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Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

McCourt Honors Annual McCourt Scholars

McCourt+Honors+Annual+McCourt+Scholars

Five first-year students in the McCourt School of Public Policy have been selected as the 2022 McCourt Scholars, an annual honor recognizing students who show exceptional promise in the field of policymaking.

Announced Sept. 26, the honorees include Kyuin Lee (GRD ’24), Sara Hidayatullah (GRD ’24), Jad Maayah (GRD ’24), Charlotte Bailey (GRD ’24) and Sumin Lee (GRD ’23). Each honoree will receive a full-tuition scholarship, health insurance, a stipend and coverage for mandatory fees. Cohorts are selected based upon the strength of their applications to the McCourt School, where their prior experiences and academic excellence set them apart. 

McCourt School Dean Maria Cancian said this year’s cohort covers a wide range of focuses within policymaking. 

“The McCourt School is proud to honor Charlotte, Jad, Kyuin, Sara and Sumin, whose backgrounds, experiences and academic excellence qualify them for this prestigious award,” Cancian wrote to The Hoya. “This year’s McCourt Scholars have diverse interests in tech, health, immigration, criminal justice and climate resilience, and we look forward to seeing the impact they have as future policymakers.”

The McCourt School of Public Policy named its 2022 McCourt Scholars. Hailing from Seoul, Jordan, Pakistan, and the U.S., the scholars will bring their unique backgrounds and policy experience to the McCourt School.

Originally from Seoul, South Korea, Kyuin Lee worked in voter education at the European Parliament during Brexit before moving to the International Labour Organization (ILO), focusing on development aid and diversity, equity and inclusion. 

With this scholarship, Kyuin said she plans to expand her scope of influence to international development at the McCourt School.

“I would like to make a measurable difference in the work that I do and in order to make a measurable difference you have to know how to measure the effects, the impacts, of your work,” Kyuin told The Hoya. “I was always about putting my figure on the thorniest problems of the day, while finding solutions guided by artifacts and evidence.”

Hidayatullah, who studied predictive analytics as an undergraduate at the University of California, Berkeley, began her career as a consultant at Applied Predictive Technologies, a startup with a focus on predictive analytics. 

The startup was later bought by Mastercard, where Hidayatullah worked extensively with consumer data to develop software that tracks inclusive, effective growth in impoverished neighborhoods around the United States and the United Kingdom. 

Hidayatullah said the scholarship confirmed the importance of her work, which combined her expertise in data science with her passion for social impact.

“It was super exciting and humbling to get the scholarship but also to give myself this verification of ‘what you’re doing is interesting and they think it’s valuable and they want you to actually come and study this and enhance what you’re doing already,’” Hidayatullah told The Hoya.

Growing up in Sacramento, the capital of California, with a mother who worked as a journalist covering criminal justice policy, local politics have always been a point of interest for Bailey. 

After graduating from college, she spent three years in Greece as a college counselor, helping students apply to and matriculate at U.S. universities. She now works at the Council on Criminal Justice, a nonpartisan think tank based in D.C. 

Bailey said she looks forward to expanding on the work of those who came before her. 

“I was shocked and sort of overcome with how lucky I am, frankly,” Bailey told The Hoya. “I’ve been so unbelievably impressed with the caliber of classmates, professors, staff, everyone at the McCourt School, so I really feel just incredibly honored to be counted as a peer among these people.”

Coming from Jordan, Mayaah’s work has focused on immigrant and refugee support. Most recently, he worked at the nonprofit Havenly, which provides refugee women with support on starting their careers in the U.S., including paid job training and English language classes. 

Maayah said he is honored to have the opportunity to pursue a graduate degree without worrying about costs.

“I was able to speak with some of the faculty before I was picked for that decision and I got along with them super well and they seemed very interested in my work,” Maayah said. “To have that be recognized, I just felt immense honor.”

This article was updated on 11/2 to correct the false claim that Sumin Lee could not be reached for comment.

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