Four students from the Washington, D.C. area have been selected as prestigious Milken Scholars. The program provides high school students in D.C., New York and Los Angeles with a full scholarship opportunity to their university of choice and supports them through their academic career.
To earn the a $10,000 Milken award, students must demonstrate strong academic performance, financial need and commitment to community service and leadership.
As a Milken Scholar, Calix-Martinez and the other students will also receive a $10,000 scholarship at an upcoming educational summit in Los Angeles.
The individual university the students select provides a scholarship and financial support.
One of the four students selected was 18-year-old Alina Calix-Martinez, who graduated from Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School in D.C. with a 4.23 GPA. She will attend Brown University in Rhode Island on a full scholarship, and plans to major in philosophy and possibly enter journalism after she graduates.
Academics, entrepreneurship, volunteering, her faith and family are the centerpiece of her life, Calix-Martinez said. She’s the daughter of a single mother and an immigrant.
“In school, I always tried my best and I really found my spark in what I wanted to do, what I enjoyed, when I joined my school newspaper my sophomore year,” she said. “My mom is a single mom, and she really always inspired me … to be the best version of myself.”
She quickly rose through the ranks at the school paper, the Wicket, and last school year, she was editor-in-chief, overseeing a staff of 30 student journalists.
Calix-Martinez is bilingual and said her passion for writing and language has pushed her to write complex stories on socioeconomic issues, diversity in higher education, gun-control and immigration.
“I really tried to shoot for the stars with my college admissions process and ultimately, I ended up matching into Brown University and that was a really big dream come true,” she said. “My mom has always instilled in me that I can do whatever I put my mind to, and she is my number one supporter, and my sister is always there for me with whatever I need help with.”
Calix-Martinez also started a dog-walking business and has served hundreds of hours volunteering as a tutor for children in elementary and junior high schools, along with serving as a bilingual admissions ambassador at Georgetown Visitation.
Her tutoring business is called “Vamos!” and focuses on serving underserved, Spanish-speaking students. Under her leadership as copresident, the program doubled the number of tutors from 45 to 90.
Already, she has a long list of awards and other community-based recognitions, including the College Board National Hispanic Recognition Award, the College Board First-Generation Recognition Award and the Columbia Scholastic Press Association Greenman Leadership Award to attend a journalism program.
She also was recognized with the Co-Curricular Excellence Award for Leadership two years in a row. As a Catholic Charities student service leadership fellow, she completed service projects at various Catholic Charities locations.
Other D.C.-area Milken Scholars include:
- Preston Drake, British International School of Washington, The University of Chicago
- Victoria Presentado, St. John’s College High School, Emory University
- Miqueas Ramirez De La Rosa, Benjamin Banneker Academic High School, Duke University
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