Gulfport High senior awarded scholarship from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation

Emma Helmert, a Gulfport High School senior, was awarded a four-year college scholarship from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation.

Helmert is one of the 60 graduating high school seniors out of 5,600 applicants to receive the scholarship and the only student chosen from the state of Mississippi.

This year’s recipients will receive up to $55,000 annually to cover costs associated with their undergraduate education.

In addition to financial support, Helmert will have the option to receive opportunities for internships, study abroad, and access to graduate school funding. “It was little crazy because in the semifinals, there were five or six of us that were actually from Mississippi. It was honestly a shock when I got the news, I wasn’t expecting it at all. I looked at the email and I was like oh I didn’t get it because it was like that thank you for applying, and I’m like oh it’s not good news then I looked and freaked out and I was like ‘Reagan’ and she was like ‘what’ and I said ‘I got it.’”

Helmert has not decided what college she wants to go to, but she is leaning towards Rice University or Mississippi State University for bio medical engineering and genetics.