Yuma graduates named Dorrance Scholars
Three students from Yuma have been awarded scholarships worth an estimated $100,000 each.
Yuma High Class of 2018 graduate Miguel Alcala, who will attend Arizona State University in the fall, was one of two recipients from the home of the Criminals. Jessica Gonzalez, who plans to attend Northern Arizona University, was the second. Gila Ridge’s Kailee Bunte, also planning to attend NAU, was the third recipient.
The Dorrance Scholarship offers $12,000 per year for a total of eight semesters of full-time, undergraduate study and is maintained based on academic standing, program participation and volunteerism. The total educational and programmatic value of each scholarship is estimated at more than $100,000. Graduates must meet precise eligibility requirements that include: first generation to attend college; demonstrated financial need; meeting minimum GPA and test scores; admission to ASU, NAU or UA; and proven leadership and volunteer service.
The program granted 36 awards this year to graduates of 31 Arizona high schools. This year, 22 Dorrance Scholars graduated from one of those Arizona schools, including two from Yuma County: former Cibola High student Paul Acosta and Antelope Union’s Israel Jimenez. Both attended the University of Arizona.
“It is a cliché that college transforms students, but this truism is especially accurate regarding firstgeneration college students, like the Dorrance Scholars,” says Executive Director James Hensley. “Through its mentoring and enrichment programs, the Dorrance Scholarship aims to complement the undergraduate experience and foster transformation, introducing students to innovative people and ideas, foreign places, natural beauty and great works of art.”
The comprehensive nature of the program goes beyond simply funding a college education, the foundation said in a news release. Through small, on-campus cohorts of students, their peers, faculty and Dorrance program staff, the foundation offers benefits that include cultural enrichment, community outreach, tutoring and mentoring, internship opportunities, and international study and travel. Dorrance deems such experiences as essential to competitive postgraduate study and employment, and effective community connection and personal development.
An astonishing 98 percent of students who complete the Dorrance program graduate, compared with 11 percent of first-generation, lowincome students nationally. Four of five students complete the program.
The Dorrance Merit Scholarship was established by Jacquie and Bennet Dorrance at the Arizona Community Foundation in 1999 with just 10 awards. What is now the Dorrance Scholarship Programs at the Dorrance Foundation for Education has awarded more than 500 scholarships, representing an investment of more than $40 million by the Dorrances.
The application for next school year will go live on Oct. 1 at dorrancescholarship.org/applicants/. The deadline is Feb. 6, 2019, for Arizona high school seniors.