[From left to right] Dr. Christopher Ohan, Micaelli Magday, Karen Gutierrez and Kehinde Hopkins stand on Congress Avenue in Austin, TX for the Texas Tribune—a Sumners sponsored event. [Photo courtesy Daylan Anderson Harris]

Applications for the Sumners Scholarship are due Feb. 13, 2026. The scholarship is open to Texas Wesleyan students who embody the mission of the Sumners Foundation. 

The endowed Sumners Scholarship offers recipients $15,000 per year for two years, as well as unique opportunities allowing students to learn more about the democratic process.  

Scholarship applicants must be rising juniors—students with 60 credit hours completed by the beginning of the fall 2026 semester and at least three semesters left until graduation.  Applicants must have a minimum GPA of 3.0 and a history of leadership and civic engagement on or off campus which benefits their community. 

 The application consists of a 750-word personal essay including background and experiences, leadership roles, reason for selecting field of study and ambitions for the future. In addition to the essay, the application requires submission of a transcript and professional resume.

Dr. Christopher Ohan, associate professor of history and Sumners Scholarship faculty adviser, offered insight into the application process.  

“That essay is extremely important because you’re basically selling yourself, not just as a great student or a great person, but you’re matching who you were, who you are and who you want to be with the Sumners mission,” Ohan said.  

Ohan also provided insight regarding the selection process.  

“We have an internal selection committee…we will meet and discuss the applications and get that down to maybe seven or eight finalists, and then those finalists will be interviewed by the Sumner’s trustees,” Ohan said. 

Daylan Anderson Harris, current Sumners Scholar a junior business management and religion major, shares how to prepare for the application process.  

“I encourage those who apply to meet Sumners students; those are people who’ve already been accepted, so they can give you first-hand accounts of what made them stand out,” Harris said.  

Once selected, Sumners Scholars attend two events a semester, including events like Braver Angels and Texas Tribune Festival,  which support the values the Sumners Foundation uphold. 

It’s events like these where Sumners Scholars build their network with Sumners Scholars from universities across Texas and Oklahoma; one of the many advantages the Sumners Foundation has to offer.  

“To have that network of contacts, I think, is invaluable for our students, particularly as they are entering their careers for the first time,” Ohan said.  

Harris spoke about the community he has gained through the Sumners Foundation, seeing it not only as a network, but as a family.

“It’s definitely a second home. This is our first home at Wesleyan, when we go to these events, you get that second home feeling,” Harris said.

The Sumners Foundation focuses on promoting self-governance and civic engagement, a philosophy that Dr. Murad Gafarov, assistant professor of political science, can get behind.  

“I strongly believe that politics is either something we engage in or if we refuse to engage in, it’s something that happens to us,” Gafarov said. “I think that’s what makes civic engagement so important, is that you take the agency over decisions that impact your life immediately.”  

Ohan shares a similar belief about the importance of student engagement in the democratic process.  

“Students need to understand that if they want things to change for the better in this country, whatever better means to them, it means that they need to be involved in that process,” Ohan said.  

Gafarov also supports the promotion of civic discourse among students.  

“I think what initiatives like this provide is an opportunity for a conversation, an opportunity for everyone to be heard and for ideas to exist in this kind of competitive environment,” Gafarov said. 

Harris spoke about how he will translate what he’s learned through his experience into the professional world.  

“You’ll have someone that you don’t agree with, you’ll have someone who doesn’t agree with you, but how do you respond to that? I think Summers has taught us how to respond to that. It’s in a civic discourse,” Harris said.