Senior Jabari Ajao was awarded the prestigious Gates Millennium Scholarship, which is a “good-through-graduation scholarship that can be used to pursue a degree in any undergraduate major at the accredited college or university of his or her choice.”

The Gates Millennium Scholarship is funded through a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which was established in 1999 to “provide outstanding low income African American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian Pacific Islander American, and Hispanic American students with an opportunity to complete an undergraduate college education in any discipline they choose.”

The scholarship is open to low-income minority students who have a cumulative GPA of 3.3 or higher, have demonstrated leadership abilities and meet Federal Pell Grant eligibility criteria.

Along with covering unmet financial need, the Gates Millennium Scholarship is renewable for students who maintain academic progress and helps to fund graduate school for scholars who are pursuing degrees in computer science, education, engineering, library science, mathematics, public health or science.

Jabari was one of the 1,000 nationally-awarded scholars to be selected out of the applicant pool.

Jabari said, “I absolutely dislike to brag, but this scholarship is a gift from God. I have a scholarship from Bill Gates that literally gives me whatever I need.”

English teacher, Mrs. Maggie Walls, served as both the nominator and the reccommender in Jabari’s application process and evaluated his academic record and his athletic and extracurricular involvement, which she said was easy to do since she taught Jabari his sophomore year for Gifted English as well as his senior year for AP Literature.

Of Mrs. Walls, Jabari said, “I want Mrs. Maggie Walls to get a raise. This amazing woman wrote sixteen essays about me in less than three days.”

He plans to attend Colgate University, a private liberal arts college, in Hamilton, New York, and major in either English or Sociology and minor in Film and Media Studies.