The University of Charleston's Innovation Scholars Program prides itself on defying the limits that constitute everyday society. We challenge ourselves each day to lead, learn, innovate, and work harder than the day before. This culture lies at the heart of everything we do and allows us to achieve groundbreaking accomplishments many would consider impossible at this stage in our lives. Each one of our scholars went through an extensive interview process in order to be considered for this prestigious scholarship. When an individual is chosen as a recipient, they began a journey that will change their lives. Our scholars are given the opportunity to do things many could only dream of doing. We run the day to day operations of the University of Charleston’s Russell and Martha Wehrle Innovation Center, give tours and presentations to the University's donors and VIP guests, speak at invited state conferences, obtain professional certifications, attend professional conferences across the nation, develop and teach workshops to the community and student body, study and practice the science of innovation, and much more. These things equip each one of our scholars with the knowledge and experience they need to succeed in any environment. Our scholars are not only passionate about reaching new heights in their own personal and professional growth, but we take great pride in leading our new scholars to achieve those same heights as well. That is why we are excited to announce we have more than doubled our numbers this year and added 13 new scholars to our team. This is the largest and most diverse class in the history of our program. This year's freshman class consist of promising students from 12 high schools across 3 states majoring in 9 different areas of study.