Cathedral High School’s Gates Millennium Scholars.
Twelve students from Cathedral High School in El Paso, Texas have been named 2015 Gates Millennium Scholars by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This is the highest number of honorees in a single year from the school in the 16-year history of its participation in the program.
The CHS seniors were selected from a pool of over 54,000 national applicants who demonstrated high academic achievement, exceptional leadership qualities, and financial need. They now join the 31 previous Gates Scholars who are Cathedral High School graduates.
Each year, the Gates Foundation selects 1,000 students nationwide to receive scholarships to the college or university of their choice. A GMS Scholarship provides recipients with unmet costs of education, renewable awards for maintaining academic standards, graduate school funding within key subject areas, and access to leadership development programs.
Asked as to what he attributes this tradition of achievement, school president Brother Nick Gonzalez, FSC said, “Ultimately, I believe that we’re “cashing checks” written by the amazing Brothers and Lasallians who shaped generations before us. Chief Justice Barajas ’71, the architect of our Writing Symposium, attributes his success to Coach Portillo pulling him aside one day and telling him that he should stop clowning around because he was smart. Many of us credit the legendary Brother Amedy Long. The story is always the same – an influential and caring adult intervened and changed a life.”
Brother Nick continued, “All of us involved with this are paying back what we were given in full measure when we were here. All the young men involved in this process, whether they ultimately won the scholarship or not, understand that they must intervene to alter the trajectory of the lives of those around them. This is what it means to be a man of faith.”
The Gates Millennium Scholars program was established in 1999 to recognize and support outstanding minority high school seniors across the United States. According to the Gates Foundation, the program seeks to “develop a diversified cadre of future leaders for America by facilitating successful completion of bachelors, masters, and doctorate degrees.”
Read the Cathedral High School news release.
Read about the Gates Millennium Scholars Program.
