Eleven senior high schoolers from the San Fernando Valley and throughout Los Angeles County were chosen by the Milken Family Foundation as recipients of a $10,000 academic scholarship to the college of their choice this upcoming fall semester.
Their academic knowledge, talents and future career interests elevated them to the top. The scholarships for the 2025 Milken Scholars include four annual payments of $2,000, plus an additional $2,000 during post-graduation to support academic or career-related goals such as the development of volunteer work, internships, a shadowing experience, or to support their transition from college to graduate school and the workforce.
Milken Scholars, also from New York City and Washington DC, complete a rigorous nomination, application and interview process as high school seniors. They are selected based on distinguished academic performance, school and community service and their ability to persevere in the face of challenges whether personal, financial and/or social.
These four exceptional students are among 11 students from across Los Angeles County who were announced as 2025 Milken Scholars:
Michael Isayan is heading to Harvard
Michael, an 18-year-old from Tarzana, graduated from North Hollywood High School.
His concentration at the Ivy League college will be in government and/or economics.
But his passion in the past few years has focused on defibrillators, the device that saved his father’s life after a cardiac arrest.
Michael also championed city public safety reform centered on his defibrillator policy advocacy and as a L.A. City Youth council member, he proposed programs for developing public infrastructure.
“I am very fortunate in having had two parents who, despite immense personal health and financial difficulties, have put my education first time and time again,” he said. “On my end, achieving what I have, had mostly been a question of priorities—what goals do I value most and how can I achieve them. From there, it’s just a question of putting in the time.”
Michael is not only about academics.
During his free time, as little as it is, he runs or swims daily when possible and enjoys soccer, basketball and wrestling with friends. He’s interested in languages and speaks Armenian and Russian in addition to English at home, and has taken five years of Spanish at school and dabbled a bit in French last summer.
“I am, with rapidly growing desperation, trying to finish as many of the books I bought from Barnes & Noble as a child before I leave for college,” he said. “I am working on some Twain now and also have Verne, Tolkien and Shakespeare on the list.
Esther Madar is heading to Reichman University in Israel
A graduate of Milken Community School in Bel Air, Esther’s family migrated to Israel when she was a newborn, where she lived until she was 11.
She learned to speak English in the U.S. and will be the first in her family to attend college. She plans to major in business administration and entrepreneurship.
Esther could have attended college anywhere in the world, but she heard good things about Reichman.
”I really, really wanted to extend my horizons and (Reichman) is an extension of Milken (Community School) … and I really want to go back to my home to help people there. And because of antisemitism in the world right now (my parents) didn’t want me to go anywhere other than a Jewish university.”
Ester had experience working as a class coordinator primarily organizing classrooms and registration.
”I love being around people,” she said. “I love doing anything that brings me joy. I love being surrounded by good people … expressing my leadership skills and learning to see things from the bigger picture and not to be small-minded.”
Cooking, working out and volleyball are also on her fun-things-to-do list for relaxation.
Samantha Simms is heading to UCLA
After petitioning to take AP physics a year early as a sophomore, she realized men far outnumbered women in the class and created her school’s first Course Discovery Fair for female students to explore more STEM and AP courses.
Samantha is a National Merit Paramount Scholar and AP Distinguished Scholar. She volunteers at Wise Readers to Leaders as a teen board advisor and supports underserved youth literacy programs. She was also a member of Diller Teen Fellows—a Jewish leadership program. Samantha will study molecular, cellular and developmental biology at UCLA and plans a career in healthcare.
Samantha says it’s an honor to receive the Milken award.
”It’s just such a great opportunity to meet so many amazing people who are so accomplished in their field, who all share the same goal as me wanting to make the world a better place, and so I was just really honored to be selected as part of this group and I’m really excited to start working with people and continue my journey” Samantha said.
Her goal is to become a physician scientist, a medical doctor who also engages in scientific research.
“I’ve always been very drawn to science research and I do have a lot of experience in my family and also with myself with diseases and auto disease that don’t currently have cures,” the 18-year-old said. ”I want to be part of the group of people or just like the solution to finding those in healthcare and I’m just very excited about what the future has (in store).”
Samantha is a ballet dancer at heart, but that was curtailed when she was diagnosed with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, an autoimmune disease that took a toll on her. So she stepped into a supportive role as a teaching assistant to special needs dancers at Ballet For All Kids. She also channeled her energy into founding the Women’s Health Research Club at Milken Community School.
Samantha also runs a social media account on TikTok to build a community by raising awareness about dysautonomia, a relatively under researched condition that refers to a group of medical disorders causing issues with one’s autonomic nervous system.
A good fiction novel as well as classical novels are some of her reading choices.
Max Straus is heading to the University of Chicago
At Oakwood Secondary School in North Hollywood where he maintained a 4.0 GPA, Max served as an ambassador on the Student Admissions Committee and led the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Invention Challenge Team to two back-to-back state championship titles in NASA’s annual competition.
He’s set to study statistics and computer science mathematics at the University of Chicago, a college choice he made before learning he was being awarded the Milken Scholarship.
“Receiving this scholarship reminded me of the work I put in in high school and all I went through to get to where I am,” the 18-year-old said. “This scholarship will allow me to not only pursue my education at a higher level but also connect me with a group of people who are just as, if not brighter than, myself—people who will support me throughout my entire life. I am forever thankful for the people of the Milken Family Foundation, who will allow me this opportunity to reach my highest capabilities.
Max is not only about math. His passions also include weightlifting, jogging, bowling and music.
At 12, financial literacy and mathematics ignited Max after learning his family was facing severe financial hardship. Desperate to help, he took over his brother’s eBay collectible coin business and taught himself the ins and outs of order fulfillment, quality control, e-commerce basics and inventory management – all while reselling video game consoles on the side to earn extra cash.
Despite facing a scary situation, his love of learning flourished, leading him to become a tutor at Mathnasium Learning Center and a math bootcamp leader at Khan Academy.
Seeking to lessen the youth financial literacy gap, Max co-founded the Applying Math Club to share his financial knowledge with classmates during lunch meetings. His efforts continued outside of school, where he co-founded the Tutor Together Discord Server and established a free online community of more than 50,000 tutors and students.
The Milken Scholars Program was established in 1989 by Mike and Lori Milken to promote and assist exceptional youth as they navigate the transitions from high school to college and from college to graduate school or the world of work.
The program has reached nearly 600 students since its inception. Twenty-four percent of the students were born outside the U.S. and 78% have parents originating from over 80 countries. More than half are among the first generation in their family to attend college, while 46% are the first in their family to attend college in the U.S.
The class of 2025 is one of the most diverse yet, representing 16 countries spanning North America and the Caribbean, Central America, South America, West Africa, Northeast Africa, the Middle East, Northern Eurasia, East Asia and Southeast Asia.
The 11 students countywide who were announced as 2025 Milken Scholars are listed below, followed by the college they will attend:
Emely Cardenas, Maywood Center for Enriched Studies, YaleAlyssa Finigan, Mira Costa High School, Barnard CollegeMichael Isayan, North Hollywood High School, HarvardJustin Lam, Alhambra High School, MITLeonardo “Leo” Lopez, Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School, PrincetonEsther Madar, Milken Community School, Reichman UniversityHayk Poghosyan, Verdugo Hills High School, PrincetonPhotini Nour Qarmout, Students On Academic Rise (SOAR) High School, Claremont McKenna CollegeSamantha Simms, Milken Community School, UCLACharles Simon, Venice High School, University of Southern CaliforniaMax Straus, Oakwood Secondary School, The University of Chicago