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If you thought high school was a time to
skip classes and goof off, see how one student's scholastic diligence
landed her a major college scholarship!
Student Scores Big
By Rochelle DelGaizo Billera
June 2001
The CollegeBound Network NewsClick --
As a bright high school student with a 3.85 GPA, you'd assume the
natural course of progression for Twanna Watson would be college.
However, Twanna and her family were concerned with how much a college
education would cost -- and how they would pay for it.
"Financially, I wouldn't have been able
to afford it," says Twanna. "It would have placed a great
burden on my parents, and my mom was really stressed about it."
Then one day, an amazing thing happened to
Twanna. A recruiter from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM)
contacted her, and told her about the Sullivan/Spaights Scholarship,
a $32,000 award named after Dr. Leon Sullivan, an accomplished and
decorated world-class leader who was instrumental in the freeing
of Nelson Mandela, and Dr. Ernest Spaights, the first Sullivan Principles
professor.
With her list of academic achievements and
a strong will to succeed, the only thing left for Twanna to do was
to write an essay explaining why she felt the scholarship would
benefit her. She talked about her family's financial situation and
her strong desire to pursue a career in psychiatry. Shortly thereafter,
Twanna received a call from Dr. Stanley Battle, assistant chancellor
of students in multicultural affairs at UWM, and head of the Distinguished
Sullivan/Spaights Professorship and Scholarship program. He later
visited Twanna at her home, and informed her that she had won the
scholarship.
"I was so excited and filled with joy,"
Twanna remembers, "I started crying."
Twanna received a full four-year scholarship,
inclusive of tuition, room and board, and books. This scholarship
takes the focus off of money, and puts it on studying -- where it
belongs, says Battle. Not only does Twanna receive enough money
to cover UWM's costs, but she can even bank any unused funds. Best
of all, she doesn't have to get a job.
There is one catch to keeping the scholarship,
warns Battle. "Twanna has to maintain a 3.0 GPA." But
with her track record, he adds, that's not likely to be a problem.
In fact, boasts Battle, "she's way ahead of that!"
Twana's remarkable grades and the deserved
awards being given to her for them, are reflective of her hard work
and dedication, which began in high school. Twanna pushed herself
to prepare for college in the hopes that she would be eligible for,
at least, a partial scholarship. She never expected to receive this
tremendous financial reward. When it came her way, Twanna says,
"I knew then that all of my hard work had paid off."
So far, Twanna has achieved a 3.93 GPA her
first semester in the program. And though the psychology student
realizes her classes will get harder as she goes along, she says,
"nothing will come between me and my [education]."
"I have complete confidence [that] I
will see it through, and one day realize my dream to become a psychiatrist,"
concludes a determined Twanna.
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