As a teenager in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Anela Arifi ’20 created a reactor that converts feathers into biofuel. “I spent my summers growing up in my grandmother’s village near Tuzla,” she says. “In part because of the war in Bosnia and the infrastructure damage, the rural areas are disconnected from fuel supplies needed to run farm equipment.” 

In Tuzla, Arifi designed and built a self-powering machine that extracted oil from chicken feathers to create biodiesel. “I used chicken feathers as there were so many of them around,” she says. The reactor also carbonized remains into a material that can be used to store hydrogen for energy when that becomes feasible. “Hydrogen storage is expensive and complicated right now, and carbonized feathers soak up hydrogen,” Arifi explains. “Maybe in the future this storage material will be useful.”

The environmental studies major later gave a TED talk about her invention and addressed UNICEF on sustainable development goals. She’s now pursuing a doctorate in environment and resources at Stanford University.

Arifi is one of 51 promising low-income students from 29 developing countries who have benefited from the King scholar program, which rewards their commitment to reduce poverty in their home countries. Arifi credits the scholarship as a vital pathway to her success. “One of my biggest wishes was to work as an energy analyst at the World Bank,” she recalls. “During leadership weeks, we traveled to Washington, D.C., and New York City to meet with these amazing and influential leaders. We visited the World Bank one year, and a few months later I was working there for the summer as an energy analyst for the western Balkans, trying to develop a more efficient residential energy sector.”

Jay Davis ’90, assistant dean of undergraduate students, oversees the King program, the College’s largest endowed scholarship for international undergraduates. “We help students progress in their careers so they’ll have the abilities and leverage to reduce poverty,” he says. “The idea is that by investing in the students and giving them an international cohort—literally from Ethiopia to Bosnia to Cambodia—the students will have a network and a community as well as a set of experiences to help prepare them for their careers,” Davis says. The scholarship, funded by a gift of more than $35 million from venture capitalist Bob King ’57 and his wife, Dottie, covers tuition and costs. Today, 28 students from 21 countries participate in the program. Another 23 have graduated since the scholarship’s inception in 2013.

When Abigail Cameron ’20 returned to her family home in Jamaica during the pandemic, the math major and King scholar kept busy: She built one of her nation’s first online Covid-19 trackers, worked with a friend to launch an online math and physics tutorial website targeted at students in the Caribbean, and became active in a mentorship program that encourages young Jamaican women to study STEM subjects. “The idea is to spread awareness and let them know these avenues are available,” says Cameron, who works in Kingston as a blockchain engineer. She believes the technology can increase the availability of banking services in Jamaica. “It’s not a very easy process to set up a bank account here,” Cameron says. “Remittances are a big thing in the Caribbean, and I see a path for blockchain to increase access and ease.”

Marc Sépama ’17, an economics major from Burkina Faso, developed his interest in global health as a King scholar. After graduation he worked at Helen Keller International, traveling to Burkina Faso and Guinea to gather information on surgical outcomes to improve health policies in those nations. “It was just really amazing seeing firsthand what the organization was doing and working with people in remote communities that don’t have easy access to healthcare services,” says Sépama. “After that experience, I realized that public health was something I wanted to pursue.” He earned a master’s in public health at Yale and now works as an analyst on the global health equity team at Emerson Collective, a philanthropic investing house in Palo Alto, California, founded by Laurene Powell Jobs. “This is a continuation of my previous work at Helen Keller in many ways. That’s something that I really enjoy and I’m very passionate about.”

A decade ago, the Kings hoped to create a transformative scholarship. They’ve done it, according to recipients. “Coming here meant adapting to a new culture and a fast-paced academic environment while being away from my family, and at first that weighed on me a lot. But I got so much mentoring through the King scholarship, and that helped me make this big leap,” says Sépama. “The King scholarship was life-changing,” adds Arifi. “There’s no other way to describe it.”