Bascom Hill Society awards first-ever scholarship

As the inaugural recipient of the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Bascom Hill Society Scholarship, Sara Sadek knows she has a lot of high expectations awaiting her.

A look at her academic and personal achievements suggests she’ll exceed any benchmarks that are set.

A junior this fall working toward a triple major in economics, Spanish and international business at UW–Madison, Sadek has made a mark in the classroom and in her community. She has traveled and studied abroad, volunteered to help senior citizens in Madison and youth in Nicaragua, and she has focused on children caught up in the humanitarian crisis in northern Uganda.

“I am so honored to receive the Bascom Hill Society scholarship,” Sadek says. “A cumbersome course load and a daunting set of financial responsibilities will be greatly alleviated due to this scholarship, and I can now pursue my greater goals and contribute more fully to the student body and the community.”

The scholarship is the first in the history of the Bascom Hill Society (BHS), the UW Foundation’s recognition group for those who have made lifetime commitments of more than $25,000 in gifts to support the university. A major component for students to qualify was financial need, as access to the university and student support is important to BHS members. Other main factors for students to be considered for the award, which provides the equivalent of full tuition, room and board, were academic achievement and volunteer involvement. A selection committee chose Sadek from a group of qualified applicants.

Sadek attended West High School in Madison, and she has made a point of seeking perspectives other than her own.

“Growing up as a first-generation Egyptian-American, I was privileged enough to be raised in an environment in which I had much connection and exposure to the world outside our borders,” she says. “As I entered into high school, I made a conscious effort to take courses focusing on international studies and multicultural understanding, the most memorable and life changing being West High School’s widely respected Multico course, taught by Rebecca Jallings.

“I continued pursuing my passion in my past two years at UW through my extensive involvement in AIESEC, the world’s largest international student organization focused on developing leaders with a commitment to international cooperation,” she adds. AIESEC has a presence in 91 nations and offers students the opportunity for work exchanges to develop as leaders and provide companies with top talent.

“Through an AIESEC U.S. summer conference, I was first made aware of the extent of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Uganda through a showing of the documentary ‘Invisible Children,'” Sadek says. “In a joint effort with AIESEC members nationwide, we decided to create the Uganda initiative to spread awareness through our international network.”

Sadek spent the spring semester as an exchange student at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. “The past five months provided by far the most challenging and rewarding experience of my life thus far,” she says. “I’m extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to immerse myself in a culture that was completely unfamiliar, yet invigorating. I hope every student’s abroad experience is as insightful as mine has been.”

John Hulpke, a professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, vouched for Sadek’s leadership potential. “I teach large classes here,” he wrote in a letter of recommendation during the spring semester. “To be specific, I have 631 students this semester. As can be expected, I do not know all students individually, but I know Sara. For one thing, she is the only student among the 631 who participated in an international conference during the semester. That is impressive already, but Sara managed to do so without missing a beat in her class work.

“And she immediately was able to apply concepts gained at the AIESEC conference in the Philippines to concepts discussed in my class on business ethics,” he wrote.

When she returned to the United States, Sadek did not kick back for the summer. “I was interning part time in New York City with Teatro IATI, a nonprofit Spanish theater company focused on bringing Spanish theater and culture to the New York community,” she says, adding that she also was interning at Performance of a Lifetime, a leadership development consulting company.

Sadek has expressed an interest in applying to the Teach for America program upon graduation, and there she hopes to help overcome self-segregation by race and socioeconomic status, “a problem I seek to confront insistently throughout my lifetime.”

The award provides financial assistance to an academically successful student who will be a junior or senior and who has made outstanding philanthropic or volunteer contributions to the community.

“Sara’s track record, personality and potential make her a deserving recipient of this prestigious award,” says UW Foundation President Sandy Wilcox. “She is the sort of person who makes all of us connected with the UW–Madison proud.”