By CHAIMAE EL- ADLOUNI
Colby-Sawyer Progressive Scholarship is a grant that offers full tuition to students that have leadership traits to Colby-Sawyer College. The scholarship is aimed towards low income students that have the potential to be successful while attending college.
Numerous urbanized schools are partnered with the Colby-Sawyer College for this scholarship and 20 qualified applicants are accepted. The school focuses on the student’s individuality and their talent. The progressive scholarship specifically looks for leadership qualities and academic intensity. The student must attain a 3.0 to a 4.0 G.P.A during high school to be qualified, and must also be involved in their community or other activities. Senior Kelly Brito was given the scholarship and is now is one step closer to reaching her goals.
Brito applied to many colleges. She had been amazed that she was considered for the scholarship. Brito addressed that she has received words of guidance from her teachers as well as other influential individuals in her life. Diverse students from schools are given the opportunity and only a small sum of individuals were selected. Brito explained that the interview was the most nerve-wracking, especially because it was so short and she had felt nervous that it had not gone well, but “apparently [it] did.” Brito is still astonished and “it [does not] seem real.” She describes the feeling of being accepted by the Colby Sawyer Scholarship as a “bittersweet victory.” Colby-Sawyer’s aim is to add diversity within the student body, and see what other students may bring to the school.
Brito plans to major in psychology, and “focus on children, especially [children] that face traumas or illnesses.” Brito expressed her tour on campus as beautiful through the view she had seen. Although it was a cold and rainy day, Brito described the campus as “warm and friendly,” thanks to the professors and students that guided her through the college. Brito “[was] amazed [at] how peaceful it was there.” The campus, she claims, was a “little heaven on earth.” Brito wishes to carry on “[Malden High School’s] love for diversity and culture,” and to grow as much as she can as a person and student, similar to the way she did at MHS. She also added that she will not forget the lessons she has learned at the school, which lead to the “best four years of [her] life.”
Brito is a down to earth person and cares for others. She not only juggles work and school, but she is constantly involved in her community and her school, a perfect scholar for Colby-Sawyer. She has worked at the YWCA for two years, and she is now raising awareness for causes in the community that many people have been tackling. Brito has contributed immensely to her school work and her help to the community. She hopes that people will continue the work “[she] left behind,” such as the child mentoring program (L.M.C), and to inspire underclassmen to “believe in themselves and never give up.”
