CMSP student Diego Quintanar-Peña is awarded prestigious scholarship from the Morehead-Cain Foundation

Diego Quintanar-Peña (Diego) will graduate this spring from Highland School in Warrenton, Virginia, where he is a Hamilton-Rust Scholar and serves as a prefect. Diego is an avid violinist, taking lessons through the Community Music School of the Piedmont, and performs with the Piedmont Symphony Orchestra and in concerts and recitals around northern Virginia. He is also passionate about the dramatic and visual arts and plays on his school’s tennis team. Last summer and fall, Diego canvassed in preparation for the 2024 election cycle, believing in the importance of local politics and strong communities. He plans to study policy and continue developing his musicianship at Carolina. Diego is the son of Nayeli Peña of Nokesville, Virginia. 

The Morehead-Cain Foundation is pleased to announce the members of its class of 2029, who will begin their undergraduate journeys at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC–Chapel Hill) in the fall of 2025. 

The seventy-five scholars represent twenty-two North Carolina counties and nineteen U.S. states and territories (including North Carolina). They are from six countries and were nominated by schools in eight countries (including the United States). Their academic interests range from biology and political science to literature, languages, and the arts.