Housing Opportunities Commission Honors 
2024 Tony S. Davis Memorial Scholarship Recipients

Kensington, Md. – The Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County (HOC) today announced the recipients of the 2024 Tony S. Davis Memorial Scholarship awards. The five recent Montgomery County high school graduates will equally share $20,000 in scholarship awards

HOC established the scholarship program shortly after staff member Tony Davis was tragically killed in 2000 while defending the residents in his community. The program celebrates the spirit of public service embodied by Mr. Davis, who worked tirelessly to improve the lives of HOC customers and served as a role model to many.

“HOC is proud to honor Tony’s memory by awarding scholarship funds to these five incredibly impressive young people,” said HOC Board Chair Roy O. Priest. “They are exactly the type of individuals who form the foundation of stable, thriving communities and who lift up others, just like Tony did. He would have been proud to know them.”

“Already in their young lives these five outstanding recipients have exhibited the leadership and civic-minded commitment to service that are central to our work here at HOC,” said President Chelsea Andrews. “I’m confident they will excel in the new phase of their lives and we are more than proud to support them with a Tony Davis Scholarship award.”

The 2024 Tony S. Davis Memorial Scholarship award winners are: 

Kelci Cunningham, who graduated from Northwood High School,  will attend Morgan State University this Fall in their honors program, majoring in political science.

Joelle Hounyovi, who graduated in May 2024 from Thomas S. Wootton High School while simultaneously completing a year of college study. Joelle plans to continue her studies in the Fall, majoring in finance.

Kangmin Kim, a graduate of Quince Orchard High School. Kangmin plans on majoring in biological sciences at Virginia Tech.

Abigail Lakew, a graduate from Bethesda Chevy Chase High School who also already has earned an Associates of Science in Biological Sciences from Montgomery College. She will be attending the University of Maryland at College Park to pursue her goal of becoming a cardiothoracic surgeon.

Natania Mehari is a first-generation Eritrean-American who will be the first in her family to attend college. She plans to study computer science at George Washington University in the Fall.

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About HOC

HOC serves more than 20,000 Montgomery County households through a variety of innovative housing programs. HOC owns more than 9,400 apartment, townhome and single-family home rental properties and leases or administers another 7,400 properties that provide affordable housing. We provide rental assistance to more than 8,000 low-income households through the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program and an additional 1,600 households through other types of subsidized housing programs. HOC also has financed more than 3,400 privately owned multi-family buildings and helped more than 2,000 households purchase a home through the homeownership and mortgage program. Visit HOC.