Northeastern awards eight Oakland students

Northeastern University has awarded full scholarships to eight high school seniors from Oakland. The Oakland Opportunity Scholarship covers full tuition, campus housing, food, and fees for its recipients.

The scholarship, now in its third year, is part of the university's mission to foster connections with local communities. To qualify, students must demonstrate high financial need on their federal aid application and show extensive commitment to public service within their school communities. Many are nominated by a high school advisor.

After completing one year at the Oakland campus, the scholars may choose to remain in the Bay Area or continue their education at any of the other 13 campuses in Northeastern's global network.

The 2026 Oakland Opportunity Scholars

The eight scholarship winners for this year are Arsema Ezghiamn, Miles Harmon, Anese Henesley, Amy Ho, Jalal Hussain, Houtian Li, Emily Lucas-Orellana, and Mateo Ortiz Rivas. They come from several Oakland-area public high schools, including Skyline High School, AIMS College Prep High School, and Castro Valley High.

At a recent welcome event, Oakland Unified School District superintendent Denise Sadler addressed the students and families. She told them to know that there are people who don't even know them who are supporting and standing with them.

Allie Littlefox, assistant vice chancellor of planning and innovation, told the students their local knowledge would make them natural leaders among the nearly 1,000 new undergraduates arriving this month. Littlefox said being from Oakland is part of their superpower and encouraged them to share that with their peers and share their expertise.

Scholars' backgrounds and ambitions

Emily Lucas-Orellana, 18, plans to study biology. She described a fascination with humans' relationship to the natural world. Her passion recently led her to a community health internship at the East Oakland Youth Development Center.

She said she really loves how she can get into environmental, cellular, public health or biotech, noting there are so many things she can do with biology. She looks forward to exploring the campus farm and joining the backpacking club. Reflecting on winning the scholarship, she said she was bawling her eyes out and that her advisors were crying with her.

Mateo Ortiz Rivas, 18, is a first-generation college student intent on studying behavioral neuroscience. Rivas said she looks forward to becoming a neurosurgeon. Her mother, Rosarea Rivas, described feeling emotional and proud, saying she felt so proud because her daughter worked so hard for this.

If her path follows more than 100 Oakland undergraduates since 2006, Rivas may join the Young Lab, founded by biology professor Jared Young. There, students research microscopic worms called nematodes to gain foundational lab skills.

A familiar campus and future goals

Jalal Hussain, 17, was already familiar with the Oakland campus before his scholarship. He had taken two university-level courses at Northeastern over the previous two summers while living in the dorms. One was an Introduction to Statistics course in 2024, the credits from which he will transfer.

Hussain recalled his mother's reaction to the scholarship news, saying that when he first saw her, she held him in her arms and fell into tears. He will join the politics, philosophy, and economics degree program. Hussain hopes to use a co-op to learn about immigration law, aiming to advocate for immigrants like his parents, who came to Oakland from Yemen 27 years ago.

He said his parents have just been working to try to get him a better life, and that he wants to make the process easier and be an advocate for immigrants.