Alberto Ortiz ($10,000)

This summer, Ortiz took a monthlong intro-toeducation course at Tennessee-Chattanooga as part of the state’s Governor’s Schools program, an initiative for motivated students who are nominated by their faculty.

He was starting his senior thesis for Blackman High School on the effects of poverty on education and what teachers can do to help when he heard about the Rose Scholars program on the news.

“My family has a history of poverty,” Ortiz said. “When I was writing my essay, it all kind of fell together. My essay placed a lot of impetus on the struggle and how I could grow up to use this opportunity and help change the world in the future.”

Ortiz detailed how his father started working at 14 before joining the Marines, how his mother, who had him as a teenager, worked to put herself through college.

“They both had to overcome all these obstacles,” Ortiz said. “And they gave me a better life. I learned you have to be thankful for what you have. And understand that your parents are just doing the best they can for you.”

When the Ortiz family took the call informing them that Alberto’s long-shot dream of winning the scholarship came true, Jenny said one of Rose’s representatives talked about meeting expectations in school to uphold the integrity of the award.

“He has talked a lot about what an honor it is to be able to say he’s one of the first three Rose Scholars,” Jenny Ortiz said. “He’s like, ‘I’m not going to let them down. I’m going to make an impact with this.’ This has renewed his motivation to go to college and make something out of it. It’s been cool to watch.

“He knows everyone’s cards aren’t dealt the same. And so you have to work with what you’re given and move forward. It’s made him into the young man that he is.”

Rose made clear that thought went into having just three winners.

“A lot of people look at it where it’s like, ‘Man, it’s only a certain amount of kids who’s getting it.’ I’m like, ‘What?’ There’s a competitive side to education too,” Rose said. “You get kids who get mad when they get B’s. Why shouldn’t the kid who’s getting all A’s get an extra look? They bust their butt just like a sports player.”

Alberto wants to study media marketing or business at Middle Tennessee State, where he has been accepted. He already has designs on graduate school as well.

With wind in his sails from the Rose Scholars program, his future accomplishments seem limitless.