Alexis Tibbits, senior, recently received the Gates Millennium Scholarship. Tibbits was one out of 53 thousand students to apply and was one out of one thousand to receive the award, which pays for any extra expenses Tibbits may have through her Doctorate at any college in the United States.

“I found out about it through AVID, Ms. Granado mentioned it to me my sophomore year and then Mrs. Morgan reminded me of it this year to apply for it,” Tibbits, said.

To qualify for the scholarship students must be part of a minority race, have  a cumulative GPA of a 3.3, community service, along with several other requirements.

“I’ve been volunteering at Stormont- Vail for the past two years and I’ve also done little random things. I volunteered at the special olympics or the Kansas Book Festival and Harvesters,” Tibbits, said. “I volunteer once a week and I sometimes do other projects.”

Next year Tibbits will be attending the University of Kansas to double major in Human Biology and Spanish. She is looking into pre-medical studies to one day become a Doctor.

“I’ve had a lot of teachers encourage me to take higher level classes even when I could have gotten an A in an easier class I still got a B in that class because they told me I should push myself, “Tibbits, said. “And also my parents have definitely always been on me about my academics.”

Tibbits said that the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) class was where she learned about the scholarship. This year they went over a lot of financial aid and scholarship information with the students.

“AVID has definitely helped me, I don’t know if I would have gotten the scholarship if I hadn’t have had Mrs. Morgan help me and AVID is all about preparing you for college with the skills you learn,” Tibbits said.