Student receives Cooke scholarship

College junior Jason Lewis won't have to worry about his tuition for the rest of his undergraduate education.

Lewis, along with 39 other national winners, is a recipient of the Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship, which was given out for the first time this year. The award will provide each winner with up to $30,000 annually for undergraduate tuition.

Winners must meet criteria for financial aid and must have accomplishments in academics, volunteerism and leadership. They must also demonstrate strong critical thinking skills, significant contributions to their field of study and an appreciation for the arts and humanities. Only sophomores and juniors are eligible to apply.

"This [award] is one of the most extensive among the ones CURF administers," said Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships Director Art Casciato.

Casciato worked closely with Lewis during the nearly year-long application process.

Penn could only nominate one person for the award, and Casciato and a faculty committee at CURF selected Lewis as the Penn nominee from 29 other applicants.

Casciato sited Lewis's intellectual curiosity, excellence in the classroom and extensive anthropological research in France and Kenya over the past two summers as instrumental in the decision.

Lewis is also one of only two winners from the Ivy League -- the other is from Yale University.

Lewis, an Anthropology and Environmental Studies major, has measured over two thousand human skulls at the University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Each skull took Lewis about an hour to measure and enter into a comparative database.

He has also been named a University Scholar and has received $800 from NASA for research funding. His findings include environmental influences on human brain size and have led Penn researchers like Janet Monge to question how anthropologists view our ancestors.

Monge, the keeper of skeletal collections at Penn's museum, is a mentor to Lewis and wrote one of his award recommendations. She has worked with him in a work-study program since Lewis's freshman year.

"He just puts everything into what he's doing and that speaks very highly of him and his character," Monge said.

Lewis's 3.86 GPA, his work load of six classes per semester, two work study jobs and his vice chairman position on the Anthropology Advisory Board at Penn attest to that.

A Dover, Pa., native, Lewis said he feels lucky to be at Penn and even luckier to receive the JKC award. He lost his father at age six and grew up in a single-parent household with an older sister. His mother has held multiple clerical jobs over the years to support the family.

"If I didn't go to Penn for financial aid, I wouldn't be able to afford to go to a community college," commented Lewis.

Lewis added that the award would "relieve a huge burden for him."

Prior to the award, Lewis had to earn around $7,000 a year to make up the difference between Penn's tuition and Penn and government financial aid.

Lewis said he hopes to publish his findings on human cranial measurements in the near future and will be giving a colloquium at noon on Oct. 11 at CURF on his research and travels.

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