A senior from Grand Rapids Public Schools is one of 750 high school students across the country to receive a prestigious Gates Scholarship covering a full ride to the college of their choice.
Jaylynne Calderon-Monterroso, a senior at Grand Rapids University Preparatory Academy, has been awarded the competitive scholarship from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
It covers all educational expenses for four years of college.
The Gates Scholarship is a highly selective, last-dollar scholarship for outstanding, minority high school seniors from low-income households, according to the scholarship website. Tens of thousands of students across the country compete for a chance at the coveted scholarship each year.
Calderon-Monterroso, 18, is graduating from University Preparatory Academy this spring with a 4.35 grade point average. She has taken at least two college-level classes every year since she was a freshman, including Advanced Placement classes at her school and courses at Grand Rapids Community College.
During her time in high school, Calderon-Monterroso served on the Mayor’s Youth Council and National Honor Society (NHS), in addition to being president of the senior executive board and valedictorian at University Preparatory Academy.
Calderon-Monterroso is the first student at University Preparatory Academy to ever win a Gates Scholarship, [according to] Principal Kenyatta Hill-Hall.
Hill-Hall described the 18-year-old as a quiet but resilient leader who advocates for her fellow students and is determined to help others.
“To me, the most impressive thing about Jaylynne is her heart, and her advocacy for UPrep and the scholars,” said Hill-Hall in a Tuesday, May 23 interview. “I know that she’s impacted our community and the Grand Rapids community, but I’m telling people they need to watch out, because this girl is going to impact this world.”
To address a rise in mental health issues among students during the pandemic, Calderon-Monterroso helped create a mental health room at University Preparatory. The space serves as a safe area where students and teachers can wind down or de-stress if they are dealing with mental health challenges.
The 18-year-old said she noticed the need for a safe space in the school after experiencing her own mental health struggles freshman year.
“In ninth grade, I started picking up on how my anxiety was impacting my education and how I interact with people,” she recalled. “And then coming back from school after COVID, it was a different environment -- just talking about it with my friends and other students at school, you could kind of notice the difference.”
Calderon-Monterroso networked with leaders from Steelcase to receive a $5,000 grant to create the room, which is now filled with plants and colorful posters with encouraging words meant to help the room’s users feel comfortable.
Hill-Hall said the creation of the mental health room is just one of many examples of Calderon-Monterroso’s leadership at school.
“That why I say, she’s a resilient leader, looking to make sure like, ‘Hey, what would help our scholars?’” the principal said.
Calderon-Monterroso plans to attend the University of Notre Dame next fall, studying pre-law and economics. She chose Notre Dame because of its Latino Studies Scholars Program, she said.
She was also accepted at a number of prestigious schools including the University of Michigan, Duke University, University of Pennsylvania, and Barnard College.
A first-generation college student, Jaylynne Calderon-Monterroso is the daughter of Adelmo and Migda, who immigrated to the U.S. from Guatemala.
The 18-year-old said her parents have always instilled in her the importance of doing well in school.
“School has always been a really important factor when it comes to what they want for our future,” she said. “That was one of the reasons why they came here: Just knowing that opportunity of education would be there.”
“All the sacrifices that they made, it’s important for me to be able to provide for them in the future, with the degree that I have.”
In addition to covering the cost of college, the Gates Scholarship program provides recipients with online support services designed to help them excel in college and make a successful transition to their chosen careers, including career services, mentoring, leadership development, wellness, and knowledge building.
To qualify for a Gates Scholarship, students must be in their senior year of high school, be Pell Grant eligible, and have at least a 3.3 GPA. Recipients must also be African American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian/Pacific Islander American, and/or Hispanic American.
This year, students representing 48 states were selected for a Gates Scholarship, according to an overview provided by the organization.
The 2023 cohort of scholarship recipients has an average GPA of 4.3, and stands in the 90th percentile of standardized testing scores. Seventy-six percent of scholarship recipients are first-generation college students.
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