Austin Halaby
Statesboro High School Savannah, GA
Austin graduated from Statesboro High School and will attend Yale University in the fall. He plans on double majoring in architecture and environmental engineering. Austin is passionate about his service to his community from painting murals in a building revitalization project to delivering lunches to the less fortunate.
In five years, Austin hopes to have officially graduated Yale with an undergraduate degree in architecture and environmental engineering. In addition, he hopes to be filled with excitement as he wishes to receive his acceptance letter to graduate school. While over that summer before graduate school, he plans on continuing his internship with an established architectural firm, with a history of sustainable designs and humanitarian work through improved housing
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover.” –Mark Twain
What the Empowering Greatness Scholarship Means to Austin
Thank you, Farah & Farah, for helping to remove one stressor from an already stress-filled life! As fall comes closer, I can now focus on enjoying my college experience, studying for my classes, and meeting new people without the constant stress of obtaining enough money to ensure I can afford to attend my dream school.
Education:
- Statesboro High School
- Attending Yale University this fall
Clubs:
- Member of the Statesboro High School Varsity Cross-country team
- Historian of the Statesboro High School National Art Honor Society chapter
- Backstage crew member and actor in the Statesboro High School Drama department
- Member of the Model UN delegation
- Member of the Statesboro High School National Honor Society chapter
- Reporter for the Technology Student Association
- Member of the International Thespian Society
Community Involvement:
- Helped paint murals as part of the Fostering Bulloch building revitalization project. Fostering Bulloch is a local organization in Statesboro, Ga., that provides childcare supplies such as clothing, bedding and other equipment to families who are single mothered, low-income or housing a foster child. As the building maintained a façade unrepresentative of the organization housed inside, helped to repair the building’s exterior while creating murals designed by children who benefitted from this organization.
- Organized the first DispatchWork installation in Georgia and one of two in the Southeastern United States. DispatchWork is an international organization devoted to providing architectural support to dilapidated buildings by cementing gaps with Lego pieces.
- Austin was Statesboro High School’s only Student Representative for the Bulloch County Board of Education’s Sexuality Education Committee. As part of the committee, he worked with other students and prominent local politicians and business owners, to design an improved and more informative Sex ED curriculum for grades 6th-9th than what was currently being administered.
- Thought chess to students at his local middle school. Many of these students never played chess before but were interested in learning. Worked with them to understand the chess basics and best game strategies.
- Bagged cans and delivered food through the Eastern Heights food pantry.
- Helped organize and sort the storage unit at the ReTail’s Animal Shelter in Statesboro, Ga.
- Delivered lunches to the less fortunate through a local soup kitchen in partnership with the Statesboro Food Bank.
Hobbies:
- Creating artwork through pen-ink drawings and acrylic paintings
- Experimenting with various cooking recipes and flavors
- Staying active through at-home exercises and running
- Improving my Spanish
- Reading intriguing books
