"I know firsthand what it's like to be a young person with a dream to break convention and change an industry," Lil Nas X says in a press release announcing this year's class of "Live M's Scholars."
The cultural icon is the chief impact officer for the Taco Bell Foundation, which awarded $8 million in scholarships to 772 students, aged 16-26, who submitted a two-minute video describing their passion, a positive change they want to make in the world, and how their education will help them achieve that goal.
The students, who were chosen from a pool of 8,000 applicants, include nearly 200 fans of the brand, 150 Taco Bell Restaurant team members, and 430 renewal winners (both fans and team members who applied to renew a Live M's Scholarship they received in the past).
This year's scholars will also have the opportunity to attend the Live M's Scholarship Summer of Creativity, an in-person conference in San Diego.
"We are so excited to welcome a new, ambitious class of scholars," Jennifer Bradbury, the Taco Bell Foundation's executive director, says in the press release.
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When Hannah Davis  traveled to China to teach English, she noticed how Chinese workers and farmers were often sporting olive green army-style shoes. Those shoes served as her inspiration to create her own social enterprise, Bangs Shoes.