IDEA Scholars

The IDEA Scholars program is building a community of engineering scholars at the Jacobs School. The program offers support and achievement opportunities, and entering undergraduates are encouraged to apply. Students have quarterly meetings and participate in mentoring and tutoring. They experience Summer PrEP, take classes together, and will remain engaged through TIP, Global TIES, the Gordon Engineering Leadership Center and other programs. One goal is a 70 percent graduation rate. Kayse Sheppard and Antonio Gonzalez are among the first cohort of IDEA Scholars.

Kayse Sheppard dreams of designing rides for Disney amusement parks. But when she first enrolled at the Jacobs School of Engineering, she worried about handling the school's rigorous curriculum and about making new friends. Her worries began to fade after she earned a spot as an IDEA Scholar and attended the Summer PrEP program, where she made friends and gained skills for thriving in a challenging engineering education environment. Kayse, a 17-year-old Native American and Hispanic student, also takes part in the JUMP mentoring program and has already begun giving back: she recently took part in an engineering outreach program at a local middle school.

Antonio "AJ" Gonzalez Antonio "AJ" Gonzalez wants to come up with technology that uses renewable resources to power the world. He also is a midshipman in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve and attends UC San Diego on a Naval ROTC scholarship. AJ, 19, is an IDEA Scholar. He chose UC San Diego for its top environmental engineering research and because of the city's military bases. As the son of a single mother coming from a low-performing high school, he was worried about doing well in college. The PrEP program changed his mindset. He said he now knows he will succeed.