AUBURN GRESHAM — More than $33,000 in scholarship money has been awarded to students at Perspectives Leadership Academy.
Eleven seniors from the Auburn Gresham school will split a $33,125 scholarship that was awarded by global company Ernst & Young, LLP this month.
Scholarship recipient Nilita Reneau, 17, said the additional funds came just in time. “I’m almost certain that I cried,” she said.
“It’s really emotional for me because I didn’t how I was going to pay for college,” she said.
Another scholarship covered most of her tuition for Missouri State University, but there was still a balance, Reneau said.
“I didn’t know how I was going to pay for it,” said Reneau, an Englewood resident who will major in psychology and social work.
Ernst & Young, a professional services company, collaborates with the nonprofit College For Every Student, CFES, which works closely with underserved youths. Through the company's College MAP program, students like Reneau also get help navigating the financial aid process, said Anthony Carmello, the program’s executive sponsor for the Chicago office.
The program, which launched in 2009, is in 23 schools nationwide. Select junior and seniors, chosen by the school, meet with the program’s mentors once a month for two years.
“I think education is a priority and we understand how important education is to future career success,” Carmello said.
“We’re aware of the cost of education and we feel that the earlier we can talk about it, the earlier we can be aware of the different strategies and different scholarships and different types of financial opportunities there are,” he said.
Reneau said that participating in the College MAP program taught her how to network, organize and budget.
Before starting high school, Reneau said she was still finding her identity. She had older siblings who danced and played sports, but she said she couldn’t figure out her own gift.
By her junior year, she knew that she liked to help people and was even told by faculty at her school that that there was something “special” about her.
Reneau served as student government president and secretary of the National Honor Society. At the beginning of her senior year, she started a fashion club for freshmen and sophomores which also offered the young women a safe place to discuss problems and get advice.
“I like mentoring girls and I saw freshmen and sophomore girls at my school struggling. Of course it has a lot to do with the community around us, and so I asked my program manager if I can set up a fashion group on Fridays,” she said.
The young woman said she enjoys helping people and wants incoming freshmen to get involved as much as possible.
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