On July 7, Vanderbilt announced the seven first-year students and three rising sophomores who were chosen for the Ingram Scholars Program, which provides students with a full housing and tuition scholarship. The chosen students will also complete a service project that combines community service and giving. 

E. Bronson Ingram, former president of the Vanderbilt University Board of Trust, founded the Ingram Scholars program in 1994. Since then, more than 300 students have been selected for the program based on their academic record and commitment to service.  

The new first-year scholars are Gabrielle Goodwin of Columbia, South Carolina; Sharon Katoh-Jones of Beaumont, Texas; Jacob Klein of Princeton Junction, New Jersey; Tony Li of Powell, Ohio; Viviette Lindon of Saint Louis, Missouri; Rasya Ramakrishnan of Frisco, Texas and Elizabeth Ryan of Atlanta, Georgia. The new sophomore scholars are Troy Noesser of Sea Ranch Lakes, Florida; Rocco Otto of Coraopolis, Pennsylvania and Claire Petersen of Marietta, Georgia. 

Past and future service work 

First-year Ramakrishnan said she was attracted to the Ingram Scholars program because of its distinctive commitment to blending business principles with meaningful community service. She explained that she has always been passionate about bringing a service-driven mindset to industries usually centered on profit. 

“[The Ingram Scholarship] is a scholarship dedicated to students who are passionate about the mix of business and community service,” Ramakrishnan said. “In the business industry, you think of money-minded people, but when you combine that with service, it’s really beautiful — you get this mix of innovation — but also for the greater good.” 

Ramakrishnan said she plans to use a career in finance as a platform for advocacy, particularly for women in venture capital. 

“Venture capital is only seven percent women, and that’s the field I plan to go into,” Ramakrishnan said. “I want to help bring light to women in finance to know they can be their authentic selves and don’t have to mask who they are just because they’re underrepresented. 

Goodwin said she strives to be a servant leader and was drawn to the Ingram Scholars Program for its emphasis on service and personal growth. Goodwin’s long-term commitment to her local children’s museum gave her a unique perspective on youth mentorship and leadership development.  

“I have served at my local children’s museum for the past five years as a museum apprenticeship program leader and volunteer. I worked with summer camps, assisting counselors and, in my final year, leading volunteers by overseeing logistics and mentoring them,” Goodwin said. “This role was important to me because I was a camper for about five or six years before becoming a volunteer, so I experienced the entire camp process, from participant to leader.”  

Goodwin plans to build on her high school marketing experience through her Ingram Scholars service project. She’s especially passionate about helping underrepresented and under-resourced youth, including minorities and people of color. Her goal is to create a project that offers these students both meaningful opportunities and inspiration.  

“Providing representation and hope is key,” Goodwin said. “I want these kids to see that they can achieve their goals and have role models who look like them.” 

Lindon explained that she was drawn to the Ingram Scholars Program for its strong emphasis on service and how it stood out from other scholarships. 

“It’s very important for the leaders in a community to be in touch with the people they serve, and the best way to do that is truly through community service,” Lindon said. 

Looking ahead, Lindon is eager to get involved with Ingram-affiliated nonprofits, while also pursuing her keen interests in Nashville’s local political scene. 

“Next Steps stood out to me,” she said. “I’m really excited to get involved again with the local politics in Nashville, with Nashville being such an up-and-coming city. I’m excited to see what other nonprofits the Ingram community is connected with.” 

Otto, Petersen and Noesser joined the newest class of Ingram Scholars because of their sincere dedication to community service during both high school and early college years.  

Otto said he strives to reflect his commitment to addressing health inequities, a passion that aligns with the Ingram Scholars Program’s mission, through his extensive nonprofit work. He founded the No Child Fights Alone Foundation in 2020. 

“I started the [No Child Fights Alone Foundation] in 2020 during the height of COVID-19,” Otto said. “I was bored and was thinking of ways that I could make an impact because I think COVID-19 exposed a lot of inequities in many different ways.”  

Through his nonprofit, Otto has implemented several impactful projects, including pivoting efforts to build a sustainable pipeline abroad by assisting juvenile diabetics affected by the infrastructure crisis in Ukraine. 

“We saw that people in Ukraine, specifically juvenile diabetics and their families, didn’t have access to crucial medical equipment,” Otto said. “We worked with an organization in the UK called Type One Style to facilitate a shipment of a bunch of medical equipment CGMs [and] lancets for juvenile diabetics and their families.”  

Peterson said her interest in the Ingram Scholars Program stems from her passion for improving nutrition education within the cancer patient community, a focus she plans to continue through the program’s service opportunities. 

“My focus will be to streamline nutrition information for cancer patients through education [by] developing a meal kit system that could expand the impact of the Heimerdinger Foundation to reach more patients,” Peterson said. 

When asked which communities she aims to serve, Peterson said she will begin with patients affected by cancers linked to nutrition, before expanding her efforts more broadly.  

“Colon cancer would be my first start [before] expanding to other cancers closely linked to nutrition [such as GI-related cancers],” Peterson said. “Hopefully, if things go well, [I would expand] to more types of cancer and eventually scale the project to address food insecurity and help people who cannot access meals by developing an efficient and affordable meal kit system.”  

Noesser said the Ingram Scholars Program offers a way to merge his entrepreneurial ambitions with a dedication to service. Two summers ago, Noesser was the sole intern in the Fort Lauderdale mayor’s office, where he worked alongside developers, elected officials and city attorneys.  

“I grew our city marketing by over 300%, but I think the main thing was that residents of South Florida have a big environmental conscience. I worked with the mayor to try to incentivize commercial real estate developers to include vegetation and sustainable components to their large real estate developments to strike a balance and make it more equitable for everybody,” Noesser said. 

Noesser shared that he was “blown away” when he received his acceptance into the program.  

“I was with my dad, working on a construction fountain in Miami, when I saw the email. I knew it was a long shot. I was in disbelief. [The experience] was just phenomenal,” Noesser said. 

Program leadership 

Kelly Goldsmith, faculty director of the program, said in an email to The Hustler that this year’s Ingram Scholars were chosen out of over 2,000 scholars based on academic performance, a passion for service and a commitment to serving communities based on their respective needs.  

“The most essential qualities are a deep sense of compassion, intellectual curiosity and a willingness to act on one’s convictions,” Goldsmith said. “We look for students who hold themselves to high academic standards, have a sincere desire to serve, and who can create responsible and sustainable service projects. Our scholars are change makers who are ready to learn, collaborate and grow.” 

Goldsmith noted she is inspired by the new group of scholars and hopes to continue to foster a community among them where they can grow as leaders, learn from each other and fulfill their potential as problem solvers and innovators. 

“We are absolutely delighted with the scholars who will be joining us this fall. The Ingram family’s vision was to create a program that would fundamentally change the lives of students and, through their work, change the lives of others,” Goldsmith said. “Over 30 years and hundreds of projects later, that vision is as strong as ever. We are incredibly excited to see what this new cohort will accomplish.”