Erika Vinculado awarded full tuition scholarship at Kettering University after being named ‘#1 Student Overall’ of AIM program

As a result of her outstanding participation in Kettering University’s recent Academically Interested Minds (AIM) program, Ateneo de Manila Senior High School student Erika Vinculado (12-Gonzalez) has been awarded a full tuition scholarship for up to five years at Kettering University in Michigan, USA, beginning the Fall Term of School Year 2023-2024. Erika and 29 other students of color from all over the world secured the all-expenses-paid slots (including roundtrip airfare) to attend the AIM five-week pre-college program that was held from July 5 to August 5, 2022. Of the 27 students who made it to the USA to attend AIM, Erika was eventually awarded 1st place in Physics and named #1 Student Overall at the program’s conclusion, besting her 26 fellow student participants.

AIM is an intensive academic experience that was developed by Kettering University and inaugurated in 1984 to help students of color make a successful transition from high school to college. Throughout the five weeks of the program, participants attend classes in Calculus, Chemistry and Physics, work in groups on a specific case study, take quizzes and exams, and are introduced to various opportunities available in the STEM field. Kettering University is recognized in the United States as an educational leader in experiential Engineering, Computer and Laboratory Sciences, and Business Management.

The 2022 AIM reportedly marks the first time that students from the Philippines were given coveted slots to experience the program (another senior high school student from Central Philippines University in Iloilo also attended). Erika is also reportedly the first Filipino AIM attendee to be awarded a full, up-to-five-years tuition scholarship, as these are usually awarded to AIM attendees from the USA, Mexico and Jamaica.