to campus.

Tanzeela is a Dean’s List student, a student ambassador, and recipient of the Coca-Cola Gold Scholarship, the PTK Hites Scholarship, and the Gladys Brooks Foundation Award. She plans to pursue a degree in design and environmental studies or industrial and interaction design when she transfers, with Cornell, Smith College and NYU among her top choices.

WILLIAM "LIAM" LOTZ

Born and raised in Sheepshead Bay, William "Liam" Lotz returned to education in spring 2023 after graduating high school in 2019 and briefly working in retail at Home Depot. Referring to himself as a “proud legacy child,” he follows in the footsteps of his mother, a KCC alumna who attended while pregnant with him.

Believing he would never see himself back in a classroom setting, his greatest challenge was resetting his negative mindset toward education. Fortunately, he enrolled as a CUNY ASAP (Accelerated Study in Associate Programs) student, a program designed to help students earn an associate degree quickly by providing comprehensive financial, academic, and personal support, where he has excelled.

The honor student and president of the Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society regularly speaks to students in classes to provide peer perspectives. He also serves as a peer mentor in KCC's ASAP office and a student ambassador.

In addition to being a Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship finalist, the liberal arts major was named a Kaplan Leadership Scholar this year and has also been marked a finalist for the Point Foundation Wells Fargo Transfer Scholarship.

Liam’s career goal is to become a media archivist to preserve important cultural history. His top choices are the University of Southern California, Northwestern University, DePaul University, and Yale University, where he plans to pursue cinema studies or media and popular culture.

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About The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation

The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is dedicated to advancing the education of exceptionally promising students who have financial need. Since 2000, the Foundation has awarded almost $304 million in scholarships to more than 3,400 students from 8th grade through graduate school, along with comprehensive educational advising, career pathway counseling and other support services. The Foundation has also provided $136 million in grants to organizations that serve such students. www.jkcf.org

About Kingsborough Community College

Founded in 1963, Kingsborough Community College is Brooklyn’s only community college and is part of the City University of New York (CUNY). Located on a 70-acre campus in Manhattan Beach, Kingsborough remains firmly committed to its mission of providing both liberal arts and career education, promoting student learning and development, as well as strengthening and serving its diverse community.  Kingsborough provides a high-quality education through associate degree programs that prepare students for transfer to senior colleges or entry into the workforce. Serving approximately 11,000 full- and part-time students annually and an additional 20,000 students in its expanding continuing education program, Kingsborough has earned recognition as a Leader College of Distinction for excellence in student success by Achieving the Dream, and has been identified as a Top Community College in the nation by the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program eight consecutive times.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Julia Florence, Jack Kent Cooke Foundation | media@jkcf.org

Cheryl Todmann, Kingsborough Community College | cheryl.todmann@kbcc.cuny.edu

 

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