5.15.12
Gates Millenium Scholar from New York Will Attend SEU

By Southeastern University

Each year, about 1,000 students are given the incredible gift of a free college education through the Gates Millenium Scholars program started by Bill and Melinda Gates.

The scholarships cover the full cost of any college expenses through graduate school, meaning the final award can easily top $100,000 and potentially go much higher. And there are no restrictions on the college or university that a student can attend, except that it be accredited and in the United States.

For Barbarah Reynolds, a senior at Latham Christian Academy in upper New York, her Gates Millenium Scholarship will bring her all the way to Southeastern University. Reynolds, originally from Haiti, was adopted by Frank Reynolds and Susan Narkewicz of Hoosick Falls, New York, six years ago and plans to study international business.

"I was shocked when I found out, but then I started jumping up and down and celebrating with my family," Reynolds told her hometown paper, the Times Union in Albany, New York. "It's an answer to my prayers. I'll go wherever God wants to send me. This award is proof that he's here with me and showing me what he wants me to accomplish in life."

She said she hopes to one day help to create micro-businesses in poorer nations so that people can sustain themselves economically.

Reynolds said that SEU was the only school to which she applied, and she wasn't sure whether she would have been able to attend without the Gates scholarship.

To read more about Reynolds, including her time growing up in Haiti and her recent trips back, read the Times Union's compete story by clicking here.

(Note: Photo courtesy of the Times Union.)