2014 Robert D. & Margaret A. Wark Memorial Scholarship Recipient

Biography: Nikita Zalevskiy is a senior majoring in Business Economics with minor in Mathematics. He is originally from Kaliningrad, a small Russian exclave in the Eastern Europe. He immigrated with his family into United States in 2007 when he was 13 years old. Majority of his time in the United States he spend living in San Diego. Upon graduating high school, Nikita attended 3 community colleges before transferring to UCLA as a junior within one year. Nikita actively speaks and advocates on behalf of transfer students on campus. He is part of senior leadership in the Economics’ department undergraduate professional society Economics Roundtable. Nikita previously interned in a technology consulting firm Agile Systems, Inc. and The Walt Disney Company. In his spare time, Nikita enjoys reading, watching movies and following politics.

Future Plans: Upon graduation in 2015, Nikita is planning to start off his career as financial analyst most likely with The Walt Disney Company. After working for couple years, he intends to pursue MBA in order to pivot his career into strategic consulting. Long-term, Nikita hopes to be working in Corporate Strategy and Business Development in the technology or entertainment fields. One day in future, Nikita would like to develop his own company in those desired fields.

What does the scholarship mean to me?: I am enormously grateful for generosity of Wark family and recognition of my achievements by the Economics department. The pursuit of college education was not always in my reach. During the recession my family had to burn through majority of savings to keep our construction business alive. In order to secure some financial stability, I always held one or two part time jobs since junior year of my high school while pursuing education full time. This scholarship will allow me to devote more focus on pursuing my dreams instead of worrying about my finances. It will also help to reduce my debt burden that I accumulated while pursuing higher education. This incredible generosity inspires me to help others to pursue their dreams.