KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A senior at Austin-East High School received a huge opportunity Tuesday — the Match Scholarship of QuestBridge. It helps children from low-income families attend top-notch colleges without paying a dime.
Angeline Irankunda was born in Tanzania, Africa. She arrived in the U.S. when she was two years old, with her family. She said her parents started with nothing and worked hard to provide their children with a different life.
"I got matched with a top school, Emory University, through this program called QuestBridge. It's a full-ride to a four-year university and I'm so excited," Irankunda said. "My parents came here like hoping, you know, for a better life and for better education."
Growing up with financial barriers is hard. As a child, she said she wanted to fit in and be able to have some of the objects and opportunities other classmates did, but she wasn't able to because of financial barriers.
"I didn't really get much for Christmas, but, like, I'm glad because Christmas was really the only time I could spend like with my family," Irankunda said.
Lindsay Davis, an instructor at Austin-East said this scholarship is life-changing.
Davis has been with Knox County Schools since 2009, and in 2013 she moved to Austin-East. Over the last 11 years, she said this is the first time she saw a student receive the scholarship.
They have many amazing students there, she said, who often don't have opportunities like these.
"[This scholarship] is for high achieving students like Angelina, who maybe just don't have the means necessary to be successful in college," Davis said. "It includes full tuition, which is amazing. But then it's also room, board, food, books, supplies, and travel expenses."
This is a highly competitive scholarship and almost 21,000 students applied for it, according to a news release. Only about 2,200 students received it.
One of them is Irankunda, who's ready for that next step. As Austin-East's door closes, one is opening at Emory University.
"I'm gonna study child psychology and either become an elementary school teacher, counselor therapist, somewhere along those lines, early education," Irankunda said. "Dream big because nothing is too big for God, and if I can do it, then so can you."