As Greeley West High School seniors start to prepare for departure and finalize college plans, big scholarships are starting to be awarded. Three of West’s seniors, Zavin Ontiveros, Ermiyas Tesfaslassie, and Juan Ramirez Saenz, all were just awarded the Dell Scholarship on March 18th, which is a $20,000 scholarship that covers textbooks and awards them a free laptop.
These three boys all came to find it in very different ways. “For me, I really wanted to win, and I felt passionate about it because it was a lot of money, and being able to have that paid is a really big blessing to literally anyone,” senior Ermiyas Tesfaselassie stated.
Bouncing off of what Tesfaselassie said, Ramirez-Saenz said, “Yeah, for me, it wasn’t that big of a deal. I applied because I was told by most of my advisers and teachers that I really should apply, so I did and somehow ended up here.”
All of them worked super hard to win, even if they weren’t confident that they’d get it. “I remember, I was up late just watching YouTube and decided I needed to check my email since I hadn’t in a while, and something about the scholarship popped up, and so I checked it not thinking anything of it, and boom, I see that I won,” Ontiveros said.
He went on to say, “I was so shocked, I never thought I would be the person to win, but it was a great feeling knowing that I did because it’s a huge financial boost.
They all believe truly that if it wasn’t for the support they have gotten from teachers and mentors like English/AVID teacher Ms.Elizabeth Dent, math/AVID teacher Mr. Jeremi Redman, West alumn Mariana Ortiz, and counselor Ms. Hannah Rivera, they wouldn’t have gotten as far as they did.
Tesfaselassie added, “And I would also like to thank myself for pushing myself so hard and being able to achieve something so great as this.”
