Scholars Participate in Foundation’s CREW Teens Program
The East Lake Foundation is proud to announce that two young scholars who participate in the Foundation’s CREW (Creating Responsible, Educated, Working) Teens program have been named Gates Millennium Scholars.
Divine Butts and Bulmaro Espericueta, both seniors at Maynard H. Jackson High School in Atlanta, are among the 1,000 Gates Millennium Scholars honored across the nation and the 14 winners attending Atlanta Public Schools. The awards provide “good-through-graduation” scholarships which allow students to pursue an undergraduate degree at the college or university of their choice. The award also covers post-graduate studies in the disciplines of Computer Science, Education, Engineering, Library Science, Mathematics, Public Health or Science. Divine will attend Syracuse University while Bulmaro will attend DePauw University.
The CREW Teens program is available to graduates of Charles R. Drew Charter School and East Lake youth who attend local high schools. The program is an after-school academic support program that has helped more than 400 East Lake teens complete high school and prepare for higher education and careers.
Divine, a CREW Teen member for just over a year, said, “being part of this group allowed me to expand my knowledge in what scholarships were available. As a result, when I entered my senior year, I was already prepared with a list of scholarships to pursue.” Bulmaro, who joined CREW Teens in 2009, said the program “helped me visit different colleges, explore unique career fields and keep myself focused in high school.
Established in 1999, the UNCF Gates Millennium Scholars Program is funded by a $1.6 billion grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and is removing barriers to higher education for more than 20,000 high-performing, low-income students.
About the East Lake Foundation
Founded in 1995 on the belief that everyone deserves a chance to succeed, the East Lake Foundation (www.eastlakefoundation.org) collaborates with public and private organizations to provide tools that enable Atlanta’s East Lake residents to build a better future through mixed-income housing, education and community wellness. This approach to building a strong community not only helps break the cycle of poverty, but creates a place where people of all ages and incomes choose to live. East Lake has become a model for holistic community revitalization programs across the country.
