Imperial Valley boasts nine Gates Millennium Scholars

Nine high school graduates from four different Imperial Valley schools have received full-ride scholarships to, essentially, the universities of their choice.

The students have been awarded certificates for the Gates Millennium Scholars award for the “opportunity to complete a college undergrad education in any discipline area they choose,” according to the GMS toll-free line. The scholarship, which is the largest minority scholarship program in the United States, amounts to $250,000 per student.

This large award from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is seen as a blessing by some of the recent high school grads.

“For these past few years, my family and I were very worried about my university (expenses),” Rafael Jimenez, one of the five Calexico High School Gates Millennium scholars, said.

“My father is a humble man who works as a (migrant) field trucker and my mother is unemployed due to her health,” he said. “My parents were terrified of the debts that they would obtain so that their only son could attend college.”

Jimenez plans to attend University of California, Berkeley, to pursue a doctorate degree in architecture.

His Calexico High class of 2010 classmate and salutatorian, Carlos Sotelo, was also very thankful for the honor.

Winning this scholarship “is an astronomical weight lifted off my burdened shoulders,” he said. “It marks the beginning of a new part of my life.”

Sotelo, like Jimenez, said he plans to return to Calexico after college to give back to “the community which has given so much to me,” he said. Sotelo will be attending the University of California, Los Angeles, in the fall for electrical engineering.

Calexico has had Gates Millennium scholars in the past, but for other schools, this prestige is a whole new experience.

“I think I helped open the door for many people (in Calipatria) because I don’t think many people thought they could do it,” Ariel Lopez, Calipatria High School’s sole Gates Millennium scholar — the first in school history — and former student body president, said.

“I didn’t even want to finish the application because it was so long,” she said, noting the process took about four days to complete amid her schoolwork. “Everyone kept at me to finish it and, honestly, I finished it about an hour before deadline.”

Lopez, who is now happy that her parents and friends pressured her to finish the application, plans to attend University of California, Davis, to major in sociology.

“I know (this scholarship) will help me until I get my degree in law,” she said. “If I choose to do something different I know I’ll be able to do it and (because of this scholarship) I’ll have the option to be able to change what I’m doing.

“It doesn’t matter where I go as long as I’m happy with what I’m doing,” she said.

GATES MILLENNIUM SCHOLARS 2010

Calexico High School - Christian Cazares, Angel Hernandez, Rafael Jimenez, Luis Marinez, Carlos Sotelo

Calipatria High School - Ariel Lopez

Central Union High School - Erica León, Jackie Escalante

Imperial High School - Belen Fimbres