Congratulations are in order for Woodville Tompkins Technical and Career High School senior Chance McKinnie. He has been named one of just 300 Gates Millennium Scholars selected from among 37,000 students who applied. As a recipient of this prestigious honor, Chance will receive:
- Support for the cost of education by covering unmet need and self-help aid.
- Renewable awards for Gates Millennium Scholars maintaining satisfactory academic progress.
- Graduate school funding for continuing Gates Millennium Scholars in the areas of computer science, education, engineering, library science, mathematics, public health or science.
- Leadership development programs with distinctive personal, academic and professional growth opportunities.
The Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS) Program, is funded by a $1.6 billion grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It 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. Each year it enables 5,000 students to attend and graduate from 800 of the most selective private and public schools in the country, including Ivy League colleges, flagship state universities, UNCF member institutions and other minority-serving institutions.
The GMS program provides recipients with leadership development opportunities, mentoring, academic and social support as well as financial support. The program is known for its recipients' high graduation rates – a six-year rate of more than 87 percent (28 percent higher than the national graduation rates for all students and comparable to the rate for students from high-income families).
