Smith Scholars Aim to Cut Through Disinformation, Improve Education for All
May 30, 2025
- Author
- Mary Elizabeth DeAngelis
Besides having last names that begin with an “M”, Grace McGuire and Steve Mirabello have a few things in common.
They’re both members of Davidson College’s class of 2025 and graduated in May. Both grew up in the Washington, D.C., area and have a deep interest in public policy. They are both fraternal twins. And they spent their college years as academically stellar campus leaders who earned the admiration and affection of their peers and professors.
In fall, both will head to the United Kingdom as Smith Scholars.
Davidson’s W. Thomas Smith Scholarship honors graduating seniors for outstanding academic achievement, leadership, character and community service. It models scholarships such as the Rhodes and Fulbright and pays for a year of graduate study abroad.
McGuire and Mirabello meet all those requirements, as you’ll find out when you read their stories:
Smart, Funny and Tech Savvy: Grace McGuire ’25 Awarded Smith Scholarship
Grace McGuire ’25 plans to create digital content that cuts through the growing problems of disinformation and polarization. Those are among the many reasons the art history and digital studies major has been named a 2025 W. Thomas Smith Scholar. She’s Davidson College’s first Smith Scholar who will study for a Master of Philosophy degree in the Digital Humanities program at the University of Cambridge, one of the leading programs in the world. Learn more.
At Davidson College Steve Mirabello ’25 immersed himself into learning about education, from tutoring elementary school students to researching in other countries, to analyzing public policy. He has been awarded the college’s W. Thomas Smith Scholarship, which will pay for him to pursue a Master of Science degree at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Learn more.
The Smith Scholarship competition is administered through the Office of Fellowships. For more information about the Office of Fellowships or applying for the Smith Scholarship, visit davidson.edu/fellowships.
