Woodrow Wilson High School. Photo by Renee Umsted.
The Exchange Club of East Dallas awarded renewable scholarships to six Woodrow Wilson High School seniors this year.
Five students are receiving $5,000 scholarships, and one is receiving the $7,500 Brad Bradley Scholarship, named for the legendary photographer and longtime active member of the exchange club.
Each of these scholarships is renewable up to four years, and each student is paired with an exchange club member to mentor them throughout college.
The exchange club, a volunteer organization dedicated to serving public schools in East Dallas, typically receives between six and eight applications for the annual scholarships and awards three or four. This year, 21 students applied.
Exchange club member Marc Miller attributed this increase in applications to the counselors at Woodrow, along with the programs the school has implemented to help provide students the resources they need to go to college.
The scholarship selection process is holistic, considering financial need, career goals, college plans, recommendation letters and more. Some of the students are the first in their family to attend college or even the first in their family to graduate high school.
Trinity Hill is receiving the Brad Bradley Scholarship, and the students receiving $5,000 scholarships are Rivers Simpson, Nicolas Vara, Lizeth Manzano, Maria Juliana Diaz-Gil and Daisy Camarillo Jiminez.
Hill was a co-captain on the mock trial team and plans to attend Howard University. Simpson wants to pursue nursing at Texas Tech University and was in the IB film program at Woodrow. Camarillo Jiminez, who moved to the United States with her family from Mexico, is the first in her family to attend college. So is Manzano. Diaz-Gil taught herself English and started a small business when she was 16. Vara, who taught himself how to use a 3D printer, wants to study mechanical engineering.
Successful fundraising efforts contributed to the increase in scholarships available to students this year. The exchange club raises funds through three primary events: an annual gala, the Dallas Junior Golf Championship and Woodrow Fest.
This year, sportscaster Joe Buck is the honoree at the gala, scheduled for July 1 at Lakewood Country Club. Send an email to one of the contacts listed below the flyer here to purchase tickets.
Events like these help the exchange club check off items on local schools’ wish lists. This year, the club is donating audio/video equipment to be installed in the auditorium at Cesar Chavez Elementary.
They are also helping create a “makers space” at Lipscomb Elementary, which Miller said will be a “computer lab on steroids,” complete with video, audio and other equipment needed for students to develop digital communication skills.
And at Bayles Elementary, the exchange club is beautifying the courtyard and turning it into a more functional space.
Last year, a donation from the exchange club allowed Mount Auburn S.T.E.A.M. Academy to purchase terrariums, science experiment kits, supplies for growing indoor vegetable gardens, microscopes and other tools for The Musers Science Lab.
