Eight students from the College of LAS graduated with the Class of 2022 as Lincoln Scholars this spring.
Since 2012, the initiative has supported promising LAS students from the state of Illinois by providing significant, renewable scholarships. The average unmet need to attend Illinois is around $6,000 per year, and the Lincoln Scholars Initiative helps bridge this difference. For nearly a decade, the program has provided up to $20,000 in scholarship funding over four years to more than 120 promising students who have earned the chance to study at Illinois, lightening the financial burden for their families and futures.
This year’s graduating Lincoln Scholars include Sebastian Frank, who majored in econometrics & quantitative economics and Spanish. He's one of eight students who graduated with the distinction.
Frank was a sophomore when he made a decision that changed everything. The economics and Spanish major found his niche while studying econometrics and quantitative economics.
“I knew that I wanted to do a combination of more theoretical work with quantitative material,” Frank said. “Out of all the programs I looked at, Illinois was the one that had the most courses that met both of those criteria. It’s really great to feel so passionate about something in college, and my career is going to follow that same path after graduation.”
After interning with the asset management firm BlackRock, Frank will start work fulltime this summer at the firm’s Manhattan office.
“With my Illinois classes and opportunities, I was able to discover what I was passionate about and discover this internship that turned into a fulltime role to launch my career,” he said. “It’s exciting to apply the things I’ve learned in class to a real business setting.”
As a double major, Frank found Spanish to be a natural fit for his second area of study.
“While I’m at home I speak with my family in Spanish, but at school I don’t really have that ability,” he explained. “Picking up a Spanish major gave me that opportunity. And I also think it’s an important skillset to have, regardless of whether I was a native speaker or not, I always wanted to have a mastery of a second language.”
Frank has earned a variety of scholarships during his time at Illinois; however, none as impactful as the Lincoln Scholars Initiative.
“This has been the largest and most consistent funding across the board, so it’s been the biggest help to make college affordable for me and my family,” he said. “Without the affordability I wouldn’t [have made it] here, and I wouldn’t have the ability to end up where I will be [starting this summer].”
Kayleigh Rahn
Editor's note: This story first appeared on the College of LAS website.