Two Seniors selected as Dorrance Scholars

Valerie Burgess, A&E Editor|May 18, 2016

Students across the state of Arizona along with others across the nation vie for means to afford higher education. Local community scholarships, such as the Dorrance Scholarship, can provide much needed financial support for students who may not have the opportunity to attend college otherwise.

The Dorrance Scholarship program provides high achieving first generation students to have an opportunity to win a renewable twelve thousand dollar scholarship to cover costs for any instate public university along with support for  In 1999, Bennett and Jacquie Dorrance began the scholarship to which initially was given to only 10 students, but today as many as 30 are rewarded.

Of the nearly 1,500 people whom applied, two of the scholars are Perry seniors.

 

In the school’s history, there has been one scholar selected from the school annually for each graduating class with the exception of one year. The two scholars from the class of 2016 are Oneida Hudson and Aaron Padilla Reyes.

To even be eligible to apply, students must have an overall 3.0 GPA and be active in the community. Eligible students send in two letters of recommendations and transcript to be progress towards becoming a semi-finalist or finalist.

The multifaceted application process is described by recipient Hudson as “first, you send in your application by a certain time… and you become a semi-finalist. [You] had to write an essay and then after that you are a finalist.”

Once selected as a finalist, a time is set for an interview in front of panel of judges to further specify the candidates which will ultimately receive the scholarship which was awarded to 27 students this year.

Hudson will continue her education at the University of Arizona with limited financial burden “Right now, I am going to be studying neuroscience and cognitive science and I am going to med school to become a PA which is a physician’s assistant, and I want to working in the psychiatric realm.”

The second scholar, Padilla Reyes, will be furthering his academic career with a focus in finances at Arizona State University. He is grateful for the unique opportunities the program provides including the mutual focus on academics and volunteering.

“I applied obviously for the financial need, but then also I did a lot of community service that I wanted to translate to college. It would allow me to do both.”
These seniors are a part of a group of first generation students able to pursue higher education without a financial burden. Together, they join other Perry graduates who have benefited from the program in the past years.