2 Indian Americans From California Among 30 High School Seniors Named Edison Scholars
- Each scholar will receive a $40,000 scholarship, paid over four years, to further their academic pursuit in STEM fields at a four-year accredited U.S. college or university.
Two Indian American teens are among 30 high school seniors named Edison Scholars and will be awarded a total of $1.2 million in scholarships from Edison International. The scholarships are intended to help these students pursue science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) studies. Every year, deserving high schoolers are chosen from Southern California Edison’s service area. Each Edison Scholar will receive a $40,000 scholarship, paid over four years, to further their academic pursuit in STEM fields at a four-year accredited U.S. college or university.
Indian American scholars include Rhea Jethvani of Oxford Academy and Monica Pal of San Joaquin High School. Both of them are from Orange County, California.
Jethvani plans to dedicate herself to cybersecurity safety to protect her community and spread awareness of this danger. She led a team in creating IOTAnet, a centralized security management platform, which placed in the top five finalists of the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs’ Apps for Digital Peace Competition.
She is also co-founder of her school’s first Hackathon Learnathon, where she hosted the Basics of Cryptography workshop to highlight the importance of password encryption.
Pal studied computer science all four years in high school and has plans to continue in college. She credits her goal of pursuing a degree in computer science to her two mentors: her mother, a former chemistry professor, who has supported and inspired women in science, and her cousin, currently completing his medical residency, who has mentored and advised Pal with programming skills.
The Edison Scholars Program was established in 2006. Since then, 730 high schoolers have earned more than $13.5 million in scholarships.
Edison International, the parent company of Southern California Edison, is one of the largest corporate philanthropic contributors in Southern California. The Edison Scholars Program is funded entirely by Edison International shareholders. SCE customers’ utility bill payments do not fund company donations.