Stella Kwon, a graduating senior from Brookwood High School, has been named a 2022 Coca-Cola Scholar. As such, Kwon is one of 150 Scholars who will receive a $20,000 college scholarship awarded by the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation. The Coca-Cola Scholars Scholarship is an achievement-based honor awarded to graduating high school seniors. Students are recognized for their capacity to lead and serve, as well as their commitment to making a significant impact on their schools and communities. 

With the addition of the 2022 class, the Foundation has provided more than 6,600 Coca-Cola Scholars nationwide with more than $78 million in educational support over the course of 34 years.

In addition to receiving college scholarships, students selected will be welcomed into a vibrant and growing Coke Scholars family that has become a powerful force for positive change in the world. The Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation hosts frequent receptions throughout the country and invites Scholars from all classes to return to Atlanta for a Leadership Summit every five years to engage in the Coca-Cola Scholars Leadership Summit. Through networking, collaborations, and friendships, the group strives to make a greater impact together. Recent initiatives include a podcast called The SIP and the sixth year of a coaching program that partners seasoned Scholars with first-year Scholars as they transition to college.

The Coca-Cola Scholars Scholarship is unique in that recipients have between four to 10 years to use the full award and may opt to defer all or part of the award within that 10-year timeframe. The funds can be used for tuition at an accredited college or university or for other educational expenses as specified by the Foundation, such as on-campus housing, a computer, or textbooks.

In addition to earning a Coca-Cola Scholarship, Kwon, who is third in Brookwood’s Class of 2022 with a 4.37 GPA, won the PERIOD Youth Champion Award in Education for her work as co-founder of the non-profit La Lune. The organization targets the issue of menstrual inequality in the United States by providing free products (35,000 to date) and educational materials about menstrual hygiene safety to seven domestic locations and one as far away as Cambodia. Kwon allocated some of her PERIOD award money to personally equip Brookwood High with menstrual product dispensers and supplies for two school restrooms. In addition to spending time as a Brookwood High Student Ambassador, class representative, and president of the school’s National Honor Society, Kwon is also a violinist in the Brookwood Chamber Orchestra, All-State Orchestra, Gwinnett County Honor Orchestra, and Georgia Youth Symphony Orchestra since her freshman year. 

She plans to attend Harvard University in the fall to study government and/or economics.