By Florida Catholic staff - Florida Catholic
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
Carmelite Sister Margaret Ann, principal of Archbishop Coleman Carroll High School, poses with senior Michelle Rios, the school's second recipient of a Gates Millennium Scholarship.
MIAMI | Selected from among 53,000 applicants, Michelle Rios just became one of only 1,000 Gates Millennium Scholars for 2016 — and the second Archbishop Coleman Carroll High senior to receive one.
She will receive a full college scholarship, and possible graduate school funding if she pursues post-graduate degrees in computer science, education, engineering, library science, mathematics, public health or science.
Archbishop Carroll’s first Millennium Scholar was a member of the class of 2014. Another archdiocesan high school, Archbishop Curley-Notre Dame in Miami, also has had two Gates Millennium Scholarship recipients, in 2012 and 2008.
The Gates Millennium Scholars Program is funded by a $1 billion grant from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Its aim is to identify “potential leaders, especially those drawn from groups that have traditionally and historically been denied access to higher education,” and give them the means to complete college.
Michelle was very excited to hear the news of her award and said, "The rigor of my classes at ACC helped prepare me for the rigor of the application process and of college."
The application alone required eight essays. Michelle said that she could not have done it without the consistent writing drills provided by her AP English teacher, Lauren Castaneda.
But Michelle is no stranger to academic awards. She is the class of 2016 valedictorian, as well as an AP Scholar. During her senior year alone she served as president of Rho Kappa Honors Society; vice president of Sociedad Honararia; secretary of Mu Alpha Theta Honors Society; and historian of the National English Honors Society. She plans to attend Florida International University.
