Imagine a full four year education at a college level university completely paid for. For most, it is only a far off dream. For MHS senior Jake Evans, it is reality.
Winning the Gates Millennium Scholarship to pay for all four years at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology was not easy for Evans. To apply for the scholarship, Evans said he turned in a transcript and “eight, one thousand word essays about leadership, adversity and why I want to enter my chosen field.”
Evans has decided to major in biomedical engineering, hoping to one day become a neurologist. The scholarship will pay for all of Evan’s college tuition and fees until he begins his doctorate.
Evans emphasized how completive the Gate Millennium scholarship is. He said “only about a thousand people in this country win a year and a lot of people apply.”
He could pick any college to go to for free, but Evans chose Rose-Hulman because it means something special to him.
Evans states that his older sister attends the school and the he knows the “she will always be there to help and support” him.
Secondly, Evans chose Rose-Hulman because of the academics there. “It is the number one undergraduate engineering program in the country,” Evans said.
Rose- Hulman has always been Evans’ dream school, but because of the yearly tuition of $60,000, Evans did not know if he could afford to attend. Now that he has won the scholarship, he said that “all of the pressure has been lifted off my shoulders.”
Along with the Gate Millennium scholarship, Evans also won the Horatio-Alger scholarship, awarding him with 22,000 and a free laptop as a college resource.
For Evans, winning such a prominent scholarship is a dream come true. “This is the lottery of all scholarships in the U.S.,” said Evans, and he is grateful to be one of the lucky few to receive it.
Evans is proud of all of his accomplishments and states that “it feels amazing to know that I have accomplished so many things in my life and all the hard work has paid off in the end.”