The Comcast Foundation announced that it has awarded approximately $2 million in scholarships through the Comcast Leaders and Achievers Scholarship Program to nearly 2,000 high school seniors across the U.S. during the 2011-2012 school year. Each year, Comcast works with high school principals and guidance counselors to identify the best and the brightest seniors who are exemplary in their community service, academic performance and leadership skills.

This year, 47 percent of the students came from diverse backgrounds, including 17 percent African American, 14 percent Hispanic, 11 percent Asian and 4 percent multiracial. Since the inception of the Comcast Leader and Achievers Program in 2000, $17.4 million has been awarded to approximately 17,000 deserving students to use toward their pursuit of a higher education.

“These scholarship recipients serve as models for their fellow students and have demonstrated the positive impact they can have on their communities by volunteering to clean up parks, work in local food banks and senior citizen homes, mentor younger students and so much more,” said Charisse R. Lillie, Vice President of Community Investment for Comcast Corporation and President of the Comcast Foundation. “We understand that there are significant pressures on today’s youth, and this program is one way we hope to motivate young people to strive for their goals and become good corporate citizens.”

Gabrielle Calderon, a recent graduate from Golden Valley High School in Merced, Calif., was recently awarded a $10,000 scholarship during a Comcast Leaders and Achievers Scholarship celebration held at the California State Capitol.

“It was a huge honor to be recognized by so many people for all of my hard work and accomplishments in high school,” said Calderon. “I am so grateful to be able to put the scholarship money toward my fall tuition at UC Berkeley as a Political Science major, and I ultimately hope to pursue my goal of earning a law degree.”

The Comcast Leaders and Achievers philosophy is to give young people every opportunity to be prepared for the future, to engage youth in their communities so they develop a sense of citizenship and to demonstrate the value placed on civic involvement by the business community.