Scholarship Recipients
Every year with the Secular Student Alliance, the FREEFLO funds $2,000 scholarships.
The scholarships are available to students enrolled in high school or college in Florida and are designed to support students who in addition to pursuing excellence in their academic studies are also activists for secular values on their campus and/or in their community.
FREEFLO provides the funds for these scholarships. The CFFC provides an additional scholarship through direct donations.
2025 Scholarship Recipients
Ryan is a student at the University of Central Florida pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, with an expected graduation in May 2028. A member of Air Force ROTC, he plans to earn a commission upon graduation and later work as a civilian defense contractor designing technology to keep troops safe. A graduate of Melbourne High School, he also earned his AA degree with honors from Eastern Florida State College, where he joined Phi Theta Kappa and was nominated to the PTK All Florida Academic Team. His commitment to service stems from growing up in a military family and his years in JROTC, which gave him purpose, leadership experience, and camaraderie.
Ryan identifies as an atheist, raised with the freedom to think independently and never drawn to religion. For him, atheism is grounded in reason and the conviction that morality does not require faith. He views separation of church and state as essential and is deeply concerned about the growing influence of religious nationalism. His secular identity has shaped his values and strengthened his determination to defend constitutional freedoms as both a student and a future officer.
As a mixed-race Korean and Italian American, Ryan has witnessed racism, homophobia, and Christian nationalism firsthand in his community. These experiences reinforced his rejection of religious hypocrisy and deepened his commitment to equality and fairness. He sees his heritage and secular values as inseparable from his passion for social justice.
Ryan | University of Central Florida
Amelia is a student at the University of Central Florida pursuing a double major in Computer Engineering and Theme Park & Attraction Management, along with a certificate in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). A member of the UCF Burnett Honors College, she previously earned her Associate of Arts degree with honors through dual enrollment at Eastern Florida State College before transferring to UCF.
At UCF, Amelia serves as secretary of the Knights Racing Baja SAE team, where she applies engineering concepts in designing and racing off-road vehicles. She also volunteers with the UCF Arboretum and plans to pursue a GIS research internship focused on mapping and environmental management. Her long-term goal is to merge her passions for engineering, GIS, and themed entertainment into a career that blends creativity with technical innovation.
Amelia is active in campus life and recently joined UCF’s Secular Student Alliance chapter. She is committed to outreach, peer support, and connecting SSA with the neurodiversity community to create inclusive programming. She has also participated in LGBTQ+ advocacy and values spaces that encourage equal rights, evidence-based dialogue, and open discussion.
Raised in a secular household that emphasized inquiry and critical thinking, Amelia has carried these values into her academic and personal journey. As a neurodivergent student, she has developed resilience and creativity that strengthen her work in engineering and leadership. Committed to funding her own education, she views this scholarship as vital support in reducing financial stress and enabling her to focus on innovation, inclusivity, and impact.
Amelia | University of Central Florida
2024 Scholarship Recipients
Cameron | University of Central Florida
Cameron is a graduate student at the University of Central Florida pursuing a Master’s in Nonprofit Management, with an expected graduation in December 2026. A member of the Secular Student Alliance, he is an outspoken advocate for church–state separation, First Amendment freedoms, and LGBTQ+ equality. His identity as an atheist is rooted in growing up amid fundamentalist rhetoric in North Carolina and Florida, experiences that shaped his early organizing against book bans and “Don’t Say Gay” policies and continue to guide his commitment to secular values.
Queerness and a working-class background also inform Cameron’s social-justice lens. Secularism helped him reject stigma and embrace a broader vision of equity, dignity, and democratic participation. He carried these values into founding the Florida Youth Action Fund (YAF), where as Executive Director he has grown the organization from a $50,000 seed grant and one staff member to a $1.5 million budget with 12 full-time staff. Through programs like SPARK and ACTIVATE, YAF has supported more than 77 youth-led campaigns, trained over 600 young leaders, and placed many in nonprofits, campaigns, and legislative offices.
Cameron’s organizing portfolio includes co-leading the 2022 statewide “Don’t Say Gay” student walkouts, launching protests against local book bans, and helping elect school-board candidates who defended LGBTQ+ students in conservative communities. He has also led voter-registration and turnout efforts, mobilized hundreds of Gen-Z Floridians to the State Capitol, and built partnerships that emphasize leadership training and long-term youth empowerment.
This year, his focus is on expanding YAF’s reach among working-class youth by building workplace and neighborhood organizing capacity. He is launching a “Labor Leaders Bootcamp” and developing a Florida Youth Worker’s Center to help young people organize their workplaces while advancing secular, democratic values.
Emmalise | North Bay Haven Career Academy
Emmalise is an aspiring Latina medical professional with a passion for mental health advocacy. As she works toward becoming the first in her family to enter the medical field, Emmalise plans to major in neuroscience or biochemistry with a minor in psychology. With her high school graduation from North Bay Haven Career Academy, she will also earn an associate's degree in psychology, marking the beginning of her exploration into the complexities of the human brain. Her long-term goals include advancing mental health awareness, particularly among teenagers, and breaking down stigmas surrounding mental well-being.
Her secular identity emerged from a journey of questioning and self-discovery. Raised by Catholic parents, Emmalise was baptized and completed her first communion, but her family did not impose strict religious practices after she turned eight. As she grew older and began to think critically, she found herself questioning the existence of a god, particularly in light of personal and global suffering, like her brother’s epilepsy and the broader injustices in the world. This led her to embrace agnosticism, as she struggled to reconcile her scientific understanding of the world with religious teachings. Living in the conservative Bible Belt has been challenging, with religious peers often debating her beliefs, but Emmalise stands firm in her conviction that being a kind person matters more than adhering to a specific faith.
Emmalise’s identity as a Puerto Rican girl and her understanding of her own sexuality further complicated her relationship with religion. Feeling out of place in conversations about boys with her friends, she gradually realized that she didn’t fit the expectations of a “perfectly straight girl.” This realization distanced her from her Catholic upbringing, making her feel uncomfortable in religious spaces.
Emmalise’s secular activism shines through her mental health advocacy. She founded a school club called “It’s Okay to Not Be Okay,” which promotes mental health awareness among teenagers and creates a safe, inclusive environment for all, regardless of religion, sexuality, race, gender, or home life. They’ve organized events like the Mental Health Matters March and participated in suicide awareness walks, helping students navigate stress, particularly after the devastation of a Category 5 hurricane and the COVID-19 pandemic. The club's secular nature is rare in her deeply religious southern town, but it has fostered a community of support for students from all backgrounds.
Liam is a passionate political science student with ambitions to attend law school and earn his Juris Doctorate. Currently pursuing a degree in Political Science with minors in Legal Studies and Nonprofit Management, Liam is also working towards certificates in Individual Liberties and The Politics of Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Identity. His long-term career goal is to run for office and work toward systemic change, with a particular focus on strengthening the separation of church and state and advocating for marginalized communities.
Liam’s secular identity is rooted in his agnosticism and humanist values. Raised in the Catholic Church, he frequently questioned the teachings, particularly the lack of encouragement for independent thinking. His skepticism deepened as he experienced sexual religious trauma, leading him to question the church's influence and ultimately reject the notion that morality is dependent on religion. Now identifying as agnostic, Liam believes that kindness and ethical behavior are guided by humanity rather than divinity.
Liam’s identity as a pansexual individual, which he embraced at 14, intersects deeply with his secularism and activism. Before that, he identified as asexual, a period influenced by his struggles with religious trauma. His understanding of both his sexual identity and his secular beliefs fuels his commitment to fighting for a society that is inclusive and free from religious-based discrimination.
From the age of 15, Liam has been actively engaged in political activism, driven by the negative impacts of Christian Nationalist policies in Florida and beyond. His activism began with an internship for Senator Ed Markey and expanded to working for multiple political campaigns advocating for evidence-based policymaking and the separation of church and state. He also co-founded a youth political caucus for the Democratic Party in his home county, where he served as Vice-Chair. In addition, he helped launch Project Caerus, an organization championing LGBTQ+ students' rights, which was responsible for organizing the 2023 Florida College and University protests. Liam has volunteered for groups such as Planned Parenthood and People Power for Florida.
Liam | University of Central Florida
2023 Scholarship Recipients
Anthony is a passionate creative writer, currently pursuing his studies at the University of Central Florida. His literary journey spans from poetry to screenwriting, where he tackles themes of religious fundamentalism and societal progress. He believes that promoting secular education, especially in science, literature, and history, will help foster compassion and understanding, dismantling harmful ideologies that often hinder human welfare. Anthony's secularism is not just an intellectual stance but a deeply personal one, born from years of grappling with religious shame surrounding his sexuality. Coming out as gay two years ago transformed his once black-and-white view of the world into vibrant, nuanced shades of acceptance and self-discovery.
Growing up, Anthony felt pressured to follow a rigid, heteronormative path, but at sixteen, he "broke up with God," realizing that his prayers and struggles went unanswered. His atheism evolved from an emotional reaction to a thoughtfully reasoned position, one rooted in philosophy, science, and history. As an antitheist, Anthony is outspoken against religious structures that he sees as oppressive, particularly those that foster intolerance and violence against the LGBTQ+ community. He has immersed himself in secular media, learning from thinkers like Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins, and applies this knowledge to challenge outdated beliefs in non-confrontational, intellectually rich debates.
Anthony's activism extends beyond secularism, intersecting with his identity as a liberal and a member of the LGBTQ+ community. He is determined to combat religious violence, especially in his home state of Florida, where regressive laws target marginalized communities. For Anthony, secularism and intersectional activism go hand in hand—promoting sexual and gender tolerance, supporting immigrant rights, and addressing poverty are all ways to advance secular values in a society still deeply influenced by religion.
Anthony | University of Central Florida
As a graduate student pursuing a master's degree in urban and regional planning at the University of South Florida, Erica is deeply committed to becoming a planner for the city of Tampa with a specific focus on affordable housing, coastal resiliency, public policy, and community development to uplift marginalized residents.
Her background in a religious family and undergraduate studies in the "Bible Belt" fostered a curiosity about different belief systems, leading her to pursue a bachelor's degree in religious studies. This exploration did not shake her personal beliefs, but it laid the foundation for her gradual transition to secularism, which began around 2015. Volunteering at a drop-in center for homeless youth, which served a predominantly LGBTQIA+ population, opened her eyes to the pain and rejection faced by these individuals due to their identities, sparking her initial questioning of religious teachings. In 2020, witnessing racism within her white Christian community during the Black Lives Matter protests further fueled her journey away from religion. By 2021, she embraced agnosticism, which allowed her to cultivate empathy, self-acceptance, and a commitment to challenging discriminatory beliefs, particularly regarding gender equality.
Erica's activism extends beyond personal growth. She volunteers at a community garden, caring for plants and supporting their growth. Her internship with Plan Hillsborough involves secular activism, advocating for affordable housing, addressing climate change, promoting sustainable growth, and prioritizing marginalized communities. Her work on the Flip Jr. project demonstrates her dedication to educating minority students about planning and transportation safety, empowering them to become advocates in their communities.
Erica | University of South Florida
Cameron | University of Florida
With a keen interest in politics, Cameron has actively worked as a progressive activist in Florida, gaining experience with various organizations. Notably, they founded a youth-led non-profit and are pursuing a business administration degree at the University of Florida to enhance his leadership skills further.
His upbringing in a religiously conservative environment, marked by intolerance and hateful rhetoric, fueled Cameron's skepticism and led them on a path toward secularism. He actively challenged religious influences on societal progress, particularly in areas like personal liberties, scientific research, and social unity.
Cameron's identity as a member of the LGBTQ+ community played a significant role in his embrace of secularism. He recognized the harm caused by religious dogma, which led to self-concealment and self-hatred. Embracing secularism allowed him to shed these burdens and find empowerment.
As an LGBTQ+ activist in Florida, where he observed a rise in homophobia and right-wing evangelical influences, Cameron co-founded Recall FCSB, a political advocacy group, to oppose this trend. He organized protests, addressed book-banning controversies, and mobilized hundreds of students during the "Don't Say Gay Bill" protests, gaining international media attention. Cameron also played a key role in electing progressive school board members to defend LGBTQ+ students' rights.
Cameron's activism expanded to various intersectional issues, including climate change, civil rights, voting rights, and education. He coordinated voter registration efforts on college campuses, facilitated student-led dialogues on pressing issues, and collaborated with organizations like the Sunrise Movement to train young activists in demanding climate action.
Justin | University of Florida
As a fourth-year Computer Science major at the University of Florida with aspirations for a PhD in Theoretical Physics, Justin seeks to amplify the voices of non-religious individuals, especially young people in less progressive environments.
Raised as a non-denominational Christian, Justin's transition to atheism six years ago prompted deep self-reflection. He recognized the prejudice and bigotry that once stemmed from his religious beliefs and made a conscious choice to commit to humanism and secularism. This change allowed him to embrace acceptance for all individuals and to stand against the barriers that prevent people from expressing their true selves. Despite his privilege as a white, middle-class, heterosexual male, Justin feels a strong sense of responsibility as a secular ally to those fighting for equality. He believes in advocating for others, particularly those facing systemic challenges.
In his personal relationships, Justin strives to spread secular ideals and challenge religiously influenced viewpoints, especially when they infringe on the lives of others. He engages in conversations with family and friends who hold religious beliefs, emphasizing the importance of personal beliefs not dictating public policies.
Beyond personal relationships, Justin actively participates in campus activism. He engages in Street Epistemology to encourage critical thinking and discussions about belief systems. He supports the Pro-Choice movement and Women's Rights movements, recognizing the need to separate biological facts from theological ideas and advocating for women's rights in the face of conservative Christian opposition.
2022 Scholarship Recipients
A freshman student pursuing commercial entrepreneurship at Florida State University, Kaysyn intends to go to the Howard University School of Law to pursue nonprofit work in the public sector. Attending evangelical churches in Northeastern Pennsylvania at a young age. Kaysyn says, “I found a distinct sense of dissonance in the actions described by the Christian God from narrative to narrative. I came to find value in a secular point of view because it allowed me to focus on what was truly important: public service and activism.”
As a Black lesbian individual, Kaysyn realized religion was often used as a tool of colonization and control, designed to strip away culture and voices, especially in the lives of Black women. She participated in rallies to remove prayer from schools, change the names of schools names for Confederate generals, and support abortion rights. Kaysyn was an executive director of the Black Art student organization and student contributor and intern at the African American History Summer Writing Institute.
Besides supporting protests and movements centering on the freedom to live secularly, such as those supporting abortion rights and cutting prayer from schools, she also advocated within the Black Art organization at her school to change the pre-performance prayer circle to a mindfulness circle so as to not isolate or ostracize non-Christian students.
Kaysyn | Florida State University
Jamie | University of South Florida
Jamie is a psychology major at the University of South Florida. As a psychologist, she hopes to promote access to quality mental health care and fight against pseudoscience. Her family was Catholic, but never really went to church. The hypocrisy of the church led Jamie to be agnostic. As a Black first-generation immigrant, Jamie knows how many Caribbean-Black people were forced into Christianity.
Jamie is a former Vice President of the American Medical Student Association and advocates for mental health care and awareness of medical racism. Mental health care is often seen as a sign of weakness in nonwhite communities. Jamie plans to start a Secular Student Alliance chapter to create a space where like-minded students can be themselves without feeling shame or judgment.
2021 Scholarship Recipients
Gharlah | Atlantic Technical Center
A nursing student at Atlantic Technical Center, Gharlah, who aspires to be an immigration lawyer, grew up in a strict, Pentecostal Haitian household, where “if you didn’t love God, you were worshipping the devil.” The hypocrisy of people in the church led Gharlah to start to doubt the church. In a tenth-grade history class about how religion was created, she realized fear was the only thing holding her to religion.
Because of her previous experience in the church, Gharlah realized as a woman she would be a second-class citizen, and that as a poor African American, in Islam or Christianity, religion was behind the justification of slavery. She said, “The more I pushed from religion, the happier I became and the more I grew.”
After earning her nursing degree, Gharlah will start advocating for evidence-based sex education for high school and LGBT+ students in Florida. Her other passion is immigration because of how the current system devalues humanity and life on a hierarchical level.
Landrick | University of Central Florida
Currently a certified EMT and a volunteer with the local fire department, Landrick is earning his bachelor's degree in homeland security at Keiser University. His career goal is to become an FBI Surveillance Agent or Swat Medic. He is also a comedian.
Growing up in a Christian household, his religious beliefs faded from an inquiring mind and research led to his own reasoning. Being a black male atheist, Landrick can feel isolated because of the small number of people like him who are nonreligious.
Landrick has seen how religion has been used to hurt the black community. On stage as a comic, he uses comedy to make good-hearted but informative jokes about growing up religious, hopefully prompting others in the black community to question their own beliefs.
2019 Scholarship Recipients
Victoria | University of Central Florida
Victoria is working towards her bachelor’s degree in English-creative writing at the University of Central Florida, with the goal of earning a master’s degree in library sciences and becoming a librarian. Victoria was raised in a devout, fundamentalist Christian environment and, since childhood, wanted to become a missionary and travel the world saving souls. Five years ago, in the aftermath of a personal crisis, Victoria began searching for the reasons people believe in God, or anything at all. After being immersed in a wide diversity of beliefs and realizing they couldn’t all be right, she concluded that they were most likely all false and she became an atheist. Today, rather than investing in the church, she puts her time and energy into her SSA chapter at the University of Central Florida.
“The SSA at UCF chapter became my family,” Victoria said. “They helped me to find a path that brings me so much satisfaction and joy. Any questions I had they encouraged me to keep asking.”
Through her SSA chapter and as a part of the LGBTQ+ community on campus, she became very involved in LGBTQ+ activism. After the Orlando Pulse shooting she and her fellow SSA members organized a fundraiser on campus, donating almost $1000 to the Pulse victims and their families.
Alexa Woll
Alexa is a double major in food and nutrition science and psychology, with plans to earn a master’s degree in food science. Her long term goal is to pursue a career as a natural products developer and flavor chemist.
Alexa became interested in this path of study and work out of her lifelong desire to make the world a healthier place for everyone. She has dedicated her education, career, and life reducing the negative effects of meat agriculture on our climate by developing the next generation of plant based meat analogs. From a very young age Alexa says that she was a freethinker; not inclined to follow the beliefs of others. She was naturally curious and scientifically-minded. She believes very strongly that people’s personal religious and spiritual beliefs should not cross over into politics and the structure of society. This is the focus of her secular activism as well, shining the light of scientific facts and open inquiry in conversations where superstition abounds.
2018 Scholarship Recipients
Giuseppe | Miami-Dade College
Giuseppe was born in Cuba. His mother, a believer in African mythology, took him to a Catholic church every Saturday for services. At age 12, Giuseppe and his mother moved to Trinidad and he was enrolled in a Seventh-Day Adventist school. Giuseppe said, “As a fully devout Catholic Christian, I'd always had questions about religion, but I was too scared to ask them.” In 2015, everything changed for Giuseppe when he and his mother moved to the United States.
Giuseppe attended a public high school where religion was not a requirement. Through his education, Giuseppe learned more about world history and other religions. He started reading books by Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens and watching debates online between religious authorities and atheists. The exposure to new ways of thinking allowed Giuseppe to leave behind vague religious philosophies and motivated his passion for physics, philosophy, and secularism.
As a psychology major at Miami-Dade College, Giuseppe is keenly aware of the sacrifices his mother has made, working long shifts with no extra money at the end of each month. He sometimes worries he is being selfish, considering his financial background and the lengthy and costly educational road ahead.
As a new secular activist, Giuseppe is using social media to help erase the negative connotations around “atheism,” reinforce the wall between church and state, and work towards a more egalitarian society. Giuseppe is also involved with Black History Month and Pride month activities.
Noah | University of Central Florida
As a student at the University of Central Florida, Noah is majoring in mathematics, specializing in economics, and minoring in computer science. He plans on earning his Masters Degree in Computer Science and studying artificial intelligence to help ensure that smarter-than-human AI will be aligned with human values.
Now an atheist and unapologetically anti-theist, Noah started to question his faith in middle school and became an atheist early in high school. Leaving behind religious dogma, Noah strives to see how the world can be improved through reason. If we are going to achieve this, Noah believes we must form communities that share ideas and have common values. Noah says “the importance of SSA is bringing atheists together to form a community and work together.”
Noah is involved with community services projects with his SSA chapter at UCF, helping organize a day of food and educational activities at a homeless shelter for women and children. He will be participating in a campus blood drive, commemorating those lost on 9/11. With the help of advisor Tee Rodgers, the chapter is planning an event on campus, standing against violence. “I wish to dedicate my time toward charity, volunteering to help those in need, and promoting a world of equality.”
2016 Scholarship Recipient
Samreena | Florida State University
As an ex-Muslim, Samreena Farooqui faced isolation because of her atheism to a degree that even many other SSA students might not have. She had trouble finding people who could identify with her current experience and her past experiences. The SSA gave her a space to change that. As a former officer at the SSA at Florida State University, she worked with the national organization to find the tools and materials she needed to build the community she and others like her needed, like organizing the Southeast Regional Student conference.
She is also active with the Planned Parenthood Generation Action group on her campus. Her activism includes testifying in front of the state senate to oppose a bill that would defund Planned Parenthood, organizing a “Condom Crawl” to pass out condoms to tailgaters before a football game, and organizing the Take No More Fest, which helps fund local organizations like the Oasis Center for Women and Girls and the Trans Liberation Front.