OSULA announces 2021-22 scholarship recipient

LOS ANGELES – Westlake High School graduate Madelyn Campana, of Woodland Hills, California, has been chosen by The Ohio State University Alumni Club of Los Angeles (OSULA) as its annual scholarship recipient for the 2021-22 academic year, announced OSULA Vice President Ricky Darling, the club’s scholarship committee chair.

Campana receives a $7,500 scholarship from OSULA towards her first year on The Ohio State University’s main campus in Columbus, Ohio. 

A projected business major at Ohio State, Campana graduated from Westlake High with a 4.40 grade point average while being recognized by the College Board as an Advanced Placement^® Scholar Award winner. She was a four-year member of the California Scholarship Federation recognizing students for high standards in academics, character, leadership ability and volunteer service. Also, she received the Reagan Leadership Program “Huddle Up Award,” captured Honor Roll recognition every semester during her Westlake career and was honored with the school’s Academic Stellar Student Award as a junior.

“As someone who has roots in both Ohio and Los Angeles, it means a lot to win the OSULA Scholarship,” says Campana, whose mother (Jennifer Campana) was a Northeast Ohio native. “It makes me feel very appreciated for my achievements throughout high school and definitely gives me confidence as I head off to start my future at Ohio State. Leaving home is very hard, but OSULA has helped bridge the gap as it reinforced that I have tribes in both cities. Financially, it has made a huge difference for my family and I could not be more honored and grateful.”

As a “funny coincidence,” both Madelyn and her mother graduated from Westlake High School, but in different states. 

“My mom grew up in Westlake, Ohio on the west side of Cleveland, and I visited there often,” she added. “Since I was a young kid I have always adored the Midwest. The greenery, seasons, and friendly atmosphere, all have a certain charm. I spent summers at Cedar Point and visiting family, so when looking at colleges I thought it would be a great opportunity to return to those roots.”

Her mother went from Westlake High to Ohio’s Miami University where she graduated with bachelor’s degrees in mass communications and speech communications. After college, she bought a convertible and found “it was pretty useless in Cleveland” so decided to move in with a college friend in Los Angeles and essentially never left, later meeting Madelyn’s father David, a Los Angeles native.

When Madelyn was trying to make a decision on her college choice, she took a trip back to Ohio to check out her mother’s old collegiate stomping grounds on the Oxford campus. However, it turned out to be an unplanned side trip to Ohio’s capital city that most piqued her interest.

“My mother graduated from Miami University and while we were visiting there, we decided to also make the trip to Columbus to see Ohio State,” Madelyn explains. “The second I stepped foot onto High Street I instantly fell in love with the energy of the area. Everyone walking around in their Buckeye gear made me want to attend OSU and participate in the pride and spirit they displayed. When I did more research into the academic programs offered, I found Ohio State matched what I was looking for perfectly.”

“Ohio State really seemed like an amazing place to explore all the different areas of academia,” she continued.  “The extracurricular activities and clubs offered make me confident I can make many friends and be an integral part of this special community. Although I was born and raised in California, I thought I would love to make Ohio State my second home.”

Now, like her mother, Madelyn has chosen to begin her college experience in Ohio. She has currently set her sights on entering Ohio State’s Fisher College of Business as a potential business administration major, but that wasn’t her first choice.

“When trying to decide my career path, I examined which classes I genuinely loved in high school, and psychology was my first thought,” reports Campana. “I was instantly intrigued by every topic and felt like I was uncovering the secrets of the human psyche.

“Although that was my first choice, I have now decided to focus on pursuing studies in business-related majors,” she adds. “The extracurricular activities I find most rewarding are the business clubs in which I am involved. I am very interested in subjects like marketing or communications, as I enjoyed my social media marketing internship for a global consumer products company. The Ohio State University’s emphasis on allowing students to pursue whichever topics they find most interesting, while still pushing them to become well-rounded, is very important to me.”

Over the summer of 2020, Campana was the Henkel, Inc. Social Media Research Intern for Schwarzkopf Professional^®, a leading professional hair care brand in the United States. She assisted the social media marketing team by analyzing historical data on all social platforms. In addition, she ran a contest in which $100,000 was given to 200+ stylists struggling with COVID-related unemployment. 

It was Campana’s exemplary list of accomplishments in and out of the classroom that enabled her to receive that valuable internship experience. As a sophomore, she was elected the education lead in Westlake’s MIT Launch X Club as a sophomore, where students learned how to create real startup companies and prepare for future success through entrepreneurship. When the club lost funding, she became the co-founder and co-president of the school’s Young Entrepreneurship Society as a junior and senior, taking the initiative to create a new club focused on encouraging entrepreneurship among high school students.

Additionally, Campana was accepted into the Ronald Reagan Student Leadership Program, a selective program that focuses on teaching students to become young leaders in their communities. On top of that, she served as an academic peer mentor in OASIS, an intense intervention program designed to help students who are most at-risk of not graduating by getting them consistent support from academic peer mentors. 

With this kind of academic and extracurricular background, it is no wonder why The Ohio State University was impressed with her application and offered her a spot in the Class of 2025.  Fortunately for Ohio State, she accepted.

In a nutshell, Campana summarizes why becoming a Buckeye was the right choice for her: “Overall, from the wide variety of programs to the stellar professors and the strong network of alumni, I am confident that Ohio State offers an environment where I can both contribute and succeed.”