HARLINGEN — Full ride, yes.
Easy ride? Not a chance. Nor would these three seniors want one, not after all their work the past few years.
Norman Torres Jr., who just graduated from Harlingen High School, will soon begin studies at the University of Texas at Austin on a Terry Scholarship.
So will Lucas Rivas and Rodolfo Montero, graduates of the Harlingen High School South class of 2017.
“I feel really fortunate because I was going to go out completely on student loans for college and then I got the scholarship,” said Rodolfo, 17, the son of Rodolfo and Roxana Montero.
Rodolfo, who immigrated from Puerto Rico at age 9, is planning to study engineering at Texas State University in San Marcos this fall.
He had planned to borrow thousands of dollars in loans, but then he was awarded a Terry Scholarship. The Terry Foundation is the largest private scholarship provider in Texas. It’s purpose is to give outstanding high school graduates the chance for a quality education at 13 Texas public universities.
Winning a Terry Scholarship is no easy matter, as Lucas, Norman and Rodolfo will tell you. They filled out the applications and wrote numerous essays which were used in the selection process. If they made the cut, they had to travel to Austin for what at first appeared to be an intimidating interview.
“At first it was nerve-wracking,” said Lucas Rivas, 18. “But as soon as I sat down in that room and realized that nobody’s against me, everybody’s trying just to get to know me and see who I am as a person, it was fairly easy.”
Lucas, who plans to study medicine at the University of Texas San Antonio, appreciated the chance to tell his story. And a story did he have to tell.
Lucas, 18, immigrated from Asuncion, Paraguay, when he was 5 years old. But his story began the moment he was born.
“It started off as me being a premature baby, highly at risk of getting diseases that would leave me handicapped,” said Lucas, now a stocky, handsome young man who is the picture of health. As a premature baby, he was even predisposed to cystic fibrosis. Didn’t happen.
“I turned out to be pretty well,” he said with a quick smile.
“I had my share of challenges,” he continued. “I went from having a language barrier to deal with, overweight issues to being predisposed to diabetes. I found a way to escape all that and focus on my academics.”
Overweight issues took care of themselves.
“Ever since I got into middle school I realized I really loved sports, whether it be watching or playing,” Lucas said. “I only played tennis in school but when I was out of school I would play anything. Not for the school. It was more of a recreational thing.”
Lucas and Rodolfo both had their language barriers to deal with, and more. Those barriers turned out to be advantages as they applied for the Terry Scholarship.
“What really helped me out was that I was born in Puerto Rico,” Rodolfo said. “I didn’t really know a lot of English when I moved here. So they asked me about that.”
The entirety of the questions showed that the judges wanted, simply, to know about him.
“They wanted to know what kind of person I was,” he recalled. “They asked a lot of personal questions, too, just to see my reactions, I guess. They asked about my parents’ income and stuff, and they asked about my plans for the future.”
His years at Harlingen High School South helped prepare him for that future, as well as his parents.
“My dad was an engineer so I was already headed towards that,” he said. “I was always pretty good at math, and I like science and physics, so it kind of came natural. And then at South I took as many AP classes as I could, and that really helped me out a lot.”
Lucas believes the essays he wrote for the Terry Scholarship showed his leadership potential. And that helped convince the judges.
“In each essay I showed I was really involved in all of the activities that I would participate in,” he said.
“Most of them were leadership topics, but I strongly believe that a leader is someone that gets involved as well, not so much giving orders but someone that goes in there and gets with their team.”
In other words, it’s not just barking out orders, but knowing how to follow them.
The Terry Foundation is the largest private scholarship provider in the state of Texas. It was founded to help outstanding high school graduates and transfer students help themselves through access to quality education at 13 Texas public universities.
REQUIREMENTS:
– Academic achievement: Through grades and ACT/SAT score
– Financial Need: Evidenced by filling out the FAFSA.
– Citizenship and Residency
– High School graduate
– College Admission
– On-Campus Residency: Applicant must commit to on campus residency for first year of school
– Terry School Nomination: Applicants must be nominated by one of the thirteen Terry-affiliated Texas public universities.
From terryfoundation.org
