Mariam Hussain has been named the 2023 Greenleaf Scholar. The prestigious annual award provides a full scholarship to Copper Mountain College for one Morongo Basin High School student.
Hussain, a 16 year-old is from Yucca Valley who attends Yucca Valley High School, was selected from five other finalists: Lola Alvarez, Carter Green, and Allison VanVactor from Yucca Valley High School, and Jadyn Bauer and Jason Pilayan from Twentynine Palms High School. Each finalist was vetted through oral and written interviews.
Hussain is the eldest daughter of an Iraqi-American household. With two younger sisters, she is graduating early from Yucca Valley High School at age 16, and already has 30 credits fulfilled at Copper Mountain College. Her plan is to finish her undergraduate degree at CMC, then pursue neurological medicine at UC Berkeley or UCLA.
Endowed by local banker F. Roy Greenleaf Jr., the scholarship is awarded each year to a promising student that is interested in learning, is success oriented, has performed well in school and shows a desire to return to the Morongo Basin upon completion of her education. The scholarship will pay for tuition, books, and fees plus living expenses.
