KCC Student Liam Lotz Named a 2024-2025 Kaplan Leadership Scholar

Photo of Liam Lotz

KCC Student Liam Lotz

KCC Student Liam Lotz Named a 2024-2025 Kaplan Leadership Scholar

Kingsborough Community College liberal arts major Liam Lotz is among 11 students from 10 area community colleges to receive the prestigious Kaplan Leadership Scholarship this year. Founded by the Kaplan Educational Foundation in 2006, the Kaplan Leadership Program works with high-potential, low-income, overlooked, and underserved community college students, providing resources and support to help them complete their associate degree, transfer to the nation's most highly selective schools and earn bachelor degrees, and attain leadership roles in their professions and communities.

Once they transfer, the program offers funding to help with living expenses and other barriers faced by students of color, in addition to academic scholarships. The Leadership Program provides students with targeted help and resources to remove obstacles on the road to completing a four-year program and career success, including individualized academic advising, transfer counseling, college tours, summer study opportunities, and mentoring from corporate leaders.

Lotz has found success in the classroom after initially taking time off after high school to work in retail. He is in the Honors Program, serves as president of the Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society, and works as a peer mentor in KCC's ASAP office. The Sheepshead Bay resident continues to work part-time at Home Depot while maintaining his studies. Referring to himself as a “proud legacy child,” he follows in the footsteps of his mother, a KCC alumna who attended while pregnant with him.

“Being named a Kaplan Leadership Scholar means more than the world to me,” he shared. “This has boosted my confidence immensely and makes me more confident in my competitive academic abilities.”

Since the foundation’s inception, Kaplan Leadership Scholars have been accepted to the country’s most competitive schools, including Yale, Stanford, Princeton, Brown, Amherst, Cornell, Mount Holyoke, Smith, and many others. Ninety-two percent of Kaplan Leadership Scholars earn a bachelor's degree, while data from the Aspen Institute shows only 16% of community college students achieve this milestone—despite 80% aspiring to transfer to four-year schools—with even lower rates among low-income students.

Lotz plans to pursue cinema studies or media and popular culture at a four-year university with the goal of becoming a media archivist. His top choices are University of Southern California, University of California-Los Angeles, and DePaul University.

"We had an incredibly strong applicant pool this year, which made our final selection process extremely challenging, so we’re thrilled to welcome this exceptional cohort and excited to see the impact they will make in the wider community,” says Nolvia Delgado, executive director of KEF. “They follow in the footsteps of KLP graduates who today are practicing law and medicine, conducting scientific research, working in business, education and engineering, and leading in government and public and private industries.”

She notes, “Our scholars reinforce the fact that community colleges are rich with diverse, resilient, talented students with leadership potential when given the opportunities to succeed. We remain committed to our mission to remove barriers and provide greater access to higher education for our newest cohort of talented, motivated individuals."

About the Kaplan Educational Foundation:
The Kaplan Educational Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity, was initially established and supported by a generous endowment funded by Kaplan, Inc. executives with the idea of helping a small group of students in a big way. The Foundation provides high-potential, low-income students with academic and financial support and leadership training to raise their expectations for success and open doors to opportunities that will change their lives and communities. For more information, please visit www.kaplanedfoundation.org

About Kingsborough Community College:
Founded in 1963, Kingsborough Community College is Brooklyn’s only community college and is part of the City University of New York (CUNY). Located on a 70-acre campus in Manhattan Beach, Kingsborough remains firmly committed to its mission of providing both liberal arts and career education, promoting student learning and development, as well as strengthening and serving its diverse community.  Kingsborough provides a high-quality education through associate degree programs that prepare students for transfer to senior colleges or entry into the workforce. Serving approximately 11,000 full- and part-time students annually and an additional 20,000 students in its expanding continuing education program, Kingsborough has earned recognition as a Leader College of Distinction for excellence in student success by Achieving the Dream, and has been identified as a Top Community College in the nation by the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program eight consecutive times.

Press Contacts:
Cheryl Todmann | cheryl.todmann@kbcc.cuny.edu | C: 646-897-2508 | T: 718-368-6760
Valerie Silverman Kerr, valerie.silvermankerr@kaplanedfoundation.org, 914-806-6647

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