A San Bernardino student is using a prestigious scholarship to pave her way to a nursing career.
Jacquelyn Figueroa became the first student at San Bernardino’s San Gorgonio High School to win a Gates Scholarship.
Now, she’s enrolled in La Sierra University’s pre-health nursing program, knowing that the award will cover the bulk of her costs toward a bachelor’s degree.
When she got the email on her phone saying “Congrats, you’re a Gates Scholar,” Figueroa said she “was completely shocked,” a La Sierra news release states.
After the two-year program, the Highland resident hopes to transfer to Loma Linda University’s nursing school to finish her degree, according to the release.
Figueroa is the only Gates Scholarship recipient at La Sierra, a private, Seventh-day Adventist school in western Riverside.
“This is a highly selective scholarship and represents the tenacity, determination, service-minded character and abilities of its recipients,” La Sierra University President Christon Arthur said in the release.
The Gates Scholarship, launched in 2017, is funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It goes to outstanding students of color who are high school seniors in low-income households. Thousands apply each year, but only 750 are chosen.
“When I was informed that Jacquelyn had been awarded the Gates Scholarship I was both proud and pleased that one of these scholarships had been awarded to someone so deserving,” said Mike Adams, who coordinates the Advancement Via Individual Determination program at San Gorgonio High.
