Gates scholarship recipient among H. Frank Carey HS grads
Ericka Cruz, a recent graduate of H. Frank Carey High School and recipient of the Gates Millennium scholarship applaud her fellow students on stage. (June 26, 2011) Credit: Frank Posillico
When Ericka Cruz spent two weeks filling out the 23-page Gates Millennium Scholars application in January, she never thought that months later she would be one of only 1,000 students nationwide to receive one of the country’s most coveted scholarships.
Cruz, 17, the first in her family to go to college, will attend Boston University in the fall, where she plans on majoring in political science and international studies. She eventually wants to go to law school.
She is one of 325 students who graduated from H. Frank Carey High School Sunday and the first of its students to get this scholarship. The scholarship is funded by a $1.6 billion grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
“My reaction immediately was, I kinda had a little heart attack because I realized that only 1,000 students out of 24,000 applicants get it nationwide,” Cruz said.
Unlike the average college student, Cruz, who just came back from her orientation at Boston, was not talking about the campus or her plans for college life. What excited her was the prospect of going on service trips to Kuwait.
“I’m taking Arabic,” she said. “I want to travel to work for non-governmental organizations there.”
Cruz’s parents are as happy as parents of a high school graduate can be. The scholarship is just icing on the cake for them.
“She was definitely working so hard, the achievements and everything that she had today was because she put a lot of effort in it,” said Cruz’s father, Hugo Cruz.
He has one word to describe all his daughter’s accomplishments.
“Dedication,” he said. “There was a lot of dedication on her part. I guess it worked out, it paid off in the end.”
And according to Cruz’s principal Valerie Angelillo, dedication is what made Cruz stand out among the other students.
“I think I’m going to bring her back she is such a good fundraiser,” Angelillo said. “She was truly a remarkable young woman, three-sport athlete, in the top 20 of the class.”
Some of Cruz’s charity work for the school includes raising $2,000 for Heifer International, which provides livestock to impoverished countries.
“I always tell my daughter, ‘Ericka, don’t give up, you're going to do it, you're going to make it and you're going to get it,’” Glenda Cruz said. “And the day when we opened that envelope we were like, ‘Oh my God! Got got it! You did it.’”
“I definitely think I will miss high school,” Cruz said. “I got to try everything and I discovered my passion. It gave me the groundwork and the foundation for what I want to pursue in my future.”
