Urbis Named as Premier UT-Austin Forty Acres Scholar

Los Fresnos High School salutatorian Audrey Urbis has been named one of 19 students named to the Forty Acres Scholars Program at The University of Texas for the Class of 2019.

More than 3,000 students applied this year for UT’s premiere full-ride, merit-based scholarship. The 19 outstanding scholars were selected from a group of 59 finalists.

Over the next four years, the Class of 2019 will take advantage of unique academic, leadership, and cultural opportunities within a close-knit cohort of fellow scholars. In addition to full funding for tuition, a living stipend, and a book stipend, the program includes enrichment experiences such as study abroad, community service, and alumni connections and support.

Administered by the Texas Exes, the Forty Acres Scholars Program is now in its fifth year and the inaugural class of scholars will graduate this month.

Urbis is the recipient of the Madison Charitable Foundation Forty Acres Scholarship. While attending Los Fresnos High School, she founded a mentorship program called Ojo A Ojo: Envisioning Your Future, and was the founder and president of the RGV Lead campus chapter. She has portaged and paddled more than 100 miles through the waters of the Northern Minnesota and Canadian boundary and has worked as a page in the U.S. Senate, where she met a strong Longhorn contingent at the Capitol.

At UT, she will double major in business honors and Plan II honors.

Her brother, Scott, was named a Forty Acres Scholar in 2013. Audrey and Scott are the first siblings selected to the program since its inception in 2011.