The American Institute of CPAs announced the 84 accounting students that were awarded the AICPA Scholarship for Minority Accounting Students. Hailing from around the country, the 2012-13 academic year recipients were selected for their academic and leadership capabilities.

The original 286 eligible applicants were both undergraduate and graduate-level accounting students that maintained a minimum 3.3 grade point average and planned on pursuing a CPA license.

“To me, the value of the AICPA’s minority scholarship doesn’t lie solely in meeting a student’s financial needs, but in the many intangibles which outshine any other scholarship I’ve received,” said one recipient, Ronald Dukes, from Villanova University, in a statement.  “This scholarship has provided me with inspiration and passion to impact a positive change in the accounting profession and to set an example for my peers to follow.”

The state of Texas boasted the most minority scholarship recipients with 10, while Florida had seven, and New York and North Carolina both had six.

Designated awards were given to the following students:

Stuart Kessler Scholarship Recipient

Nicholas Denice, Roger Williams University

New Jersey Society of CPAs

Chris Arthur, Rutgers University

Sarah Connell, University of Pittsburgh

Robert Half International

Ronald Dukes, Villanova University

Accounting Education Foundation of the Texas Society of CPAs

Stephanie Aranda, Southern Methodist University      

Julio Benavides, Trinity University

Adlith Castillo, University of Houston

Raheem Farishta, Texas A&M University

Melissa Hernandez, University of Houston

Kevin Kibaara, Texas Southern University

Andrew Quintana, University of Texas at Austin

Shahzad Ramzan, University of Texas at Dallas

Mohammad Raza, University of Texas at Dallas

The complete list of 2012-13 AICPA Minority Scholarship winners is available at aicpa.org/minorityscholarship.

The application deadline for 2013-14 is April 1, 2013.