Since 2014, Marxent has been proud to offer the “Marxent Prize,” a one-year scholarship awarded to students attending Wright State University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science. The selection process has until now been guided entirely by academic performance, but for this year’s competition applicants will have to opportunity to show off their programming skills and separate themselves from their classmates.
This fall, the applicants in the running for the 2018 scholarship will present special projects — a game they made, a school project they took to another level, some other type of programming they’ve done on their own time — in front of a panel made up of WSU faculty and staff, and representatives from Marxent. Two students will then be selected to receive the scholarship, which this year comes with the chance for some real world experience.
The Marxent Prize — aka, The WSU Scholarship for Women in Engineering — is awarded annually to returning juniors interested in software development, gaming, 3D animation, computer vision and other emerging tech. “We’re especially interested in applicants with practical experience developing or publishing apps and who are already pursuing their interests as hobbies,” says Barry Besecker, Marxent’s CTO and a Wright State graduate.
“The goal is to give an internship with the scholarship,” says Megan Gray, Marxent’s HR Manager. “The project competition is a way for us to get to know these students a little better, and make a more informed decision as to who could be a great fit at Marxent.”
“This scholarship helped me tremendously in my pursuit of my computer science degree,” says Emily Novak, a 2016 recipient of the Marxent Prize. “It allowed me to not worry about how I was going to pay tuition for a whole year, which allowed me to focus more on my studies instead of my finances. This scholarship meant so much to me in not only my personal life, but showed me how much companies in the Dayton area, especially Marxent Labs, care and want to help college students grow as they pursue a career in their dream job.”
In addition to the experience, a scholarship like the Marxent Prize can be instrumental in setting up students for their financial future.
“When I received the scholarship from Marxent Labs I was very grateful,”explains 2016 recipient Jenna Rahrig. “I was a Junior at Wright State University, going to school full time and working as an intern 20-30 hours a week so I could pay for normal living expenses and school fees. I was taking out student loans each year to pay for tuition and this scholarship helped decrease the amount I had to take out in loans for the year.”
For more information on how to apply for the Marxent Prize, contact the WSU College of Engineering and Computer Science.
