Hotelier Rosen awards scholarships to a trio of future Rollins students

Three high school seniors from low-income Orange County neighborhoods have been awarded scholarships to attend Rollins College from Orlando hotelier Harris Rosen.

Tylyiah Andrews and Donayja Gates, who will graduate from Jones High later this month, and Samijah Butler, who will receive her diploma from Dr. Phillips High, are the first recipients of the scholarship.

Rosen said in November he’d award scholarships to three students from the Parramore and Tangelo Park neighborhoods each year starting this fall to attend Rollins College, a private liberal-arts school in Winter Park.

The scholarships will cover tuition, room and board — valued at more than $60,000 annually — after federal, state and college financial aid options are exhausted.

All three of this year’s recipients are involved in a variety of sports and other activities on their school campuses, according to Rollins.

Andrews is captain of the softball team and a varsity volleyball player. She recently received the Boys & Girls Club Youth of the Year award from her local club and plans to study computer science at Rollins. Gates is in the medical magnet program at Jones and hopes to pursue a career in cognitive behavioral therapy. She’s also a member of the National Honor Society and a pitcher on the softball team. Butler plays on the varsity basketball team and the flag football team at Dr. Phillips. She piano and drums.

Rosen has provided college scholarships and education programs to students in struggling neighborhoods for years. Students from Parramore and Tangelo Park were already eligible for full scholarships from Rosen, at public universities, colleges and trade schools.

He started the Tangelo Park program, which also includes preschool, parenting programs and mentoring, in 1994. Since then, high school graduation rates in Tangelo Park have increased from 55 percent to nearly 100 percent, and more than 280 young adults have graduated from college, according to the Harris Rosen Foundation. also plays the