"Pedro Zamora’s life showed that speaking truth to power is activism at its most authentic. His legacy inspires me to continue advocating for Black youth, transforming the school-to-prison pipeline into a pipeline to opportunity through my work in juvenile justice." – Aneesah Lawrence, 2025 Awardee

‍_{‍What is the Pedro Zamora Young Leaders Scholarship?}

Dedicated to continuing Pedro Zamora’s legacy, the Pedro Zamora Young Leaders Scholarship is a $5,000 award that supports the (undergraduate) academic pursuits of young activists (who study or reside in the U.S.) working in their communities who carry Pedro’s torch forward in the fight against injustice. This scholarship is not exclusive to HIV/AIDS work and activism.  If your work is change-making in other areas of health or social justice, apply now!

The scholarship is open to current or incoming undergraduate students (ages 27 and younger) enrolled in a U.S. community college or four-year university. Since 2009, more than $825,000 has been provided in financial support to 204 scholars through the generous support from Gilead Sciences and other partners.

These young activists share the National AIDS Memorial's bold vision: never again will a community be harmed because of fear, silence, discrimination, stigma, or hate. These $5,000 scholarships support those who are working toward and committed to making a difference in the fight against HIV/AIDS and/or advancing health equity and social justice. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Public health and health justice
• HIV/AIDS research, prevention, treatment, access, and activism
• Reproductive health activism
• Serving in peer education, prevention, and community resource programs
• Racial justice
• Immigrant rights
• LGBTQ+ equality and rights
• Environmental justice
• Drug policy and drug sentencing reform
• Employment and economic justice issues
• Housing and homelessness
• Technology innovation that supports justice work
• Gun violence

The Pedro Zamora Young Leaders Scholarship strives for equity across all lines. From increasing outreach to HBCUs, HSIs, and LGBTQ+ student communities, we strive to ensure that young activists from all walks of life have the opportunity to carry Pedro’s torch forward and advance equity in their communities, and beyond.

Interested scholars can apply directly through our online application portal. You can also learn more through these resources: Program Fact Sheet, Application Requirements, Frequently Asked Questions, and this video about the scholarship.

Please note that although ChatGPT and similar AI programs are valuable tools, they cannot replace a human voice - they cannot tell your story like you can! Your unique talents, goals, values, and personality are what we are most interested in. Our application platform uses an AI & tool designed to identify plagiarism and AI use in application essay responses. Provide as much of your own voice as possible, and while we won’t remove applications for AI usage, we will note AI usage percentages in our final decisions for awards.

_{‍Who was Pedro Zamora?}

When Pedro Zamora began his journey on The Real World San Francisco in 1994, he had already been an active HIV/AIDS advocate and educator. At the age of 17, Pedro learned that he was living with HIV and dedicated his life to raising awareness and educating his peers on what they needed to avoid infection.

At the age of 22, Zamora captivated the nation with his openness, compassion, vitality, and charisma when he appeared on MTV’s The Real World 3: San Francisco in 1994. Pedro spoke openly about his sexuality, status, and activism. Pedro’s work was tragically cut short when he died of an AIDS-related illness in 1994, the morning after the final episode of The Real World aired. Learn more about Pedro's story.

_{‍More about the Pedro Zamora Young Leaders Scholarship:}

_{Available to Scholarship Recipients: AIDS Memorial Quilt Campus Display Program}

For all recipients of the Pedro Zamora Young Leaders Scholarship, the National AIDS Memorial offers a free and optional AIDS Memorial Quilt Campus Display Program. The AIDS Memorial Quilt is already being displayed on various college campuses, including those attended by Pedro Zamora Scholarship recipients and other targeted campuses (e.g., HBCUs and HSIs). Through the creation of our 'Quilt Campus Display Turnkey Package', students can easily request to have a block of the Quilt (includes six Quilt panels) delivered and set up at their campus. Through this program, we intend to ensure that the AIDS Memorial Quilt reaches more institutions of higher learning each year around the country. These campus Quilt displays will increase our Scholarship recipients' connections to our programs while raising awareness of the history of HIV/AIDS, and the AIDS Movement, among other young students.

_{Congratulations to our 2025 - 2026 Awardees!}

Our 2025-2026 recipients address health and social justice issues through a variety of avenues. From large public universities to HBCUs and HSIs, our scholars are pursuing degrees across the United States. Coming from many different walks of life, each of their unique life experiences have shaped their purposes and ambitions to make a difference. Meet Our 2025-2026 Scholars.‍
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_{See our scholars in action - watch the below powerful conversation with Dr. Anthony Fauci!}

For World AIDS Day 2021, some of our Pedro scholars were able to participate in a conversation about their work as future scientists, policy makers, activists, health and social justice advocates can make a difference for the next generation. The scholars were asked a series of questions by Dr. Anthony Fauci, gaining insights from young people about solutions to many issues we face today.