30 Years, 30 Scholars

1996

In celebration of three decades of honoring academic excellence and service, we are pleased to highlight 30 distinguished Carson Scholars — one representing each year since the inaugural scholarship was awarded in 1996 — with a commemorative twist.

Each Monday, on our social media platforms, we will share a series of clues reflecting notable milestones from the year in which our next featured scholar received their award. Followers are invited to participate in our weekly story poll to guess the featured year, with the answer and scholar revealed each Friday.

Join us as we commemorate 30 years of the Carson Scholars Fund

1997

In celebration of three decades of honoring academic excellence and service, we are pleased to highlight 30 distinguished Carson Scholars — one representing each year since the inaugural scholarship was awarded in 1996 — with a commemorative twist.

Each Monday, on our social media platforms, we will share a series of clues reflecting notable milestones from the year in which our next featured scholar received their award. Followers are invited to participate in our weekly story poll to guess the featured year, with the answer and scholar revealed each Friday.

Join us as we commemorate 30 years of the Carson Scholars Fund

1998

In celebration of three decades of honoring academic excellence and service, we are pleased to highlight 30 distinguished Carson Scholars — one representing each year since the inaugural scholarship was awarded in 1996 — with a commemorative twist.

Each Monday, on our social media platforms, we will share a series of clues reflecting notable milestones from the year in which our next featured scholar received their award. Followers are invited to participate in our weekly story poll to guess the featured year, with the answer and scholar revealed each Friday.

Join us as we commemorate 30 years of the Carson Scholars Fund

1999

In celebration of three decades of honoring academic excellence and service, we are pleased to highlight 30 distinguished Carson Scholars — one representing each year since the inaugural scholarship was awarded in 1996 — with a commemorative twist.

Each Monday, on our social media platforms, we will share a series of clues reflecting notable milestones from the year in which our next featured scholar received their award. Followers are invited to participate in our weekly story poll to guess the featured year, with the answer and scholar revealed each Friday.

Join us as we commemorate 30 years of the Carson Scholars Fund

2000

In celebration of three decades of honoring academic excellence and service, we are pleased to highlight 30 distinguished Carson Scholars — one representing each year since the inaugural scholarship was awarded in 1996 — with a commemorative twist.

Each Monday, on our social media platforms, we will share a series of clues reflecting notable milestones from the year in which our next featured scholar received their award. Followers are invited to participate in our weekly story poll to guess the featured year, with the answer and scholar revealed each Friday.

Join us as we commemorate 30 years of the Carson Scholars Fund

2001

In celebration of three decades of honoring academic excellence and service, we are pleased to highlight 30 distinguished Carson Scholars — one representing each year since the inaugural scholarship was awarded in 1996 — with a commemorative twist.

Each Monday, on our social media platforms, we will share a series of clues reflecting notable milestones from the year in which our next featured scholar received their award. Followers are invited to participate in our weekly story poll to guess the featured year, with the answer and scholar revealed each Friday.

Join us as we commemorate 30 years of the Carson Scholars Fund

2002

In celebration of three decades of honoring academic excellence and service, we are pleased to highlight 30 distinguished Carson Scholars — one representing each year since the inaugural scholarship was awarded in 1996 — with a commemorative twist.

Each Monday, on our social media platforms, we will share a series of clues reflecting notable milestones from the year in which our next featured scholar received their award. Followers are invited to participate in our weekly story poll to guess the featured year, with the answer and scholar revealed each Friday.

Join us as we commemorate 30 years of the Carson Scholars Fund

2003

In celebration of three decades of honoring academic excellence and service, we are pleased to highlight 30 distinguished Carson Scholars — one representing each year since the inaugural scholarship was awarded in 1996 — with a commemorative twist.

Each Monday, on our social media platforms, we will share a series of clues reflecting notable milestones from the year in which our next featured scholar received their award. Followers are invited to participate in our weekly story poll to guess the featured year, with the answer and scholar revealed each Friday.

Join us as we commemorate 30 years of the Carson Scholars Fund

2004

In celebration of three decades of honoring academic excellence and service, we are pleased to highlight 30 distinguished Carson Scholars — one representing each year since the inaugural scholarship was awarded in 1996 — with a commemorative twist.

Each Monday, on our social media platforms, we will share a series of clues reflecting notable milestones from the year in which our next featured scholar received their award. Followers are invited to participate in our weekly story poll to guess the featured year, with the answer and scholar revealed each Friday.

Join us as we commemorate 30 years of the Carson Scholars Fund

2005

In celebration of three decades of honoring academic excellence and service, we are pleased to highlight 30 distinguished Carson Scholars — one representing each year since the inaugural scholarship was awarded in 1996 — with a commemorative twist.

Each Monday, on our social media platforms, we will share a series of clues reflecting notable milestones from the year in which our next featured scholar received their award. Followers are invited to participate in our weekly story poll to guess the featured year, with the answer and scholar revealed each Friday.

Join us as we commemorate 30 years of the Carson Scholars Fund

2006

In celebration of three decades of honoring academic excellence and service, we are pleased to highlight 30 distinguished Carson Scholars — one representing each year since the inaugural scholarship was awarded in 1996 — with a commemorative twist.

Each Monday, on our social media platforms, we will share a series of clues reflecting notable milestones from the year in which our next featured scholar received their award. Followers are invited to participate in our weekly story poll to guess the featured year, with the answer and scholar revealed each Friday.

Join us as we commemorate 30 years of the Carson Scholars Fund

2007

In celebration of three decades of honoring academic excellence and service, we are pleased to highlight 30 distinguished Carson Scholars — one representing each year since the inaugural scholarship was awarded in 1996 — with a commemorative twist.

Each Monday, on our social media platforms, we will share a series of clues reflecting notable milestones from the year in which our next featured scholar received their award. Followers are invited to participate in our weekly story poll to guess the featured year, with the answer and scholar revealed each Friday.

Join us as we commemorate 30 years of the Carson Scholars Fund

2008

In celebration of three decades of honoring academic excellence and service, we are pleased to highlight 30 distinguished Carson Scholars — one representing each year since the inaugural scholarship was awarded in 1996 — with a commemorative twist.

Each Monday, on our social media platforms, we will share a series of clues reflecting notable milestones from the year in which our next featured scholar received their award. Followers are invited to participate in our weekly story poll to guess the featured year, with the answer and scholar revealed each Friday.

Join us as we commemorate 30 years of the Carson Scholars Fund

2009

In celebration of three decades of honoring academic excellence and service, we are pleased to highlight 30 distinguished Carson Scholars — one representing each year since the inaugural scholarship was awarded in 1996 — with a commemorative twist.

Each Monday, on our social media platforms, we will share a series of clues reflecting notable milestones from the year in which our next featured scholar received their award. Followers are invited to participate in our weekly story poll to guess the featured year, with the answer and scholar revealed each Friday.

Join us as we commemorate 30 years of the Carson Scholars Fund

2010

In celebration of three decades of honoring academic excellence and service, we are pleased to highlight 30 distinguished Carson Scholars — one representing each year since the inaugural scholarship was awarded in 1996 — with a commemorative twist.

Each Monday, on our social media platforms, we will share a series of clues reflecting notable milestones from the year in which our next featured scholar received their award. Followers are invited to participate in our weekly story poll to guess the featured year, with the answer and scholar revealed each Friday.

Join us as we commemorate 30 years of the Carson Scholars Fund

2011

In celebration of three decades of honoring academic excellence and service, we are pleased to highlight 30 distinguished Carson Scholars — one representing each year since the inaugural scholarship was awarded in 1996 — with a commemorative twist.

Each Monday, on our social media platforms, we will share a series of clues reflecting notable milestones from the year in which our next featured scholar received their award. Followers are invited to participate in our weekly story poll to guess the featured year, with the answer and scholar revealed each Friday.

Join us as we commemorate 30 years of the Carson Scholars Fund

2012

In celebration of three decades of honoring academic excellence and service, we are pleased to highlight 30 distinguished Carson Scholars — one representing each year since the inaugural scholarship was awarded in 1996 — with a commemorative twist.

Each Monday, on our social media platforms, we will share a series of clues reflecting notable milestones from the year in which our next featured scholar received their award. Followers are invited to participate in our weekly story poll to guess the featured year, with the answer and scholar revealed each Friday.

Join us as we commemorate 30 years of the Carson Scholars Fund

2013

In celebration of three decades of honoring academic excellence and service, we are pleased to highlight 30 distinguished Carson Scholars — one representing each year since the inaugural scholarship was awarded in 1996 — with a commemorative twist.

Each Monday, on our social media platforms, we will share a series of clues reflecting notable milestones from the year in which our next featured scholar received their award. Followers are invited to participate in our weekly story poll to guess the featured year, with the answer and scholar revealed each Friday.

Join us as we commemorate 30 years of the Carson Scholars Fund

2014

Elizabeth Wesdock
Funder: Southampton Middle School

Elizabeth Wesdock, a 7-time Carson Scholar first awarded in 2014, brings a full-circle perspective to her role as Scholarship Program Coordinator at the Carson Scholars Fund. As a proud two-time graduate of Penn State University, she earned both her B.S. in Education and Public Policy and her M.A. in Educational Theory and Policy from the College of Education’s Department of Education Policy Studies.

“Being a Carson Scholar is part of my identity and means so much to me. It deepened my confidence in my abilities to learn and lead, which led me to not only get a college education, but become a student leader, a dedicated academic, and leave a mark on my college community.”

While at Penn State, Elizabeth was deeply involved in campus life. She served for two years on the Homecoming Executive Committee, leading major events that engaged students, alumni, faculty, and staff in acts of service and school spirit. Her commitment to building community and fostering connections now carries into her professional work at CSF and beyond.

In 2025, Elizabeth was selected as a Young Alumni Ambassador for the Penn State Alumni Association, where she works alongside other recent graduates to strengthen alumni engagement and promote professional growth. Her responsibilities include attending leadership conferences and contributing to events that support the university’s broader young alumni network.

Elizabeth is passionate about education, public service, and helping students thrive. As a former Carson Scholar herself, she now helps facilitate the very program that helped shape her own academic journey – supporting scholars through every step of the process, from nominations to award notifications. She believes in the power of recognition, opportunity, and community, exemplifying the CSF’s mission in action: to uplift young people who are using their education to make a difference in their communities.

“Carrying the values of a Carson Scholar close to me, I have never felt too far away from that 6^th grade version of me who was overjoyed to feel worthy of recognition, just for being herself. Now, being part of the Carson Scholars Fund staff, I have a renewed sense of pride in awarding new scholars, celebrating their achievements and welcoming them into this community that has shaped me and so many others.”

2015

In celebration of three decades of honoring academic excellence and service, we are pleased to highlight 30 distinguished Carson Scholars — one representing each year since the inaugural scholarship was awarded in 1996 — with a commemorative twist.

Each Monday, on our social media platforms, we will share a series of clues reflecting notable milestones from the year in which our next featured scholar received their award. Followers are invited to participate in our weekly story poll to guess the featured year, with the answer and scholar revealed each Friday.

Join us as we commemorate 30 years of the Carson Scholars Fund

2016

In celebration of three decades of honoring academic excellence and service, we are pleased to highlight 30 distinguished Carson Scholars — one representing each year since the inaugural scholarship was awarded in 1996 — with a commemorative twist.

Each Monday, on our social media platforms, we will share a series of clues reflecting notable milestones from the year in which our next featured scholar received their award. Followers are invited to participate in our weekly story poll to guess the featured year, with the answer and scholar revealed each Friday.

Join us as we commemorate 30 years of the Carson Scholars Fund

2017

In celebration of three decades of honoring academic excellence and service, we are pleased to highlight 30 distinguished Carson Scholars — one representing each year since the inaugural scholarship was awarded in 1996 — with a commemorative twist.

Each Monday, on our social media platforms, we will share a series of clues reflecting notable milestones from the year in which our next featured scholar received their award. Followers are invited to participate in our weekly story poll to guess the featured year, with the answer and scholar revealed each Friday.

Join us as we commemorate 30 years of the Carson Scholars Fund

2018

In celebration of three decades of honoring academic excellence and service, we are pleased to highlight 30 distinguished Carson Scholars — one representing each year since the inaugural scholarship was awarded in 1996 — with a commemorative twist.

Each Monday, on our social media platforms, we will share a series of clues reflecting notable milestones from the year in which our next featured scholar received their award. Followers are invited to participate in our weekly story poll to guess the featured year, with the answer and scholar revealed each Friday.

Join us as we commemorate 30 years of the Carson Scholars Fund

2019

In celebration of three decades of honoring academic excellence and service, we are pleased to highlight 30 distinguished Carson Scholars — one representing each year since the inaugural scholarship was awarded in 1996 — with a commemorative twist.

Each Monday, on our social media platforms, we will share a series of clues reflecting notable milestones from the year in which our next featured scholar received their award. Followers are invited to participate in our weekly story poll to guess the featured year, with the answer and scholar revealed each Friday.

Join us as we commemorate 30 years of the Carson Scholars Fund

Carol Shea Linton

Carol Shea Linton
Funder: Carson Scholars Fund

Carol Shea Linton, a 2020 Carson Scholar, is a passionate advocate, public speaker, and aspiring pediatrician whose drive stems from her personal experience living with Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP) and Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS). She uses her voice to raise awareness about the rare disease community, healthcare disparities, and educational equity.

Carol made history in 2019 as the first dual-enrolled student in Chesterfield County, South Carolina, to graduate with both a high school diploma and associate’s degree from Northeastern Technical College (NETC). While at NETC, she served as SGA President and became the first dual-enrolled student inducted into the Alpha Kappa Theta chapter of Phi Theta Kappa.

She went on to attend Winthrop University, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in biology in December 2022 at just 19 years old – becoming one of the youngest graduates in university history. While at Winthrop, Carol was active in the Close Scholars Program and the Council of Student Leaders, and she pursued research focused on public health disparities. Her Undergraduate Honors Thesis, “Infant Mortality in South Carolina: How Underlying Factors Play a Significant Role,” examined how systemic inequities impacts health outcomes statewide.

Since 2022, Carol has served as a South Carolina Representative with the Young Adult Rare Representatives (YARR) program, where she advocates for better healthcare access and rare disease awareness. Recently, she launched South Carolina Rare, a state rare disease coalition aimed at connecting the South Carolina rare disease community. Through SC Rare, she hopes to bring together all members of the community to raise awareness and educate about the true impact of rare disease within the state. She is currently preparing to apply to medical school, with the goal of becoming a pediatrician and continuing her mission to expand healthcare access in rural and underserved communities.

Carol’s passions – rare disease and chronic illness advocacy, maternal and child health, rural health equity, and access to equal educational opportunity – are all deeply personal. She brings not only professional focus but also lived experience to her work, remaining driven and dedicated to making a lasting impact.

Gitika Gorthi

Gitika Gorthi
Funder: Mr. Wes & Mrs. Toni Guckert

“Receiving the Carson Scholarship in high school was transformational. It helped me realize at a young age that I can be a leader because leadership isn’t about age or title, it’s about action. It gave me the network and confidence to believe that my ideas and efforts could make a real, lasting impact in the world.”

Gitika Gorthi, a 2021 Carson Scholar, is a senior at Columbia University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, where she studies biomedical engineering with a minor in economics as a C. Prescott Davis Scholar. Her ambitions stretch far beyond the classroom – and far beyond the planet.

In middle school, a TechEd teacher and rocketry mentor sparked Gitika’s passion for aerospace. By 8th grade, she channeled that passion into founding IgnitedThinkers, a nonprofit organization dedicated to spreading accessible space education around the world. Today, IgnitedThinkers continues to ignite curiosity and opportunity for students everywhere.

Gitika is an aspiring transplant surgeon and aerospace physician, aiming to use microgravity as a new laboratory to develop personalized organs and help solve the national organ shortage crisis. She has conducted cutting-edge research with NASA Ames Research Center, alongside work at Columbia University Medical School, Harvard Medical School, and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where she has helped advance the development of gastrointestinal and kidney organoids, as well as glomerular spheroids using stem cell technology.

Currently, Gitika is a student researcher at the Timothy Wang Lab at Columbia, where she was awarded the Young Guts Scholars grant by the American Gastroenterological Association for her work in disease modeling. She also recently interned at 34 Lives, a medical transplant public benefit company rescuing discarded kidneys for transplant.

Beyond her scientific work, Gitika serves on the Coca-Cola Scholars Alumni Board and leads campus outreach efforts at Columbia. She also remains a proud member of the Carson Scholars Fund’s Associate Leadership Council (ALC), helping support and grow connections among CSF alumni.

Named one of the Top 100 Women in Aerospace and Aviation Professionals to Follow on LinkedIn, Gitika exemplifies the Carson Scholars mission: academic excellence, service, and visionary leadership. She’s not just dreaming about the future of medicine and space—she’s building it.

2022

In celebration of three decades of honoring academic excellence and service, we are pleased to highlight 30 distinguished Carson Scholars — one representing each year since the inaugural scholarship was awarded in 1996 — with a commemorative twist.

Each Monday, on our social media platforms, we will share a series of clues reflecting notable milestones from the year in which our next featured scholar received their award. Followers are invited to participate in our weekly story poll to guess the featured year, with the answer and scholar revealed each Friday.

Join us as we commemorate 30 years of the Carson Scholars Fund

2023

In celebration of three decades of honoring academic excellence and service, we are pleased to highlight 30 distinguished Carson Scholars — one representing each year since the inaugural scholarship was awarded in 1996 — with a commemorative twist.

Each Monday, on our social media platforms, we will share a series of clues reflecting notable milestones from the year in which our next featured scholar received their award. Followers are invited to participate in our weekly story poll to guess the featured year, with the answer and scholar revealed each Friday.

Join us as we commemorate 30 years of the Carson Scholars Fund

Vishnu Kannan

Vishnu Kannan

Funder: Jay & Carol Jean Young Foundation in Memory of Columbine Victims

Vishnu Kannan is a 2-time Carson Scholar from Clarksville, MD. As a senior at River Hill High School, he is not only a leader among his peers but also an innovator in the global fields of technology and medicine. Vishnu has a passion for connecting intersecting fields to build solutions to important societal issues. He believes that innovations in mathematics and artificial intelligence can transform how diseases are diagnosed and treated – a belief that has guided his personal and professional research into artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) models that can progress the role of technology in medicine.

Becoming a Carson Scholar has motivated Vishnu even further: “I’m extremely honored and humbled to be a two-time Carson Scholar! During my first award ceremony, Dr. Carson talked about the importance of using our knowledge to impact society on a broad scale. It inspired me to focus on translating my lifelong interest in math and computer science into real-world impact.”

Vishnu works with Visilant, Inc. to build computer vision models to detect and grade cataracts from a smartphone image to guide clinical decision making. He validated his technology in a trial of over 200 patients at Aravind Eye Hospital in India—the largest eye hospital in the world. His work directly enables diagnosis of eye disease in low resource settings, improving access to eye care in low-and middle-income countries.

Additionally, Vishnu collaborates with professor Todd Coleman at Stanford University conducting research in the mathematical field of optimal transport to develop and test novel methods for generative AI.

As president of The Youth Project, Vishnu has started an initiative to teach his peers about high-level STEM topics. What started as an after-school program teaching challenging math concepts to 22 students has evolved into broader machine learning and programming courses that have reached several hundred students in Maryland.

Vishnu has partnered with the Carson Scholars Fund to make his AI/ML workshop available to all Carson Scholars to reach many more students nationally this Fall. He will be hosting a virtual workshop on November 20, 2025 at 6:30 pm EDT. If you are interested in learning more about the workshop or signing up, see the event information here.

“Partnering with the CSF to teach AI is a dream come true for me and is an incredible opportunity for me to contribute to their mission! I hope to grow this initiative to impact many thousands of people across the country.”

Event Information

2025

In celebration of three decades of honoring academic excellence and service, we are pleased to highlight 30 distinguished Carson Scholars — one representing each year since the inaugural scholarship was awarded in 1996 — with a commemorative twist.

Each Monday, on our social media platforms, we will share a series of clues reflecting notable milestones from the year in which our next featured scholar received their award. Followers are invited to participate in our weekly story poll to guess the featured year, with the answer and scholar revealed each Friday.

Join us as we commemorate 30 years of the Carson Scholars Fund

2026

In celebration of three decades of honoring academic excellence and service, we are pleased to highlight 30 distinguished Carson Scholars — one representing each year since the inaugural scholarship was awarded in 1996 — with a commemorative twist.

Each Monday, on our social media platforms, we will share a series of clues reflecting notable milestones from the year in which our next featured scholar received their award. Followers are invited to participate in our weekly story poll to guess the featured year, with the answer and scholar revealed each Friday.

Join us as we commemorate 30 years of the Carson Scholars Fund