Congratulations on being selected as a recipient of the 2026 Secular Student Alliance Scholarship sponsored by the First Coast Freethought Society!
Allen is a doctoral student in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of North Florida and an English educator with a passion for education, critical thinking, and humanistic ethics.
His secular identity developed through years of questioning religious assumptions; studying science, philosophy, linguistics, and history; traveling; and building relationships across different cultures and beliefs. He came to see secularism as a commitment to intellectual freedom, evidence, and the ability of people to form their own beliefs without coercion.
As president of his campus Secular Student Alliance, Allen plans to build community through discussion, service, and celebrations of secular and humanist traditions while advocating for church-state separation. As an educator, he hopes to help students become independent thinkers who can engage differences with both critical thought and empathy.
Micky is an activist and graduate student in the Social Work program at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. Their activism focuses on providing access to resources for LGBTQIA+ adolescents. Micky is working toward creating change by extending ethical discourse into high schools, juvenile detention centers, and the local community.
Micky’s secular identity is deeply tied to a sense of care for others and is staunchly rooted in creating open spaces for queer folks. They are driven by their personal battle to end adolescent suicide.
As a gender nonconforming lesbian, Micky has seen firsthand how barriers to necessary support networks, healthcare, and LGBTQIA+ resources can prevent people from living in their truth. They have worked passionately with the Florida Blue Center for Ethics to bridge the academic community with surrounding high schools, helping marginalized students gain access to institutional resources.
Micky hopes that they will be able to extend social work, ethics, and transgender activism to facilitate a change in the narrative about teen suicide. For them, the Secular Student Alliance represents a national conversation that aims to confront discriminatory attitudes, hatred, and ignorance.
More information here: https://www.secularstudents.org/scholarships/2026-scholarship-recipients
FCFS 2025 Scholarship Recipients
We are pleased to announce the recipients of the First Coast Freethought Society Scholarships in partnership with the Secular Student Alliance: Hannah and Sophia.
Hannah is a student at the University of North Florida, pursuing a degree in International Relations with minors in Philosophy and Environmental Studies, graduating in May 2025. She plans to pursue a career in refugee resettlement, a passion shaped by her AmeriCorps service in “Operation Allies Welcome,” where she assisted evacuees from Afghanistan.
She asserts her secular identity openly, seeing it as a way to build genuine connections and remain committed to honesty, even if it sets her apart. On campus, Hannah serves as President of Interfaith at UNF, a student organization that continues to promote religious and nonreligious tolerance after the state-mandated closure of the university’s Interfaith Center. She believes differences between people are not barriers but opportunities for deeper understanding.
Beyond campus, Hannah has been active in community service and national service projects across the country. She has contributed to wildfire recovery in California, cultural preservation with the Shoshone-Bannock in Idaho, environmental restoration and education initiatives, and advocacy for immigrants, refugees, and educational justice in Florida. She also participated in the ACLU’s National Advocacy Institute, furthering her knowledge of civil liberties.
This year, Hannah plans to expand interfaith and secular dialogue at UNF through events, collaborations, and discussions that promote inclusion and understanding. For her, the Secular Student Alliance represents a national movement committed to protecting and uplifting secular and humanist values, and she looks forward to contributing to that mission on campus and beyond.
Sophia is an incoming student at the University of Central Florida, where she plans to major in nursing and graduate in 2029. Her long-term goal is to work in a hospital while pursuing advanced nursing education, building a career defined by compassion, equity, and advocacy. She is motivated by a desire to bring comfort to patients during stressful and vulnerable times and to ensure that healthcare is delivered with dignity.
She identifies as an atheist, shaped by her upbringing in a nonreligious household and personal experiences that challenged her to reflect on faith. When a classmate was diagnosed with brain cancer in third grade, she struggled with the idea that it was a “test from God.” At the same time, her father battled addiction, and she could not reconcile the existence of a higher power with the suffering she saw around her. Witnessing religion used to oppose marriage equality and abortion rights further affirmed her secular worldview and strengthened her belief in reason, fairness, and church–state separation.
Her identity as a woman from a low-income household intersects with her secularism. Living in Florida, she has been directly impacted by political debates around reproductive rights, motivating her to advocate for bodily autonomy and equitable healthcare. She has also been active in advocacy, volunteering with the Lee County Democrats during the last presidential election to support Amendment 4, which sought to protect abortion access in Florida. In high school, she participated in a program that paired students with peers with disabilities, fostering inclusion and support.
At UCF, Sophia plans to join the UCF Democrats and the College of Medicine’s Access, Belonging & Community Engagement program. She is committed to creating welcoming spaces in healthcare and continuing to promote civic participation and secular values. For her, the Secular Student Alliance represents the freedom to practice or reject religion without government interference. Growing up with financial hardship, she now faces the challenge of funding her education largely on her own. A scholarship would ease that burden, allowing her to focus more fully on her studies and prepare for a nursing career grounded in service, compassion, and secular humanism.