On Octo­ber 20, 2020, a vir­tu­al recep­tion was held with all the Iowa State Uni­ver­si­ty Bright Schol­ars of Iowa and Lois Dale Bright Schol­ars to rec­og­nize the newest recip­i­ents of both awards.

The 2020 recip­i­ents include:

• Kalpes Bhan­dari – Lois Dale Bright Scholarship
• Butoyi Char­lotte – Lois Dale Bright Scholarship
• Vanes­sa Cruz Esco­bar – Lois Dale Bright Scholarship
• Akpo­bari God­pow­er – Lois Dale Bright Scholarship
• Adam Har­ris – Bright Schol­ars of Iowa
• Alexan­der Has­san – Bright Schol­ars of Iowa 
• Elyse Hiskey – Lois Dale Bright Scholarship
• Leslie Hoang – Lois Dale Bright Scholarship
• Bar­i­t­ure Ibaa­kee – Lois Dale Bright Scholarship
• Far­rah Lewis – Bright Schol­ars of Iowa
• Emi­ly Nguyen – Bright Schol­ars of Iowa
• Osman Ortiz-Rivera – Lois Dale Bright Scholarship
• Whit­ney Win­ter – Bright Schol­ars of Iowa

Dur­ing the event, Erin Schwartz with ISU’s Office of Stu­dent Finan­cial Aid wel­comed every­one and shared a record­ed greet­ing from ISU Pres­i­dent Dr. Wendy Win­ter­steen. ISU Senior Vice Pres­i­dent for Stu­dent Affairs Dr. Toyia Younger got the group ener­gized with her remarks about get­ting involved on cam­pus and pur­su­ing their goals. Tom Press, Bright Foun­da­tion Board Pres­i­dent and Man­ag­ing Direc­tor shared more about the Brights and the Foundation’s goals for stu­dents. A video mes­sage from return­ing schol­ar Autumn Gan­non high­light­ed the oppor­tu­ni­ties the schol­ar­ship pro­vides. Mered­ith Dohmen, Bright Foun­da­tion Exec­u­tive Direc­tor then rec­og­nized each new schol­ar and they con­tin­ued the involve­ment theme by shar­ing some of the things they each hope to do dur­ing their time at ISU. 

Bright Schol­ars T‑shirts were dis­trib­uted to all schol­ars in advance of the recep­tion along with medal­lions and sto­ry books for the new recip­i­ents. With over 50 schol­ars cur­rent­ly at Iowa State Uni­ver­si­ty, the vir­tu­al for­mat proved to be a great oppor­tu­ni­ty to begin mak­ing con­nec­tions as it was the first time all schol­ars from both pro­grams gath­ered together.