Prize Recipient

Richard Calhoun
University of California, Santa Barbara

Background:

My name is Richard A. Calhoun, Jr. and I am a graduate of Loyola High School in Los Angeles.  While attending Loyola I was concurrently enrolled at several community colleges where I took additional coursework that was UC transferrable.  I also took on several leadership roles such as Vice President of the African American Association of Students and volunteered to tutor incoming Loyola freshman students.  Beyond the walls of Loyola I was elected the Vice President of the Young Black Scholars Youth Leadership Council, a premier college preparatory organization in Los Angeles and was selected as a semi-finalist for the prestigious Posse Foundation leadership scholarship.  I have spent a considerable amount of time outside of school involved in various community service projects and college preparatory programs, such as tutoring students at San Rafael and Maria Regina Catholic Schools in south central Los Angeles and Gardena.  I have also been very active in my church and local missions to help feed the homeless population on Los Angeles Skid Row.  The most rewarding experiences for me have come from my volunteering to help troubled youth.  For the past four years I have served as a Mentor to at-risk and underperforming middle school students.  And every summer I have served as a volunteer Coach at an inner-city free basketball camp.  For me, getting a quality education is high on my priority list, but so is helping out the less fortunate in my community.
 
This Fall I will be attending the University of California, Santa Barbara where I plan to major in Physics with a possible Engineering emphasis.  Ive selected Physics as my major because it was one of the most challenging classes that I took in high school and I feel that a degree in Physics will be a great foundation for any science profession.  It is my plan to attend graduate school immediately after undergrad and then possibly obtain my PHD.  I am very excited about becoming a freshman at UCSB because I will be the second person in my family to attend college and I am even more grateful for being selected as an APS scholar.