Sultana High School senior Manmeet Kaur is part of the 1% of high school students around the nation selected for the prestigious Gates Scholarship, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Kaur will attend the University of California, San Diego in the fall, where she will study to pursue a career in the pharmaceutical field.
Kaur, who will be a first-generation college student, says there are health issues aplenty in her family. Growing up, she was constantly interpreting medical terminology for her family at the pharmacy. She knew as early as the third grade that she would one day pursue a degree in pharmacological chemistry.
“I did a whole report on the inner workings of pharmacology at nine years old,” Kaur laughed. “I always wanted to go into the healthcare sector, and I like that administering medicine helps people make informed decisions. I feel like I can make a difference here.”
The scholarship recipient has a 4.3 GPA and ranks 11th out of 450 seniors at Sultana High School. She has taken a total of seven Advanced Placement classes and five honors classes in addition to her dual enrollment classes at Victor Valley College. Her favorite college-level courses thus far are “anything in the medical field.”
“We are incredibly proud of Manmeet for this remarkable achievement,” Sultana Counselor Alice Rodas said. “Being named a Gates Scholar places her among an elite group of student leaders nationwide, and we are excited to see all that she will accomplish in the future.”
For Kaur, years of hard work and ambition culminated in a life-changing achievement: being named a Gates Scholar. The full-ride scholarship will allow her to study pharmacology without financial burden, positioning her to pursue her goal of creating innovative treatments and expanding access to medicine for those in need.
Part of the 1%
Receiving the Gates Scholarship means Kaur exemplifies the qualities of a Gates Scholar through dedication to academic excellence and future ambition.
The senior’s extracurriculars include Vice President of the Multi-cultural Club on campus, and participation in the National Honor Society and California Scholarship Federation.
Outside of school, Kaur, whose parents were born in India, belongs to the Sikh Punjabi temple, where she plays harmonium and has had a leadership role in the band for the past eight years.
“My parents are very proud of me,” Kaur told the Daily Press. “They always said hard work would pay off in one form or another, that I just had to be patient.”
The academic says she was drawn to UC San Diego after visiting the campus and hearing testimonies from other pharmaceutical students. UC San Diego also offers an expedited pathway to a Doctor of Pharmacy degree, which would shave off a year of the higher education needed for clinical pharmacology — a major selling point for the high school senior.
Additionally, UC San Diego has two hospitals on campus, which makes the required residency that Kaur needs easily accessible.
A prestigious scholarship
The Gates Scholarship is awarded each year to exceptional high school seniors across the United States who demonstrate outstanding academic achievement, leadership and personal success skills. The scholarship is considered a “last dollar” award, covering the full cost of attendance not already met by financial aid, including tuition, housing, books, and other expenses.
Each year, approximately 300 students are selected from tens of thousands of applicants nationwide, making the scholarship extraordinarily competitive, with estimated acceptance rates well below 1%.
The Gates Scholarship covers up to five years of higher education and is designed specifically for low-income students.
Kaur says her father is a cashier at a local gas station and her mother is a homemaker. “With a great scholarship comes a great opportunity to succeed,” Kaur said. “This takes away the financial stress I would have typically had in figuring out how to pay for college.”
McKenna is a reporter for the Daily Press. She can be reached at mmobley@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Local teen among 1% chosen for Gates Scholarship, plans pharmaceutical path
Reporting by McKenna Mobley, Victorville Daily Press / Victorville Daily Press
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