"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 school costs of young activists and non-profit changemakers who work in their communities, and who carry Pedro’s torch forward in the struggles for social and health justice. This scholarship is not exclusive to HIV/AIDS work and activism. If you are urgently working on progressive 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.
The National AIDS Memorial recognizes that some of the most powerful movements for change have historically been driven by young people like Pedro, and young people like those who are awarded these scholarships. Our vision of a time when never again will a community be harmed because of fear, silence, discrimination, stigma, or hate will be realized only when we unleash the creative force of young people working to make a better world.
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 with a sense of urgency. 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
Reducing gun violence
Environmental justice
Drug policy and drug sentencing reform
Employment and economic justice issues
Housing and homelessness
Technology innovation that supports justice work
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.
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.
Pedro Zamora was a young, openly gay, Cuban immigrant with HIV who worked as an educator and activist at a time when all of those identities were stigmatized. When Pedro Zamora began his journey on MTV's The Real World 3: San Francisco in 1994, he had already spent three years as a health educator, public speaker, and activist. At the age of 17, he learned that he was living with HIV and dedicated his life to raising awareness, combatting stigma, and giving thousand of young people the tools they needed to stay healthy. In his public speaking, he reached thousands more - teachers, school counselors, nurses, social workers - shifting their understanding of the education and support needed by the young people they served.
In the early 1990s, AIDS had become the leading cause of death amoung young American men, and most Americans still had no idea. Pedro was bold and relentless in getting his message out to as many young people (and those who had power over their lives) as he could. His candid, at times transgressive testimony before Congress, confronted the nation's leaders on the reality of intersectional identities, and the need for culturally competent health education for youth.
At the age of 22, Zamora captivated the nation with his openness, compassion, vitality, and charisma when he appeared on The Real World 3: San Francisco. Pedro shared his day-to-day life and story with his roommates and with millions of viewers across the country. For most, he was the first person with AIDS whom they had ever "met," and he had an immeasurable impact on the fear and misperceptions that fuled stigma and fed the epidemic. 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.
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.
Pedro has more than 20 panels made in his honor as part of the AIDS Memorial Quilt. Search his name and others HERE.
