Gwinnett schools finalist for major prize

The student grants

An independent review committee of admissions and financial aid professionals from Gwinnett County and Orange County-area colleges and universities chooses the winners. The committee looks for students who demonstrate financial need for the scholarship and have improved their grades in high school. Most students receive $20,000 scholarships over four years.

Students who receive scholarships must reapply each year to keep their scholarship. The students must maintain at least a 2.5 grade point average. About 20 to 30 percent of recipients lose their scholarship each year, Broad officials said. Students can reapply, though.

Letter from Shelley McDonald,

a Broad scholarship winner attending Mercer University

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Broad and the Broad Foundation,

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for believing in me, for taking a chance on me and supporting my education. I have said it time and time again— I am so blessed and grateful for your impact on my life. I want you to know exactly what your blessing has meant to me and I can tell you, it has meant all the world. Without the Broad scholarship, I would have never had the chance to pursue my dreams at Mercer University in Macon, Ga. Mercer is my home away from home and I have grown immensely into a person that I hope you would be proud of. Mercer has also given me the opportunity to fulfill my life’s passion— serving others.

Camp Twin Lakes is an organization that provides places and paths for children with serious illness and life challenges to experience the joys of childhood and grow in their confidence and capabilities. CTL campers constantly comment on how powerful it is to feel normal, to be one of the group, and not to stand out because of their various illnesses or challenges. One of the campers when asked what makes her happy responded, “I make me happy.” Camp taught her to love herself and find joy in who she is. In the glow of the campfire, you could see how tall she truly was. Camp taught all of them to stand tall and proud in the face of their challenges. Camp taught them to believe in themselves. Camp taught them to find their own self-worth— to know that they are a promise of possibility. Camp taught them to be. To be strong. To be sturdy on their own two feet. To be calm and self-assured. Camp gave, gives and will give them peace for years to come. From these experiences, I have decided to give myself away to these brave children. I hope to serve these children through teaching them, encouraging them and advocating for them. Each summer in Rutledge, Georgia, I have the honor of working with some of the funniest, most inspiring and beautiful spirits. These deserving children that face so many different life challenges inspire me and teach me about this crazy, beautiful life. Each summer, I fight for my invincible summer, for those brave children.

I have spent plenty of time thinking about where I will be in a few years and what career path I will take. I know I want to work with and for children. I could do anything: speech pathology, become a child life specialist or a special educator. At this point, I am pretty positive I will go to graduate school and possibly pursue my doctorate. The truth is, I do not know—I do, however, exactly what I want from this life. I know I want normal things; a good education, a comfy bed, a job I enjoy, a husband who makes me laugh, no real financial issues and a group of good friends. I want to do and be many things in the next few years. I want to be a wife, a mother, a friend, a sister, a daughter, a health guru, a teacher, a role model, a mentor, and most of all an inspiration just the children I work with at summer camp. What I believe sets me far apart is that I want to give myself away to others. I want to not only be an advocate for children in some way, but also a mentor and motivator. I want to inspire my students and infuse into them a passion for others. There are two fundamentally important days in my life: the day I was born and the day I discovered why. I want to challenge the world to become the best version of itself.

Warmest Regards,

Shelley

Today, the Gwinnett County school district will learn if it has won what has been dubbed the Oscar for urban school systems.

The Broad Foundation Prize for Urban Education comes with bragging rights for the winning district, but more importantly, $750,000 in scholarships for high school seniors.

The prize is given to a large district in the nation that shows impressive strides in closing the achievement gap among low-income students. Gwinnett won the prize in 2010.

Gwinnett’s lone opponent is the Orange County district in Florida. The district that does not win will still receive $250,000 in college scholarships.

What impact do those scholarships have on students’ lives? The Atlanta Journal-Constitution looked at some of the 51 Gwinnett students who received scholarships after the 2010-11 school year to see how they’ve progressed.

Celene Cervin

Celene Cervin was unsure how she was going to pay for college. She came from a low-income household, and her parents had two other daughters to support.

Cervin received a Broad Scholarship and another scholarship the same week during her senior year at Duluth High School. She became the first member of her family to attend college when she walked onto the University of Georgia campus in 2011. Without those scholarships, UGA would not have been a reality.

Cervin, 21, is a senior majoring in early childhood education and wants to become a teacher.

She initially focused on other majors with higher-earning potential, but Cervin became passionate about her current career path after taking some education classes.

“I was doing everything for all of the wrong reasons,” she said of other majors.

The Mexican-American student wants to be a role model for younger Hispanic students. She’s involved in a program that allows Hispanic students considering UGA to shadow Hispanic students attending the university. Cervin also mentors and tutors other students.

“I’m happy where I am right now,” Cervin said.

Shelley McDaniel

For each of the past four years, Shelley McDaniel has written a letter to the Broad Foundation thanking it for awarding her a scholarship.

McDaniel, 21, is a senior at Mercer University, majoring in special education and early education. Mercer provided a full-tuition scholarship to McDaniel. The Broad Foundation scholarship, $20,000 over four years, helped pay for her room and board. She said she has a 4.0 grade point average.

The Dacula High graduate initially planned to study Latin, saying “I had a passion for that, but I didn’t have the heart.”

McDaniel’s heart is for working with children, especially those with special needs. McDaniel said she works each summer with children in Camp Twin Lakes, which provides programs for children with disabilities and serious illnesses. The camp, she said in a letter to the foundation, has helped her find her purpose.

“I have grown immensely into a person that I hope you would be proud of,” she wrote.

Darshan Patel

In the joy of others lies our own.

Darshan Patel tries to live by that quote. The Brookwood High School graduate volunteered in high school. Patel, 21, now a Georgia Tech senior, continued in that spirit once he arrived on the Atlanta campus. He’s the chief executive officer of the Georgia Tech Student Foundation, which awards money for worthy student projects.

Patel understands the importance of helping others. He said his parents didn’t have enough money for him to pay for college. The $20,000 scholarship changed that.

Patel is studying industrial and systems engineering with a concentration in economics and financial systems. He’s had internships at ExxonMobil, Gatorade and other companies. Patel, who said he has a 3.6 grade point average, is interested in working in strategy or management consulting before going to graduate school.

The Broad scholarship, Patel said, helped him focus on his studies and other passions, such as philanthropy.

“It’s meant the world to me,” he said.

Star Reese

Star Reese is writing a book titled “How To Fail College.”

Not the kind of title one would expect from a college scholarship recipient.

Reese, 21, earned a Broad scholarship in 2011 upon graduating from Norcross High. She went to Valdosta State University where she said the professors were great, but her grades were not and she was put on academic probation.

Reese lost her scholarship after three semesters and left Valdosta State. But Reese cautions hers is not a story of failure. Reese plans to start classes at Georgia Perimeter College in October. She wants to study psychology and possibly become a counselor — particularly for young women.

Her book will highlight some of her troubles and pitfalls she’s seen in other students, such as poor attendance and not participating in extracurricular activities.

“I want the book to help people not make the same mistakes I did or my peers did,” Reese said.

Reese is also an aspiring singer. She said her first music project drew 20,000 hits on her website. Her music is a blend of jazz and pop. She believes psychology makes her a better songwriter.

Reese concedes she wishes she still had the scholarship, but said there is little time to lament losing it. She’s writing a new chapter.