Miami Lakes Educational Center's Krisna Maddy was recognized as one of 1,000 recipients of the Gates Millennium Scholarship, a national scholarship organization funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The scholarship covers unmet need and self-help aid for the cost of education, applicable to any college or university and is renewable maintaining the student meets satisfactory academic progress. The scholarship can also be applied to graduate school in the areas of computer science, education, engineering, library science, mathematics, public health or science.
Maddy now joins the prestigious rank of the Gates Millennium Scholars Program which not only funds post-secondary education but also provides leadership development programs with distinctive growth opportunities. The program also offers scholars Academic Empowerment (ACE) services to encourage academic excellence, mentoring services, and online resources that provide additional scholarship, fellowship and internship opportunities.
Maddy first received the news of her win from her parents. After arriving in Miami in the late hours of the night following a visit to the University of Chicago, Maddy discussed the different academic opportunities that lay before her with her parents.
“That's when my mom said I wouldn't have to worry about those endless opportunities because I got the Gates scholarship,” said Maddy. “Then came the screams of excitement and tears to know I was selected.”
The National Achievement Program Scholarship, the Foresters Merit Scholarship and a scholarship from the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce were all also awarded to Maddy for her academic and leadership achievements.
“I cried, I screamed, I was overjoyed. I'm a Gates Millennium Scholar going to an Ivy League University,” said Maddy. “Today, women and minorities are not offered the same opportunities and I've reached a point in my life where I can say I pushed past the border of my limitations.”
Maddy is currently the Student Advisor to the Miami-Dade County Public School's School Board, a peer-elected position, and has previously participated in SECME (Science, Engineering, Communications, Mathematics, Enrichment) Club, Key Club, National Honor Society, and the school's newspaper The Harbinger. She is also the school's Editor-in-Chief for the yearbook.
As Student Advisor, Maddy is the singular student representative for the fourth largest school district in the nation.
“I can't be too grown up because my peers won't see me as their equal, yet there is necessary responsibility and reform that comes with gaining the respect of adults,” said Maddy in a manner far beyond her years. “I've grown as a leader, unearthing the confidence needed to be a single representative voice for almost 400,000 students.”
With a hefty 6.2 weighted grade-point-average, Maddy, like her classmate and fellow Gates Millennium Scholar, Flavia Cuervo, is Ivy League school-bound in pursuit of a biochemistry degree. The senior was accepted into University of Florida, Duke University, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania and Georgetown University. She plans on attending the University of Pennsylvania.
Medical school is in the not-so-distant future for Maddy who intends to apply knowledge gained in her biochemistry studies to have a greater understanding of the natural world. Much like her anticipated studies, Maddy's academic history in a nurturing school environment has been essential in building her innate abilities.
“I don't go a day without high-fiving my principal, Mr. James Parker, and that is truly encouraging,” said Maddy.
The greatest springboard for Maddy's success, however, she attributes to her parents.
“I struggle knowing that the life my mother and father built for me has been easier than their own, being that they're immigrants,” said Maddy. “As I reflect on the choices I'll face when I enter adulthood, I see my parents in me. I'll work fervently so the lives of my children will be easier than my own. I've vowed that I too will become a pillar of fearlessness, and grace.”