One of the top students at Los Fresnos High School has won college expenses a 2016 Gates Millennium Scholarship, meaning her undergraduate, and potentially graduate-school expenses will be paid.
One of the top students at Los Fresnos High School has won college expenses a 2016 Gates Millennium Scholarship, meaning her undergraduate, and potentially graduate-school expenses will be paid.
Jocelyn Sosa-Ramirez, one of the top 10 students in her graduating class, received notification that she is one of 1,000 students nationwide chosen to receive the Gates Millennium Scholarship this year, the last year the GMS will be awarded.
The GMS will pay all of Sosa-Ramirez’s undergraduate expenses as well as covering graduate studies in mathematics, the sciences, public health and other fields. She plans to attend the University of Texas at Austin to major in mathematics in the College of Natural Sciences and continue her studies through graduate school.
“The Gates will cover post-graduate studies in several areas and math is one of them,” Sosa-Ramirez said. “It’s great that I have that option and I definitely plan to take advantage of it.”
Each year, the GMS selects top minority students in the U.S. to receive good-through-graduation scholarships. The GMS supports of the cost of education by covering unmet financial need and providing self-help aid.
Sosa-Ramirez said that prior to receiving notice of the award she was worried about where she was going to get the money to pay for college.
“Now a huge weight is lifted off my shoulders. I can focus on other things and enjoy my senior year,” she said.
Sosa-Ramirez said the hardest part of applying for the GMS was writing the eight required essays.
“It took me awhile to know what I wanted to say in each of the essays and figure out how to make all of them be united and cohesive,” she said.
