National Scholarship from Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Awarded to Perimeter College Alumna

National Scholarship from Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Awarded to Perimeter College Alumna

CLARKSTON, Ga.—Rakeb Tesfassellasie, an alumna of Georgia State University’s Perimeter College and now a student at the Georgia Institute of Technology, has already packed a lot into her college experience.

She has researched the impact that building design and windows have on migrating birds and has worked with a team to design a self-administered Pap test—a project for which she is continuing research.

This spring, Tesfassellasie was recognized for her achievements and awarded the prominent national Jack Kent Cooke (JKC) Foundation Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship.

Originally from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Tesfassellasie said, “the unwavering support and encouragement I received from my professors during my time as a Dual Enrollment student and their belief in my potential played a significant role in shaping my academic confidence and path forward.”

Tesfassellasie moved to Atlanta in middle school. Her first experience with Perimeter College was in high school when she joined the Dual Enrollment program at Perimeter and began her college career.

"I chose Perimeter,” said Tesfassellasie, “primarily because of the REP (Regents Engineering Pathways) program” and the support she already had been shown by the Perimeter faculty.

While at Perimeter, Tesfassellasie was an Honors College student enrolled in the REP  program. As a Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Program (LSAMP) scholar at Perimeter, Tesfassellasie researched how building design and windows affect migrating birds. She transferred from REP to Georgia Tech in the spring of 2025 and is studying there in the dual bachelor/master’s program for industrial engineering.

Tesfassellasie was part of a team of three students who won first place in the 2024 Community College Innovation Challenge for their design of a self-administered Pap test, called Gorginea Care. Tesfassellasie is excited to continuing working on this project with her two partners, fellow Perimeter students, Sophia Bereket and Shalom Ejiwunmi. They have been accepted into Georgia Tech’s Create-X Idea to Prototype (i2P) program to further their research. Tesfassellasie and Ejiwunmi will be panelists at CCIC 2025, where they’ll share their journey and insights with aspiring innovators.

Tesfassellasie is one of only two Jack Kent Cooke transfer scholarship recipients in Georgia in 2025 and one of only 90 students selected nationwide. She was a semifinalist for the scholarship last year and this year, making this year’s win particularly meaningful.

In 2025, 1,600 students from community colleges across the nation applied for the JKC Foundation Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship. Of those applicants, 467 were selected to be semifinalists. Ninety students were selected to receive the scholarship, and only two, Tesfassellasie and fellow Perimeter College student Paloma Hodje, were selected from Georgia.

The award, which provides last dollar funding after all institutional aid is applied, can give Tesfassellasie as much as $55,000 a year to complete her bachelor’s degree.

“I’m honored to be named a Jack Kent Cooke Scholar,” said Tesfassellasie. “I’m deeply grateful for the opportunities this scholarship will open up for me, and I will truly cherish this experience for a lifetime.”

Tesfassellasie received the news that she had won the scholarship during a surprise announcement at Perimeter’s Clarkston Campus. Her younger sister, also a Jack Kent Cooke scholar, attended, and other family members joined via video. The award was presented by Dr. Lauri Goodling and Dr. Kari Miller, professors from the Honors College who worked with her through the process of applying for the scholarship.

"The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is more than just financial support,” said Tesfassellasie. “It's a community that uplifts, empowers and fuels our growth as scholars and as leaders."

In recent years, the Honors College at Perimeter has provided focused assistance to students wanting to apply for the Jack Kent Cooke award. This year, six Honors College students from Perimeter were named semifinalists for the scholarship. The selection of Tesfassellasie and Hodje as recipients brings the total of Perimeter students to be awarded the Cooke scholarship since 2002 to 30. Previous winners have transferred to institutions such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Yale University and Georgia State University's Atlanta Campus.

“We are so very proud of all that Rakeb has achieved during her time at Perimeter,” said Dr. Barbara J. Johnson, dean of Perimeter College. “We have no doubt that she will continue to excel and inspire others.”

— Story by Christy Petterson
— Photo by Bill Roa