Celeste Sangster awarded Obama-Chesky Scholarship for Public Service
Celeste Sangster. Photo courtesy of Celeste Sangster.
by Sara Swanson
A Manchester native has been awarded the Obama-Chesky Scholarship for Public Service. Celeste Sangster is one of 100 students from 33 states and territories, and from 74 different colleges and universities, to be selected for this opportunity. She will receive up to $50,000 in financial aid for her junior and senior years of college, funding for a work-travel experience, and access to a leadership network for the rest of her college experience and after graduation.
Sangster was born and raised in Manchester and is currently attending University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is studying public policy and medical anthropology with hopes of achieving a career in health law or policy with a focus on maternal health.
The scholarship was created by the Obamas and Brian Chesky, Co-Founder and CEO of Airbnb to help shape such leaders by giving college students financial aid to alleviate the burden of college debt, meaningful travel experiences to expand their horizons, and a network of mentors and leaders to support them. The two-year scholarship program is open to students entering their junior year of college at an accredited four-year college or university in the US.
Sangster stated that coming across this scholarship was very coincidental. She said, “ I saw a post about it as an advertisement while scrolling through social media. At that point, applications weren’t open so I bookmarked the post and learned as much as I could about the scholarship before I was able to apply.” She explained that the Obama-Chesky Scholarship application was one of the easier scholarship processes she’s gone through and added, “Although with a form that goes through demographic information, there were several very short prompts inquiring about future goals, motivations, challenges, and personal experiences. Additionally, applications had to submit a short video responding to another prompt about what brings them hope for the future.”
The scholarship, also known as the Voyager Scholarship, is fairly new. Sangster is among only the second cohort of Voyager Scholars. She will attend a convening this November alongside other Voyager scholarship recipients in her cohort to help define and inspire her public service journey. She stated that she’ll also have the opportunity to meet with President Obama and Brian Chesky, to talk about how to bridge divides and hear how they see the roles of empathy and understanding in leadership and public service, as well as the opportunity to learn from other guest speakers about different approaches to service, and to build community with other Voyagers.
Sangster stated, “This is an achievement that I am incredibly proud of, and I want to share it with my community as a way of thanking them for their support.”
Though homeschooled during her earlier years, Sangster attended Manchester Middle School for a portion of her 6th grade year through her 7th grade year. She then attended Washtenaw Technical Middle College in Ann Arbor. She was very involved in Manchester soccer, where she played, coached, and refereed for many years. In fact she credits Manchester Soccer for providing early leadership experience. She explained, “Playing soccer in Manchester and having the chance to coach and captain teams was the first taste of leadership I ever had. I really enjoyed motivating others, giving feedback, and finding ways to improve. These things all translated to my experiences in higher education where I now hope to help evaluate, improve, and implement better policies for our healthcare system.”
After graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill she would like to take the steps needed to get into a good public health masters program. She stated that this means she might take a gap year to work in the public health sector and gain real-world experience, or she might jump straight into a graduate program. Either way, she hopes to focus primarily on health policy and management, and/or maternal health.
When asked what her goals for maternal health policy are she explained, “My biggest overarching goal in going into maternal health policy is encouraging birth justice and allowing women to have good experiences giving birth whether they do it at a hospital, at home, or in a birth center. This might mean consulting with hospitals to train OB/GYNs in cultural competency and patient autonomy; it might be advocating for better midwifery education, or it might be implementing new policies on when physicians can make certain medical interventions during birth and how they approach informed consent. All of these involve problem-solving, working with different groups of people, research and investigation, and constant learning, all of which are characteristics of a career that I’m very interested in.”
Sangster wants other Manchester students interested in applying for the Obama-Chesky Scholarship in the future to know that there is a small window of eligibility for this scholarship. She stated, “If you’re interested in applying be sure to keep a mental note of when you are eligible. You can only apply during your sophomore year of college, so the 2-year program will be completed during your junior and senior year of college.” She refers interested students to the scholarship page on www.obama.org/programs/voyager-scholarship/ for additional criteria.
She would also like students to know that public policy, in general, is a career path that not many people, especially young students, are aware of. In addition to health policy, other areas of public policy include environmental policy, immigration policy, human rights policy, education policy, etc. She adds, “So if there is an issue that a student is really passionate about, public policy is one career route they can take.”
Congratulations on the scholarship, Celeste Sangster, and good luck in the future!
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