Palm Springs High School student receives ‘Gates Scholarship’ to attend USC
Stephany Herrera, a Palm Springs High School student, is going to attend USC this fall after receiving the prestigious "Gates Scholarship" from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Herrera was one of 300 recipients of among nearly 35,000 students across the country who were nominated for the scholarship.
Herrera's parents immigrated from Oaxaca, Mexico and she will be the first person in her family to attend college. The scholarship will cover most of her expenses, except for other financial help she also qualified for.
"I was very emotional because everything would be covered so my parents or I no longer had to pay anything. I was very happy that all my efforts finally became reality," Herrera said.
It's a reality that she say that came together thanks to support and motivation from her family.
"I felt a lot of frustration that I wouldn't be able to succeed, that I wasn't enough, sometimes But, eventually my parents were very supportive and there were a lot of teachers that believed in me and I also wanted to help my parents out and that's what kept me motivated," Herrera said.
Herrera advises all students to seek out support and resources, and to believe in themselves and apply to as many opportunities as they can.
Herrera is set to graduate as the the salutatorian for her class with a 4.7 GPA. She will be studying business administration and political science at USC.
