Mitchell Croom is coming to the William & Mary (W&M) campus for freshmen orientation.
He’s not a movie star or a comedian. He’s not a high-achieving alumnus or public figure. So why is it big news?
Croom has a different type of notoriety. He’s the recipient of the “most selective merit-based academic award,” according to a W&M press release. It’s called the 1693 Scholarship and he’s one of six incoming freshmen to receive the honor. And he’s from Yorktown.
Croom graduated from Tabb High School where he was the class president, a debate team captain and Eagle Scout. He rose to the top of a list of names of highly competitive 1693 applicants from all over the world. The program will provide him with personal faculty guidance, financial assistance and collaborative research opportunities.
According to the W&M website, the program is “one of the best undergraduate educations available anywhere.”
He will receive $25,279 of tuition, fees and room and board money and a $5,000 research grant. Croom will also design his own cross-disciplinary research project and have the opportunity to spend a semester at Oxford University.
According to the release, applicants to the program often fall within the top 1 percent of their graduating high school class. They also typically score over 1500 on the math and critical reading sections of the SAT.
Croom proposed using the scholarship to study the effectiveness of the U.S. Constitution by studying the foreign countries that have adopted some of its policies. He wants to double-major in mathematics and government. His aspirations caught the eye of W&M faculty and staff after a long string of interviews.
The five other applicants that will enter the program are: John Markin of Virginia Beach; Jessica Joyce of Loudoun County; Marissa Messner of Charlottesville; Morgan Sehdev of Haddonfield, N.J.; and Colin Weinshenker of Rochester, Minn.
