Project Fairness selected its second class of Project Fairness scholars in August 2021.
The Project Fairness scholarships are awarded annually to current and former foster youth who are pursuing higher education. The winners receive financial support to participate in an educational program, and mentoring to help them achieve their academic and professional goals.
The 2021 Project Fairness scholars were selected from a large and competitive pool of applicants, and distinguished themselves for their leadership, resilience and commitment to helping others.
Mansoora Ameri
Mansoora Ameri is a senior at San Diego Miramar College, pursuing a degree in public health. She was born in Afghanistan, and as a kid, she witnessed the violence and intimidation of the Taliban, which included forbidding women and girls from receiving formal education. When Mansoora was six years old, her mother died of a heart attack due to not having access to health services.
In 2014, Mansoora migrated to the United States, where she lived in a foster home. She attended Mira Mesa High school and San Diego Miramar College, and is planning to transfer to a four-year university. She is the first in her family to enroll in college and she cannot wait to overcome the obstacles that her family has faced in getting an education. Her parents never went to school, but as a young girl, Mansoora developed a strong desire to pursue a career in the medical field to ensure that all people, particularly the disadvantaged, will be guaranteed health care. She hopes one day to provide affordable health care to disadvantaged communities in the United States, who do not have as much access to medical assistance.
Travis Godwin
Travis Godwin is a third-year accounting student at Florida A&M University. At Florida A&M, he is a member of various organizations, including the National Association of Black Accountants, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and Big Brother Little Brother Mentoring Program, where he serves on the E-board as an Academic Affairs officer. He has also interned with the Florida Department of Children and Families as a receptionist, and Deloitte as a Tax intern.
Travis’s interest in accounting started when he mastered Microsoft Excel in high school. Upon graduation, he plans to go to graduate school at Florida State University and get a master’s degree in accounting, with a specification in taxation. After obtaining his master’s degree, he plans to work for a Big Four accounting firm and later open his own firm. Outside of his studies and work, he enjoys playing basketball and traveling.
Elina Morrison
Elina Morrison is an incoming Masters in Public Policy student at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. She has a double BA in English Literature and International Studies with double minors in Human Rights Studies and Economics from the University of North Carolina at Asheville.
Elina is an alumnus of the 2020 Public Policy and International Affairs summer program at Princeton University, and has academic and professional experience in the fields of corporate and finance accountability, housing, immigration, and foster care policy. Globally, she has completed work in the fields of economic development, genocide studies, and teaching abroad in Ghana, Rwanda, and China. Her research interests are in human rights, comparative social policy, systems thinking, and journalism. In the future, Elina hopes to have a career in human rights and policymaking.
Djulia Sekariyongo Koita
Djulia Sekariyongo Koita is a junior at the University of California, Berkeley. She’s pursuing a degree in Social Welfare with a minor degree in Public Policy. Djulia was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and migrated to the US at the age of six. Later on she became a foster kid. Due to her experience as a foster youth, she’s developed the desire to raise awareness about the hardships that individuals impacted by the foster care system face in society. She hopes to pursue a career working to combat human sex trafficking, with a focus on its impact on foster youth. Outside her academic career, she enjoys being physically active, whether it be playing Squash or simply going to the gym.
Tianna Wolin
Tianna Wolin is a senior at Point Loma Nazarene University in California, pursuing a degree in Child Development. She currently works at Greenfield Middle School in Cajon Valley, assisting children who have a difficult time in class and who need assistance in learning. She is a first generation college student who is on her educational journey towards becoming a special education elementary teacher.
Tianna has wanted to be a teacher since she was little, in part because of the wonderful teachers she had in her early education years. She has a passion for working with children who have special needs and behavior concerns, and believes she can make a bigger impact in the future as a principal. For the past six years, she has been giving back to the foster care system by advocating for foster children and their needs as a Court Appointed Special Advocate.
