Gateway to Academic Success

Allison Wallace, a senior at McCluer High School, joined 1,000 other minority students this past month in accepting the prestigious Gates Millennium Scholarship. She is the fifth student from McCluer to receive the scholarship since 2005.

Initially funded by a $1 billion grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 1999, the scholarship is meant to provide an opportunity for outstanding minority students in need of significant financial aid to pursue their dreams and attend college.

The scholarship covers cost of education for school and renews each year with satisfactory progress. In addition, the award provides graduate assistance in certain fields.

“This scholarship represents opportunity,” Wallace said after hearing she had received the scholarship. “I was nervous about school, and I had no support from my mother. My love for education and passion for learning are all that I have going for me.”

Wallace was challenged not just in the classroom but also in life.

Her mother kicked her out of the house at the age of 14. She took refuge from the streets with her great-grandmother Ruby Mack.

The respite was short-lived, however, as doctors diagnosed Mack with cancer.

Chemotherapy took its toll on her, and Wallace was thrust into the role of primary caregiver for her ailing great-grandmother. To top it off, her identity was stolen at the beginning of her senior year, putting further hardship and stress as she tried to decide where her life was going after high school.

“At that point, I didn’t even know I wanted to go to college anymore,” Wallace said. “There was just so much going on in my life, I couldn’t focus on my future.”

Her plight was not lost on teachers at McCluer High School. Victoria Ferris was Wallace’s Spanish teacher, and Emily Buckhannon taught freshman grammar to Wallace before she retired from teaching. They were two of the many teachers who reached out to Wallace and stepped in to remind her what was at stake.

"We encouraged Allison to apply to every school that offered programs she was interested in," Ferris said. "I was like a broken record, telling her to try this, try that and making sure she didn't miss out on anything that might appeal to her. I didn't want her to restrict herself to a certain school or think that she couldn't go out of state."

Their outreach and support was not lost upon Wallace.

“They mentored me throughout the entire application process,” Wallace said. “Ms. Buckhannon was the one who stepped in and told me to focus on college, and Ms. Ferris stepped in to help as well. They edited my essays, helped put together my profile and made sure the schools I looked offered what I wanted.”

Ms. Ferris helped Wallace outside the classroom as well. She helped Wallace connect with a nonprofit group that gave legal counseling and guidance that ultimately led to her emancipation from her mother.

With the scholarship now in hand, Wallace already knows what school she will attend, the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles.

“USC has such a diverse student body, and the area it's located in is not only beautiful but full of promise and opportunity to connect,” Wallace said of her selection.

She plans on pursuing a double major while attending USC. She knows that one will be in international studies, taking advantage of the diversity and connections that Los Angeles has to offer. As for the other, she has a few options in mind.

“I’ve always had a love for foreign language, especially Spanish and Portuguese,” Wallace said. She's also thought about going into a scientific field in order to create a natural hair product designed specifically for African-Americans.

Ferris doesn't doubt the number of infinite possibilities for Wallace with such a generous scholarship in hand. 

"Like all people with potential and possibility, she could do a lot of different things. I can't make a prediction, but with this scholarship she can learn and become anything she wants to be," she said. "I know she enjoys and wants to help others, so it wouldn't surprise if she enters the realm of social services.

"I hope she uses her Spanish forevermore, especially through helping others. With the finances now avaiable to her through the Gates Millenium Scholarship, she doesn't have to limit herself, and she can go that much farther because of it."