OAKLAND – The newest cohort of Northeastern Oakland Opportunity Scholarship winners recently gathered inside a sunny campus meeting space, just days before they were set to move to the university to begin their higher education journeys.
The scholarship, now in its third year, covers full tuition, campus housing, food and fees for the eight Oakland-area high school seniors. After completing one year in Oakland, the students may choose to stay in the Bay Area or continue their education at any of the other 13 campuses across Northeastern’s global network.
“This is one of the most beautiful campuses that I’ve ever attended, and I’ve been to a lot of colleges,” Oakland Unified School District superintendent Denise Sadler told the students and their families during the recent late-morning welcome event. “Know that there are people who don’t even know you who are supporting you and standing with you.”
The scholarships are awarded to eligible students as part of the university’s mission to foster connection between Northeastern and the communities that surround its campuses. To qualify, a student must indicate high need on their federal student aid application and demonstrate extensive commitment to public service within their school’s community. Many students are nominated for the scholarship by a high school advisor.
As nearly 1,000 undergraduates from around the world journey to the campus early this month to begin the school year, the eight scholarship winners will use their local knowledge of the city to become natural leaders, said Allie Littlefox, assistant vice chancellor of planning and innovation.
“Being from Oakland is part of your superpower,” Littlefox told the students. “Share that with your peers. Share your expertise.”
This year’s Oakland Opportunity Scholars are Arsema Ezghiamn, Miles Harmon, Anese Henesley, Amy Ho, Jalal Hussain, Houtian Li, Emily Lucas-Orellana and Mateo Ortiz Rivas. They come to Northeastern from a number of Oakland public high schools, including Skyline High School, AIMS College Prep High School and Castro Valley High.
Emily Lucas-Orellana said she can’t wait to explore the Oakland campus farm and join the backpacking club. Photo by Lachlan Cunningham for Northeastern University
Lucas-Orellana’s hand shot up first during the welcome event when students were asked to describe their chosen major.
Biology and humans’ relationship to the natural world are topics that have always fascinated her, she said while seated beneath a pair of olive trees, part of the campus’s expansive arboretum. In her spare time, she enjoys photographing plants and watching fantasy movies that focus on nature from Studio Ghibli.
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That passion recently led her to a community health internship at the East Oakland Youth Development Center, where she learned about various careers within the Bay Area’s public healthcare landscape.
“I really love how I can get into environmental, cellular, public health or biotech,” said Lucas-Orellana, 18, who grew up in the Elmhurst neighborhood of East Oakland. “There’s so many things I can do with biology.”
Lucas-Orellana said she can’t wait to explore the campus farm, join the backpacking club and interact with the plant drying space beside the Natural Sciences Building.
She said she feels deep gratitude when remembering the day she learned of her scholarship award. It couldn’t have happened without her mentors at Skyline High School, she said.
“I was bawling my eyes out,” she said. “My advisors were crying with me.”
Mateo Ortiz Rivas said her mother was speechless when she told her about her scholarship acceptance. Photo by Lachlan Cunningham for Northeastern University
A first-generation college student in her family, Rivas, 18, came to the Oakland campus unwavering in her intentions for her Northeastern journey.
“Behavioral neuroscience,” she said when asked about her academic interests. “I look forward to becoming a neurosurgeon.”
If her trajectory follows that of more than 100 undergraduates on the Oakland campus since 2006, Rivas may have the chance to join the Young Lab, founded by biology professor and behavioral neuroscience researcher Jared Young. Students under Young acquire foundational lab skills through research on microscopic worms called nematodes, learning that gives them a leg-up in Boston’s competitive lab placements.
Rivas said her mother was speechless for a moment when she told her about her scholarship acceptance, then let her pride of her daughter’s accomplishment wash over her.
“Emotional, happy,” Rivas’ mother, Rosarea Rivas, said in Spanish. “I felt so proud because she worked so hard for this.”
Jalal Hussain will join the politics, philosophy and economics degree program, with the hope of one day using his co-op to learn about immigration law. Photo by Lachlan Cunningham for Northeastern University
Hussain, 17, attended the scholarship welcome meeting more familiar with Northeastern’s Oakland campus than most of his scholarship cohorts.
He had taken two university-level courses at Northeastern over the previous two summers, living inside the campus dormitories while he studied, he said. One was an Introduction to Statistics course in 2024, the credits from which he said he will transfer to Northeastern. The other was an Introduction to Sociology of Gender.
Because of his positive experiences on campus, he was thrilled to receive the notice earlier this year that he had been granted an Opportunity Scholarship, he said.
“My mom, when I first saw her, she held me in her arms and fell into tears,” recalled Hussain, whose mother and older brother, Saleh Hussain, joined him at the welcome event.
Hussain will join the politics, philosophy and economics degree program, with the hope of one day using his co-op to learn about immigration law, he said. Hussain’s parents came to Oakland from Yemen around 27 years ago, and growing up, he watched them struggle with matters related to their legal status and path to citizenship. Though his father achieved U.S. citizenship, Hussain’s mother remains a permanent resident.
“They’ve just been working to try to get me a better life,” Hussain said. “I want to make the process easier and be an advocate for immigrants.”