Arlington School & Family Magazine May/June 2016 | Page 15

Sam Houston
High School

TCU SCHOLARS EMBRACE OPPORTUNITY
By Vyveca Wiley, Editor-in-Chief

Many tears were shed in the Little Theater from
students and staff as five Sam Houston High School
seniors were awarded the TCU Community Scholars
scholarship on March 22.
David Aguwa, Sonia Graciano, Elizabeth Hennington,
Brittany Horn and Cameron Law were granted
$250,000 each to cover four years of undergraduate
studies at TCU – giving the group a grand total of
$1.25 million in scholarship money.
“I want to congratulate the students who got this
prestigious award,” Arlington ISD Superintendent Dr.
Marcelo Cavazos said. “It’s an opportunity for them to
change their entire life. Thank you to the Community
Scholars program for providing this great opportunity.
“We know that education is the key to everyone’s
success. I’m very proud of all the students who have
earned this great scholarship.”
Students entered the theater to clapping and loud
cheers from their peers and teachers, and the tears
began to flow.
Before walking in, the students didn’t know if they
had earned the scholarship, and they had just been in
the school social worker’s office to be told not to be
discouraged if they didn’t receive the scholarship.
“They said things happen for better or worse,” Law
said. “They weren’t saying no or yes, but it sounded
like a no to us.
They made it seem
as if we didn’t get
it. They played us
pretty good. We’re
just really glad it
didn’t turn out that
way in the end.”

Now he exhaled.
“Right now, I’m just feeling relieved,” said Law, who
will major in economics.
The TCU Community Scholars application process
is daunting with nine parts, including completing
the TCU Freshman Application and essay, the TCU
Community Scholars application and essay, an
activities resume, official SAT or ACT scores, teacher
and counselor evaluations and finally an interview.
Each student had different push factors that made them
apply for the scholarship.
“I knew that this was a great opportunity, and I wanted
to do it big being the first to achieve higher education
in my family,” said Graciano, who plans to major in
psychology. “What’s bigger than TCU? I didn’t fill out
any other scholarships while waiting. I was trying to be
confident and put all my eggs in one basket.”
Though the students have until May 1 to commit to
TCU, most signed that day.
Aguwa plans to major in computer engineering,
Hennington in biology and Horn in pre-med.

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