QS Community Scholarship Winners

Each year, QS hands out a number of Community Scholarships to MBA applicants who can demonstrate that they have made a significant social contribution. Here are the stories of four 2015 recipients of the US$2,000 awards.

Itamar Snir

Itamar Snir’s achievements include leading a team responsible for developing an advanced decision support system to help the ICU at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, letting them know when a patient’s health deteriorated, as his final undergraduate university project (combined with an Intel volunteerism scheme). However, his good work extends beyond his professional and academic life.

The QS Scholarships committee was particularly impressed with his tutoring and mentoring work. Two examples of this stand out. The first is the way in which Itamar helped a young squad commander - who struggled with the preliminary physical tests required to enroll in the officers’ academy – to realize her potential while he was serving in the military. The second was his tutoring of the daughter of a family friend with severe ADHD, for which he had to utilize careful teaching methods.

“I can't really explain why, but all my life I found myself tutoring others. I was a good student from a really young age and I liked helping people and empowering them to make it on their own. As I grew older, my friends and classmates told me that they like how I simplify things for them and that they really like my attitude when it comes to tutoring – they say I'm confident on the one hand, but not condescending on the other. For me personally, it brings satisfaction to see someone I helped succeed on his or her own. I don't know if there's a specific person who's inspired me in this regard, my mother is a high-school teacher and the education I received from an early age was that I should always assist others if I have the ability to do so.”

Itamar will be studying at NYU Stern

Bowen Sun

Bowen Sun has also been awarded with a QS Community Scholarship for his work as a tutor. While studying at Northeast Normal University, Bowen took part in a scheme that saw him leading a 20-person group which went out to remote areas to tutor in local schools.

“Most of the children would walk from one to three hours from their homes if they wanted to attend the classes, because they lived in the mountains. I was really shocked when I found this situation. You can’t imagine how outlying the area is until you see it in person.

Three months later, the teachers and children were bonding together, but we needed to go back to university. I heard from the headmaster of the school that there would be another group arriving next year, but only for the summer. The lack of teaching resources is this school’s main problem. There are only two full-time teachers for about two hundred students in this school.”

Bowen felt this situation had to be rectified. On his return to the university, he approached the dean and proposed that the scheme be made rolling, so that the children would have consistent access to tutors, and that course credit would be awarded. The dean agreed and the scheme, which Bowen ran full time for a year after graduating, has gone from strength to strength. “I wish I could help them to improve the situation for the long term. After almost eight years of effort, this group has expanded to support not only one school, but schools all over Jilin Province.”

Bowen will be studying at Mays Business School (Texas A&M University)

Gennaro Bozza

Gennaro Bozza is currently stationed at CERN, where he has been putting the finishing touches to the second of two major projects conducted during his two-year stint at the renowned research institute, based in Geneva.

There, Gennaro – who has a background in mechanical engineering – has been helping to design the cooling systems that ensure CERN’s Large Hadron Collider can function at the extremely low temperatures it requires, using what Gennaro describes calmly as “special super-conductive magnets that create the highest magnetic fields on earth, and that need to be cooled down.”

Gennaro could have sought a new position at CERN at the end of his current contract, but says: “What I wanted to do was to complete my education with an MBA.”  He has been awarded a QS Community Scholarship for the way in which he has continually demonstrated a determination to give back and work towards making a difference in society over the course of his academic and professional life.

Most recently, he has been volunteering his services as an Italian teacher at the nonprofit adult-learning institution, the Université Populaire of Geneva Canton (UPCGe): “It’s very rewarding and I always have a lot of fun in the class,” he says, expressing his sadness that it must come to an end, at least for the time being, when he starts his MBA. However, the importance Gennaro attaches to social responsibility is something he will take with him to business school: “A responsible leader means not making profit at any cost but rather, making profit in a sustainable way,” he explains. 

Gennaro will be studying at St. Gallen

Greg Oxenberg

Greg Oxenberg’s list of good deeds is long enough to fill a résumé by itself. He can count helping prisoners get access to books, organizing an annual benefit concert (at which he also performed) to raise money for Alzheimer’s while at university, tutoring students from inner city schools on the subject of personal finance, pro-bono consulting work for nonprofits, strategy consulting work for UNICEF, and performing mock interviews with non-native English speakers in Harlem.

He says the work of which he is most proud, however, is that which he did as the New York corporate giving chairperson while working at Charles River Associates. There, he raised awareness of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a fatal disease afflicting thousands of children, including his cousin, Charley. In total, he managed to raise US$6,000 through corporate donations in the role.

To what does Greg ascribe his lifelong commitment to giving back and helping people? “Throughout my childhood, my parents always made sure my brother and I knew how fortunate we were to have the opportunities available to us, and highlighted the importance of giving back to those less fortunate than we were. This sentiment continues to motivate me to get out there and partake in community service as often as possible. Over the years, I have learned how important it is to count your blessings, and to always keep your personal struggles in perspective. If I am ever feeling frustrated or upset, I’ve consistently found that focusing my attention on others leads to more positive thinking.”

Greg will be studying at NYU Stern