Congratulations to our 2025 Holt Adoptee Scholarship winners! See their creative submissions responding to the prompt, “What is one thing you wish your family, friends or society knew about the adoptee experience?”
Every year, Holt awards scholarships to adoptees graduating high school and planning to pursue further education. We ask them to submit work based around a question or theme relating to the adoptee experience and encourage them to interpret the prompt creatively — whether through an essay, digital art or any other form that inspires them!
This year, we announced an additional $1,000 scholarship to be awarded to an adoptee who is pursuing their dream career in a traditionally underfunded field of study. The Hope Scholarship is generously sponsored by Holt adoptee Mareyuna, who followed her dreams to become a veterinarian, and Mareyuna’s family. Mareyuna and her family felt called to help other adoptees like her who are drawn to a profession that has limited scholarship opportunities available.
Hope Scholarship Winner Haley Havens
We are pleased to announce this year’s Hope Scholarship winner is Haley Havens! Haley is a Guatemalan adoptee entering her second year at the University of Texas at Austin. She is pursuing an honors degree in advanced human development and family sciences, while also hoping to complete two pre-health related certificates. She hopes to one day become a genetic counselor to help others better understand their genes. “I was adopted from Guatemala at 4 months old, which sparked my initial interest in genetics,” Haley writes. “I found it fascinating how everybody could know their ancestry simply from their DNA, however I didn’t have much information regarding my own genealogy. What started as curiosity about DNA and ancestry has grown into a passion for supporting others as they navigate their own genetic stories.”
Haley submitted a poem for the Hope Scholarship.
Holt Adoptee Scholarship Winners
Lily Macaluso
Lily Rose Macaluso was adopted from China at 15 months old in 2008, joining her loving family in New Jersey. During high school, Lily was an active student who played on the tennis team and participated in a variety of extracurricular activities. Beyond school, Lily embraced her community — working as a camp counselor and scooping ice cream at a local shop. She also enjoyed babysitting for neighborhood families, quickly becoming a trusted helper to younger kids. Lily is now a student at Florida Gulf Coast University, where she is majoring in exercise science with plans to pursue a career as a physical therapist.
Lily submitted a poem for the Holt Adoptee Scholarship.
Abigail Perissi
Abigail Grace Perissi started her adoption story — and joined her family — through the foster care system in Southern Indiana. She is currently a freshman at Western Kentucky University majoring in social work, and says she is pursuing social work degree because of her experience with foster care and adoption. “I know firsthand the impact having a social worker had on my transition through the system and into a forever family … I love the thought of having that impact on children who are facing similar situations,” she writes. “I am beyond grateful for this scholarship and the essay was a good reminder for me to reflect on how adoption changed my life for the better.”
For the Holt Adoptee Scholarship, Grace submitted an essay entitled, “What I Would Take In My Backpack.”
Support Adoptees and Adoptive Families!
Help adoptees and adoptive families thrive by ensuring lifetime adoption support services are available to all those whose lives are touched by adoption.
