Three local students get Gates full-ride scholarships

Three seniors at Lake Roosevelt High School have been selected as Gates Millennium Scholars, the district announced recently.

Selected were Kendall Piccolo, Johnny Medina-McCraigie and Charli Knight.

That makes a total of 13 Gates Scholars selected from LRHS since the program began in 1999.

The three new “scholars” willl receive at least four years free tuition and fees at their universities of choice, with the possibility of continuing through a doctorate degree.

School counselor Sue Hayes stated that the trio were outstanding students and had carefully planned out their futures.

The Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS) Program selects 1,000 talented students each year to receive a good-through-graduation scholarship to use at any college or university of choice.

“We provide GMS with personal and professional development through our leadership programs along with academic support throughout their college career,” material from the Gates program stated.

The GMS program is more than a scholarship, but an opportunity for students to change their lives, it was further stated.

The 1,000 scholarships annually are given to outstanding minority students with significant financial needs.

Including the three from LRHS, 13 were selected from Washington state this year.

The school board was advised that all three recipients had selected the universities that they will attend.

Kendall Piccolo will attend Dartmouth where he will study engineering. Medina-McCraigie is visiting colleges but is leaning toward the University of Hawaii where she will study computer science and film. Her goal is to create visual history for the Colville Tribes. And Charli Knight will attend the University of Washington where she will be in a pre-law and social work program.

Piccolo carries a 3.8 grade point average and has participated in basketball, baseball and cross country as an athlete, and is a member of the National Honor Society. He is also a member of the Native American Club and has taken the most advanced classes available during his LRHS time, and attended the College Horizons summer program.

Each described a lengthy application process that includes the writing of eight essays. “You have to realize what you want,” said Medina-McCraigie, who has a 3.9 grade point average, played basketball, and is a member of the National Honor Society. She is a three-year science student and currently is taking physics and is in the leadership class.

Knight has a 3.7 gpa, has participated in cross country and track, and has been active in the Upward Bound summer program. As a senior project, Knight organized a community fund-raiser walk that last weekend raised money for a domestic violence shelter in Omak

“These are highly talented and successful students,” Hayes told the board last week.