News Staff Reporter
Three Choate students, Steven Washington ’06, Mike Morrill ’06, and Margaret “Peggy” Ekong ’06, have been offered generous scholarships for college next year. Peggy is the first Choate student to become a Gates Millennium Scholar, Washington won a $25,000 scholarship to WPI, and Morrill became a Morehead Scholar and will attend UNC.
In the past three years, Choate students have won two Jefferson and two Morehead scholarships. This year no Choate student was a Jefferson winner.
The students who win scholarships benefit greatly from the pecuniary bonus, but they also benefit from the honor and recognition a scholarship brings.
“What I think is wonderful about these kinds of scholarships is it’s not only a monetary award, but it’s also a value added award in terms of the experience at a school, in terms of the kinds of things these schools will allow them to do and will introduce them to because they are the holders of these scholarships,” commented Mrs. Terri Burditt, Interim Director of College Counseling.
The Gates Scholarship that Peggy won can be used at any school and can potentially follow her to a PhD program if she chooses to do that. It covers loans, any unmet fees, transportation, and books, and is similar to the Icahn Scholarship Program Peggy is currently part of at Choate.
“I think the main part about why I’m excited is that it’s allowed me to go to the school of my choice. Without it, it would definitely not have been possible. I worked hard on it so it’s a nice little way to seal my four off years here,” stated Peggy happily. She will attend NYU (Stern School of Business) in the fall. “All I care about is I’m able to go to my number one school. They don’t have a 100% financial aid so I was balancing between taking out $60 Grand in loans or going to a different school.”
Mike Morrill, who will attend the University of North Carolina next fall, accepted the four-year, fully funded Morehead Scholarship. “It’s one of the most prestigious scholarships offered anywhere in the United States. It’s a fabulous opportunity for him,” explained Ms. Burditt. According to her, winning the scholarship meant that Morrill is one of the top 45 academicians in the country.
To win her scholarship, Peggy wrote a lengthy application, which contained about eight personal essays, many of which were on leadership. In one of her essays Peggy wrote about learning to cook complex Nigerian dishes with her family and related it to how she learns everything else. She said that she learned just by watching and practicing.
Every year, the Gates Foundation selects 1000 scholars nationwide. They meet each other at a weekend gathering during the summer on each coast with workshops in leadership and study skills. Sometimes Bill Gates even makes a personal appearance at the conferences.
“They do say it’s very competitive, I guess, I don’t know. Like I said, I just gave it my best shot, wrote some essays and the way I saw it was if they like it they do if they don’t it’s not going to make me feel sad or anything. I wasn’t expecting it, so when I got it, it was a very pleasant surprise,” Peggy continued modestly. “I don’t even know how many people have applied from Choate. I just don’t think it’s that big of a deal.”
Steven Washington accepted the Thurgood/Chavez/Means Scholarship at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Each year, gifted students of color pursuing science or engineering are chosen as the recipients of this prize.
“I got the mailing, I was like YES! I was pretty happy about winning the scholarship. It’s really helpful,” Washington recounted enthusiastically. The scholarship was merit based and was given to him at $25,000.
“Education’s gotten unbelievably expensive; anything that helps kids and families is great. These are tags that sort of stay with you for the rest of your life. They’re pretty amazing things,” Ms. Burditt concluded.
Students who win smaller Merit Scholarships sometimes turn them down because they wish to attend different universities. However, when offered opportunities like Ekong, Washington, and Morrill, students can rarely say no.
