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Four GRPS Students Receive Gates Scholarship

Posted on 19. Jan, 2011 by Patrick Revere in Academics, High Schools, News

Storee Harris has possessed surprising ambitions from an early age.

Having grown up watching her mother Elaine struggle with rheumatoid arthritis, it’s been a lifelong goal to become a research scientist and help provide answers for some of life’s most difficult questions.

In the fall, Storee will continue her quest by studying biology at Howard University in Washington D.C.

“I always had that high ambition,” Storee said. “When I told people what I wanted to do, they would say ‘Wow, that’s a unique perspective for a six year old.’”

Though Storee had already qualified for a full scholarship through Howard University, her notions for success received a recent boost. She has been named, along with three other minority students in Grand Rapids Public Schools, a winner of the prestigious Gates Millennium Scholarship.

Creston High School

Two of the other Grand Rapids recipients — Darratu Ali and Saul Valle – are Storee’s Creston High School classmates.

“They’re both attending University of Michigan for pre-med,” Storee said.

Maya Frazier, a counselor at Creston, was largely responsible for the students being considered.

“She told us we had to apply for this scholarship,” Storee said. “She checked back in with us to make sure we were getting things done. She had quite a bit to do with all of this.”

Each student put in at least two dozen hours preparing for scholarship consideration; an application that calls for a 17 page resume as well as eight personal essays.

Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and managed through the United Negro College Fund, the scholarship promises tuition, books and living expenses for a thousand high school seniors nationwide.

“It is a very competitive process,” Gates Millennium Scholars Program Spokeswoman Mary Williams said. “The scholarship pays for a full education in any discipline at an accredited institution for five years, and for graduate work in any of seven disciplines.

“It is a highly sought-after scholarship,” she said.

The seven areas a Gates scholar can study for masters or doctoral work are computer sciences, education, engineering, library sciences, mathematics, public health and physical sciences.

At Union High School, Emilio Alvarez became the building’s first-ever recipient of the Gates Millennium Scholarship.

The 18-year-old senior, adopted by his brother and sister-in-law following the death of his mother, said the primary motivation throughout his studies has been to make his family proud and provide inspiration for his nephews, who he thinks of as brothers.

“I just do the work, simple as that,” Emilio said of his formula. “I try to focus on what college is going to be like, and gear everything I do, everything I turn in, to be at that level.”

Again, a school counselor, Ms. Aliya Armstrong, played a vital part in turning a promising student into one who can more acutely pursue his passion. Emilio, with interests in performance and media arts, had intended to study at Grand Rapids Community College and Grand Valley State University. Now, with the financial boost, he’s turned his attention to UCLA in Westwood, Calif. and Full Sail University in Orlando, Fla.

“It just seemed like something that was over the top, out my league,” Emilio said of his receiving the award. “But then Mrs. Armstrong called me and a few other kids into her office and starting working with us on the application process and refining what we felt was appropriate.”

Ms. Armstrong said Alvarez’s key attributes are his unyielding attentiveness and his willingness to try new things, both of which serve him well in advance placement and upper level courses.

“He was the only male in our choir his sophomore year,” Ms. Armstrong said. “He continues in the choir today. He also is in A.P. English, studying hard for his A.P. English exam, and currently has a physics class as well.”

Grand Rapids’ four Gates scholars were among 20,500 students who applied for the award., all of whom were required to have at least a 3.7 cumulative grade point average.

Creston Principal Ronald Gorman said the scholarship will have a profound impact on the lives of the recipients, and that the ripple effect is evident throughout his school.

“For many students, they may have thought it to be almost impossible to receive this scholarship,” Gorman said. “Now that Creston has been told that not only did we have one winner, but three winners, I think that a lot of other students see that it is very likely, if you put yourself in the proper position, you can accomplish this.”

Photographs by Lizzie Photo – All Rights Reserved.

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Tags: creston high, gates, millennium, scholarship, union high