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Zimmerman Memorial Scholarship Winner is Immersed in Public Service Katie Sweeney, second from left, is the 2016 winner of the Gabriel Zimmerman Memorial Scholarship. At the awards ceremony May 26, she met with Yethzéll Díaz, left, the inaugural winner in 2012, Andrea Steiner, of Community Studies, and Arash Mohajerinejad, right, the 2014 winner. (Photo by Melissa De Witte) Graduating senior Katie Sweeney (Cowell, ’16, community studies) has been awarded the fifth Gabriel Zimmerman Memorial Scholarship named for the 2002 UC Santa Cruz graduate killed in the January 2011 shooting in Tucson that wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.). More than $100,000 has been raised for the endowment to award an annual $2,500 scholarship to a social sciences student committed to social justice and public service. More than 520 alumni, community members, and friends of Zimmerman (Stevenson, sociology) have contributed since the fund was created soon after Zimmerman’s death. The fund has grown to a size where two annual scholarships may be awarded in the future. At age 11, Sweeney lost her mother to cancer. Two years ago she received a $10,000 grant from the Livestrong Foundation to start a campus chapter of Camp Kesem, a summer program that supports children coping with a parent with cancer. She has since raised $180,000 to expand the camp. In addition, as a student, Sweeney volunteered at Barrios Unidos and was a resident advisor at Cowell College. Read more at UCSC
Katie Sweeney, second from left, is the 2016 winner of the Gabriel Zimmerman Memorial Scholarship. At the awards ceremony May 26, she met with Yethzéll Díaz, left, the inaugural winner in 2012, Andrea Steiner, of Community Studies, and Arash Mohajerinejad, right, the 2014 winner. (Photo by Melissa De Witte)