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College and Wharton junior Gobhanu Sasankar Korisepati (left) and College junior Ellen Choi (right) were named recipients of the 2025-27 Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholarship for Public Service (Photo from Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships).
Two Penn juniors, Ellen Choi and Gobhanu Sasankar Korisepati, were recently named recipients of the 2025-2027 Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholarship for Public Service.
Created in a partnership between Airbnb co-founder Brian Chesky and the Obama Foundation, the Voyager Scholarship is a two-year leadership development and scholarship program. The program’s fourth cohort was announced on September 23 and included 100 college juniors spanning 71 U.S. colleges and universities.
The foundation specifically seeks out “young people from every corner of this country who share a curiosity about the world and the conviction to want to make positive change within it — just like the scholarship’s founders.”
The selection criteria includes a passion for helping individuals in need and experience in improving societal welfare through community service.
The program enables students to pursue individual summer projects based around public service between their junior and senior years with $10,000 in funding and free housing through Airbnb. Scholarship recipients also receive up to $50,000 of financial aid in tuition costs, a 10-year travel stipend, invites to a fall summit with notable public service leaders, and connections within the Voyager network.
According to her statement on the Voyager website, Choi hopes to “focus on equitable neurorehabilitation for individuals with cognitive or speech loss in order to ensure that recovery is not limited by circumstance or stigma.”
At Penn, Choi is currently pursuing neuroscience, healthcare management, and linguistics. A member of the Benjamin Franklin Scholars program, Choi is also involved on campus as wellness chair of the Dean’s Advisory Board.
Korisepati, on the other hand, stated that he plans to “focus on expanding access to capital for entrepreneurs to reduce global economic inequality.” As part of the Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business, Korisepati is currently pursuing economics, international studies, and computer science. He is also the co-founder of the nonprofit Sustaining Women in Financial Turmoil, enabling over 3,200 women in more than 77 countries to sustain independent businesses. In 2024, Korisepati received the Diana Legacy Award for humanitarian work.
The news was announced to the Penn community through the Center for Undergraduate Research. The Voyager Scholarship is one among many fellowships and scholarships that CURF promotes on their website.
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