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April 21, 2012

Local senior gets Gates scholarship

Staff Writer Ted King

Pryor Senior Savannah Thomas is going to the University of Tulsa on a full-ride scholarship provided by a Bill and Melinda Gates.

Thomas started her application process in late November.  All her paperwork for the application had to be in by January. There were 24,000 applicants this year.

Thomas received the news last week that she had been awarded the scholarship.  

“I’m pretty excited,” she said. “My grandma pretty much stalked the mailbox for a few days to get the good news.

“There were eight essays I had to write and some other forms. The essays were on various topics from a situation I was able to improve to a situation I thought was unfair, to a general essay,”  Thomas said.

Thomas wrote about a situation that changed her life — her involvement with the Future Farmers of America. Thomas is the president of the local FFA chapter and will receive her state FFA degree in May.

Thomas said she believes she was awarded the scholarship based on her essays and work experience. For the past year, Thomas has worked as a teller at Century Bank and has been taking night classes at Rogers State University where she has accumulated 24 credit hours. She graduates from high school next month as class valedictorian.  

“I had a full scholarship to RSU and was planning on attending school there. When the Gates scholarship came in, I was able to change to TU (where she plans to major in accounting). Of all my courses, math is the most difficult, but I really enjoy it because it is a challenge.”

The Bill and Melinda Gates scholarship was created by the founder of  Microsoft Corp. and his wife to provide scholarships for low-income and minority students.

Thomas is a member of the Westside Free Will Baptist Church in Pryor where she participates in the youth group.

She said the greatest influence in her life was her grandfather, Billy Willyard.

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