Santa Monica: The Milken Scholars, a joint initiative of the Milken Institute and the Milken Family Foundation, has chosen 11 talented students from greater Los Angeles for its 2020 scholarship program after a rigorous nomination, application and interview process. Open to college-bound high school seniors in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and New York City, Milken Scholars are selected based on academic performance, community service, leadership and their ability to persevere in the face of personal challenges.
Ramsay Goyal from Loyola High School of Los Angeles (Yale) and Rohin Manvi from Crescenta Valley High School (Stanford) are among the awardees.
Recipients receive a $10,000 scholarship, but more importantly they gain a lifelong support system that includes ongoing career-related counseling, assistance in securing internships, opportunities for community service, and a fund to assist their pursuit of post-undergraduate career goals.
Every day, as Ramsay Goyal biked to and from Loyola High School of Los Angeles, he got to know his neighborhood. Homeless encampments, empty buildings and vacant lots shone with possibilities, gave him a deeper appreciation for his community and catalyzed his desire to take an active role in shaping it. In 2018 Ramsay ran for the Olympic Park Neighborhood Council, going door to door to convince neighbors that a high school student was up to the task—and he won. Ramsay has pushed to allocate council funds to a neighborhood community center that provides housing to previously homeless families, voted to approve construction of a 40-unit affordable housing complex for victims of domestic abuse, and advocated for a new bike lane on Venice Boulevard. Fascinated by public transportation, Ramsay founded the Geocaching Club, leading members on high-tech scavenger hunts as they follow clues and navigational directions to find hidden containers. Ramsay will explore urban studies at Yale and looks forward to a career in urban planning.
Thanks to Crescenta Valley High School (CVHS) graduate Rohin Manvi, more than 100,000 villagers in rural India now know when water will flow to their area. Rohin designed a water sensor specifically for remote locations, where water is delivered intermittently and residents lack internet access, reliable electricity and smartphones. He designed and directed manufacturing of the sensors, build a custom 2G server to power them, hired and trained local employees, and waded through Indian politics to install the sensors in 100 villages near his parents’ hometown. Rohin’s original WaterNotifier app won the 2017 Congressional App Challenge for California’s 28th district.
He won the General Motors STEM for Changemaking Challenge and then, together with the other winners, created a social change video sharing platform for the Ashoka Changemakers Movement.
Dedicated to sharing his experience with others, Rohin serves as a project advisor for CV Enterprises, a software company for CVHS students overseen by the computer science teacher. He has teamed up with four other Stanford students to create a new social media platform that will reduce the negative mental health effects of existing networks like Facebook and Instagram. Rohin teaches practical electrical engineering to students at two schools in rural India, leading classes remotely and providing extra help via video calls.
Rohin will study computer science and engineering at Stanford and plans a career as an entrepreneur.
