Kyle Adams and Ummu BahKyle Adams of Montgomery, Alabama, and Ummu Bah of Collierville, Tennessee, are the new Mr. and Ms. UAB for the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
The 2022-2023 Mr. and Ms. UAB Scholarship Competition winners were announced Saturday, Oct. 8, during half-time of the UAB Football Homecoming game at Protective Stadium. First alternates for the competition are Karim Mikhail of Hoover, Alabama, and Kiersten David of Chelsea, Alabama.
The Mr. and Ms. UAB Scholarship Competition is one of UAB’s longest-standing Homecoming traditions. Started in 1981, it is presented by the UAB National Alumni Society. Applicants for the competition must demonstrate a record of leadership and active participation in extracurricular activities. The 10 finalists were selected through an interview process, and the winners were chosen through an additional round of interviews and a student vote, held during Homecoming Week.
Each winner will receive a $2,500 scholarship and serve as an ambassador of UAB and on the Student Alumni Society Leadership Council in the coming year. The first alternates receive $1,000 scholarships.
Adams is a junior majoring in political science in the College of Arts and Sciences. He is a UAB Trailblazer and a member of the USGA and in the UAB Honors College Personalized Path. He is a volunteer for YMCA Youth in Government and works for the nonprofit Alabama Forward.
Bah, a sophomore, is majoring in psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is in the UAB Honors College’s Personalized Path and is a UAB TrailBlazer and a member of Alpha Xi Delta Sorority. She is Programming chair on the executive board for the Kidney Disease Screening and Awareness program, volunteers at The Lovelady Center and Meals on Wheels Kitchen and is involved in research focused on chronic knee pain.
Mikhail is a sophomore double-majoring in neuroscience and medical humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences and is in the UAB Honors College’s Science and Technology Honors Program. He researches neurodegenerative disease and has been a UAB Trailblazer and a member of International Mentors. Mikhail is the recipient of a Charles William Ireland Presidential Endowed Scholarship and Presidential Honors Fellowship. He volunteers for Community of Hope Health Clinic, where he translates Spanish for health care teams, and he teaches English remotely to Syrians affected by political turmoil overseas through the Paper Airplanes Tutoring Program.
David, a sophomore, is majoring in musical theater in the College of Arts and Sciences and is in the UAB Honors College’s Global and Community Leadership Honors Program. She is director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for Alpha Gamma Delta and is an orientation leader, a member of Blazer Theater Organization and a volunteer for Writing for Healing through UAB Arts in Medicine. She is a Charles McCallum Presidential Scholarship recipient. David is a production assistant for The Human Rights New Works Festival at Red Mountain Theatre and will play the role of Marianne in Theatre UAB’s upcoming production of “Sense and Sensibility.”
The Mr. and Ms. UAB finalists are:
- Lara Aldouar, a junior from Hoover, Alabama, majoring in neuroscience and in the UAB Honors College’s Personalized Path. She is a member of the Order of Omega Greek Honor Society, president of Sigma Kappa sorority and Dance Marathon Events director and volunteers at Children’s of Alabama.
- Kenya Barnes, a junior from Pensacola, Florida, majoring in neuroscience and in the UAB Honors College’s Personalized Path. Barnes is a recipient of an Out-of-State Presidential Scholarship and winner of a UAB NeuroScholars/EuroScholars Research Award. She is a UAB Trailblazer and vice-president of the Black Undergraduate Medical Association and secretary of the Minority Association of Pre-Health Students. She volunteers for the Minority Health and Equity Research Center and Children’s of Alabama.
- Dheeraj Edulakanti, a junior from Madison, Alabama, majoring in neuroscience with a minor in business administration in the Collat School of Business, and in the Honors College's Personalized Path. He is a UAB Ambassador, secretary of the Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity and treasurer of Project EMS at UAB. Edulakanti is a volunteer at Children’s Hospital of Alabama and the UAB on-campus food pantry Blazer Kitchen.
- Garrett Hendley, a junior from Huntsville, Alabama, in the accelerated Cancer Biology and Multidisciplinary Biomedical Sciences program and in the UAB Honors College’s Personalized Path. Hendley is a recipient of the RACE 21 Undergraduate Cancer Research Scholarship. He is a resident adviser, has volunteereed at the Community Food Bank of Central Alabama and is a UAB Trailblazer.
- Brent Jackson, a sophomore from Montgomery, Alabama, majoring in biomedical sciences in the School of Health Professions with a minor in exercise science in the School of Education and in the UAB Honors College’s Personalized Path. He is an Honors College Smart Leader and volunteers at Children’s of Alabama. Jackson is a USGA senator and the recipient of the Presidential Recognition Scholarship.
- Briana Watson, a junior from Jemison, Alabama, majoring in biomedical sciences. Watson is an orientation leader, a mentor for freshmen in service-learning projects and a Blazer Kitchen volunteer. She is a senator for the School of Health Professions, received the UAB Breakthrough Scholarship Award and is a member of the School of Health Professions Honor Program and the Student Health Services Advisory Board.