Top 8 most popular celebrities with college scholarships

1. Emma Watson

Emma Watson is one of the most popular and well-known young actresses in the world. She was very good in academics and won scholarship at Brown University in 2009 for European women’s history, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and acting. Apart from her acting talents, she is also very smart and has got straight A-s at school in spite of her hectic acting schedule. She is now interested in pursuing higher education.

2. Hugh Grant

Hugh Grant is more known for his histrionics rather than academic excellence. He has received a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA, and an Honorary César. His movies have also earned more than $2.4 billion from 25 theatrical releases worldwide. However, this British actor is very smart academically and has received scholarships for two different schools. The scholarships are from the Latymer Upper School – Class Honours where he participated in academic competition and sports including cricket, rugby, and football and the Galsworthy scholarship to New College, Oxford for English literature.

3. Madonna

Madonna, though known for her music videos and dancing skills, was at Rochester Adams High School; a straight-A student and a member of the cheerleading squad. Due to her outstanding talent in dancing she was awarded a dance scholarship to the University of Michigan, where she was taught ballet by Chris Flynn.

4. Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington studied drama and journalism at Fordham University. Here he was a part of the Lincoln Center campus to study acting, and received a scholarship to attend the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco. Apart from winning scholarship, he and his wife have also formulated the Pauletta and Denzel Washington Family Gifted Scholars Program in Neuroscience at Cedars-Sinai
Medical Center to offer scholarships to students in the field of neuroscience.

5. Jeri Ryan

Jeri Ryan received a scholarship to attend Northwest University after graduating from high school in 1986 as a National Merit Scholar. Here she became a member of Alpha Phi. She won Miss Illinois and was 3rd runner up at the Miss America Pageant. She studied further to receive a BA in Theatre from Northwestern in 1990.

6. Alicia Keys

Alicia Keys was a studentofthe Professional Performing Arts School in Manhattan, where she graduated as valedictorian. She received a scholarship to Columbia University in New York. She has been helping students get scholarships in cities like Jacksonville, New Orleans, Atlanta, and Harlem in New York City by donating generously to Frum tha Ground Up

7. Thandie Newton

Thandie Newton, an English actress who has been part of a number of British and American films, was smart academically as well. She earned a scholarship to go to the Arts Educational School, a performing arts boarding school in Tring, Herfordshire. She pursed higher education by studying anthropology at Cambridge University.

8. Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise had a difficult childhood and he studied ineight elementary schools and three high schools. He graduated from Glen Ridge High School in New Jersey, where he played as a linebacker on the football team. He won a church scholarship to attend a Franciscan seminary in Cincinnati and studying priesthood for a year.

Honorary Degree Criteria

The golden question is “what qualifies a celebrity for an honorary degree?” Here, we will attempt to dispel the misunderstandings behind the selection of celebrities for honorary degrees. To qualify for selection for an honorary degree celebrities should:

• They show exemplary service in choice of service to society, locally or internationally
• Their core values have an affect on the society
• Their values reflect those of the university
• They show a willingness to accept the degree and have the capacity to be a reasonable commencement speaker

Honorary Degree Awardees

Over the years, we have seen many celebrities being awarded inspiring degrees. Some of these have come as a surprise, while others seemed to have taken too long for their recognition. Some of these celebrities include:

Oprah Winfrey: In May of 2009, Oprah Winfrey was honored with an Honorary Doctor of Human Letters Degree from Duke University. During her 25 min commencement speech, she mentioned one of the best ways of enhancing your life is by enhancing the lives of others. Oprah Winfrey is widely known for her many contributions to social development most notably her recently opened school for girls in South Africa. She also encouraged the 4,400 member audience to make wise decisions daily and stand in their own shoes with humility, compassion and courage.

Jon Bon Jovi: In 2001 the rock star and Grammy, Golden Globe and American Music Awards winner was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities Degree by Monmouth University, located in his home state of New Jersey. Although Jon Bon Jovi is known for his many onstage performances, little is known about his deliberate local focus of his charity work. By choice, he focuses on developing his local community by focusing on sports development, aids prevention and health care.

Yoko Ono: The famed wife of slain Beatles singer John Lennon was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Liverpool University in 2001 and a year later an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Bard College. Yoko Ono is widely known for her activities for the peace movement and human rights along with creation of the Strawberry Fields Memorial in Central Park.

Kermit the Frog: The iconic TV character was created in 1955. He was made popular by the TV program Sesame Street that is watched by millions of children worldwide in hundreds of different languages. In 1996, Kermit the Frog was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Amphibious Letters by Southampton College in New York. Funny enough, although being a puppet, Kermit the Frog was on hand to give a commencement speech.

Do you know of any other celebrity with honorary degree that we might have missed out? In that case don’t forget to share your list with us.

The Campaign Strategy

To the comfort of many especially his young vote bank President Obama comes as a real charmer who is not only tech savvy but has strong presence in popular social networking sites as well. What more can you ask for to see your favorite politician using the same social media sites like you and your friends? President Obama realized from the beginning that he won’t be able to visit his vote bank over a cup of coffee for a nice chit chat on politics.

With a large chunk of the American population having access to the internet, President Obama wisely uses this technology to win over the masses. So, what better way to reach out to them than going into the places where they are most comfortable? Having a president who understood computer slang meeting them in the annals of their various chat rooms was just too irresistible and thus these were won over by a stroke of genius. President Obama used social network site such as Flicker and YouTube to spread his message of change and hope and encouraged his fans to create their own videos. From that came the famous “I’ve got a crush on Obama” single and the remake of the Apple vs Microsoft advertisement.

President Obama Tweets Haiti

Following the earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12th 2010, President Obama has used Twitter profile to keep his followers updated on the progress his administration was making of the Haiti relief effort. When he entered the Haiti situation room to give support to the American Red Cross he sent a tweet that he and his wife Michelle wants to thank them for the valiant work they are doing. This shows that he acknowledged their efforts and can communicate with them through what at one time the only means of communication with the outside world from Haiti. To the surprise of many however, this was his first personal tweet.

The Secret behind President Obama Social Media Success

Now we certainly could not believe that President Obama ran all these social networking sites himself. Instead of sticking with the status co and take his media team from the same pool of one track minded so called media gurus, Obama went for his trusted group of youngsters who although were fresh to politics, understood the workings of social networking. So they were able to come with ideas he did not even dream of and then apply it to his overall strategy add to his image of being wired and hip. As a result president Obama has always been able to return to his grass root followers via social networking and rally them to back his policies when they get stuck in congress or the senate.

King of Pop’s Profile

Michael Jackson made his debut as an entertainer in 1968. Three years later, Jackson started a solo career and was known as King of Pop in media fraternity. His album Thriller that was a huge hit among masses especially students. Till date, Thriller is widely been regarded as one of the world’s best selling album. Jackson other solo studio albums such as History, Bad, Off the Wall and Dangerous are among the world’s best-selling records.

Jackson was a prominent personality in American popular music and culture. Michael was the first African American entertainer to build a strong fan following in MTV. With music videos and stage performances, Michael implemented wide variety of complicated dance routines, such as the moonwalk and the robot. Jackson donated millions of dollars in the form of charity. Jackson has done everything he can for the betterment of society but in 1993 he was accused of child sexual abuse. However, investigation by the FBI found no evidence against Jackson and the case was closed immediately.

Michael Jackson Death

The sudden death of Michael Jackson has surprised everyone. The real reason behind his death is not known as yet but the investigation is focusing on the powerful sedative Diprivan. According to media reports, police found plenty of bottles of Diprivan inside Michael’s Los Angeles home.

MJ’s Children

Jackson’s three kids – 12-year-old Michael Joseph Jr, 11-year-old Paris Michael Katherine and 7-year-old Prince Michael II adored their father and are proud of his achievements. If media reports are to be believed, Jackson was not only a good father but also good mother, helping out kids in every possible way. Over 1.2 million people registered to get two of the 11,000 tickets for Jackson’s memorial service at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Michael Jackson Funeral

Michael Jackson was laid to rest on July 7, 2009 at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. His family, friends and friends made the funeral larger than life, it is said MJ’s funeral was attended by some 20,000 attendants and viewed by millions of viewers all across the globe. Number of celebrities attended the funeral and paid touching tribute to pop king.

Without any doubt Michael Jackson in going to remain in his fans heart forever. He was a living legend and now his songs would keep him alive for years to come.

All this while we thought rock stars are great musicians and hardly are we aware of the fact that they have an excellent educational background. Probably this tells us that all stars were some day like anyone of us writing term papers. In reality we even come to know that most of them chose music out of passion. Inspite of having excellent academic records most of them chose singing, writing lyrics, poems and gave us all unbelievable music. That for sure tells us that there are brainy heads behind every accomplishment whether in music or academics. A brief through all there accomplishment is indeed very interesting to read .

A graduate in political science from Harvard University was later a guitarist for the famous music bands Rage against the Machine (RAM) and Audio Slave (AS). Guess who?? You are right it was none other than Tom Morello.

Having graduated this youngster did not leave any stone unturned. He worked as a bus conductor, construction laborer and even in tax office. He later completed his teacher’s training in Northern Counties College of Education. He has also produced some of the famous songs like ‘Roxanne’ and ‘Don’t Stand so Close to Me’. You are right it is none other than Sting.

Graduated from Oklahoma State University on a track scholarship way back in 1984 with a degree in Journalism and also good at Javelin throw, later became America’s known country singer and lyricist Garth Brooks.

A double major in Anthropology and Geology at ULCA and also a Doctorate in Zoology from Cornell, became the most revered member of the music band Bad Religion. It is none other than Greg Gaffin

An economics graduate from Tuskegee, later became one of America’s most popular singer, composer and record producer and also an occasional actor whose had sold more than 50 million records. Let me tell you, it is none other than Lionel Richie.

After completing his Masters in Fine Arts from Florida State University, he became the professor for cinematography at University of Miami for a long time in the name of Professor Beam. It is our favorite ‘Iron and Wine’ star Sam Beam.

With that bookish college boy look and black rimmed glasses, Rivers Cuomo completed his graduation at the age of 35 after several years of musical success.

It was from Columbia State University that he got his Master’s degree both in history and math. Ark Garfunkel later went to become the member of Alpha Epsilon Pi.

An elementary teacher at St. Louis and a graduate in Music Composition, Performance and Education, Sheryl Crow was later came to be known for her feel good music composition.

Are you one of them or some one like them, please come forward and share your experience with us. You will not only relish that experience but also be an inspiration to thousands of aspiring students who are willing to see a career in both music and education.

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