Red Cloud High School seniors earn prestigious national scholarships

posted on January 24, 2012

As the second semester begins at Red Cloud High School, the class of ’12 has already earned an impressive amount of college scholarships. The seniors have been hard at work applying for colleges and scholarships during the first part of the school year and the results so far have been extremely positive.

Tiarra Little won the prestigious QuestBridge Scholarship, which has given her a full scholarship to Stanford University. This is one of the most competitive scholarships in the country, with only a small fraction of applicants matched to their college of choice. Twenty students across the nation were matched to Stanford for the QuestBridge. Tiarra found out that she won the scholarship in early December. “When I first got the QuestBridge, I had no idea how competitive it was until I looked at the statistics for acceptance rates, “said Tiarra. “It still hasn’t hit me yet. It felt great to get the news before LNI.”

In addition, Tiarra also won the National Horatio Alger Scholarship award. Tiarra was the only student from South Dakota to receive the National Scholarship. For this scholarship, students reflect on the obstacles they have faced and their future hopes and dreams. Tiarra was one of roughly one hundred students in the nation to receive this scholarship, which awards $20,000. She is the first Red Cloud student to receive the National Award since Juliana Brown Eyes ’09.

Five Red Cloud students also were awarded the Horatio Alger State Scholarship, which awards $5000. The students receiving these scholarships are Renae Cournoyer, Tyrell O’Donnell, Marisa Snider, Dallas Tobacco, and Mariah Weston. There are twenty-five South Dakota scholarships awarded each year. Red Cloud’s six Horatio Alger scholars (including Tiarra) far eclipsed any other school in the state this year, with only one other school in South Dakota receiving two scholarships. The six award winners doubled Red Cloud’s previous year of three recipients, which also had led the state of South Dakota.

“It felt really good to win this scholarship. My plans are to attend college and play basketball,” said Dallas. Dallas hopes to attend Haskell University, Ft. Lewis College, Black Hills State University, or Dickinson State. Meanwhile, Renae hopes to attend Regis University and study nursing. “Regis has one of the best programs in the nation for nursing,” she said.

Senior Lyle Jacobs has received a number of scholarships from individual colleges. Lyle received the Presidential Scholarship from Augustana College, which awards $18,000 a year. He also received an $18,000 a year scholarship from Regis University in Denver, as well as a grant for $2000 a year. Lyle also has received a full scholarship to Chadron State College. Lyle has maintained a 3.8 GPA throughout his high school years and achieved an impressive 30 score on his ACT test.

Hopefully, the good news will keep coming in the second semester. Eleven Red Cloud students applied for the Gates Millennium Scholarship, which awards full tuition to the student’s college of choice. “The Gates process was very long. You have to put a lot of emotion in your essays and be dedicated,” said Cherella Hughes. Last year, Red Cloud broke a school record with nine Gates Millennium Scholars.