6 Students to Receive Merit Scholarships

At first, the news didn’t sink in.

About 50 wide-eyed, pizza-eating seniors at San Fernando High School simply stared at the clean-cut men dressed in power suits. The representatives from Merrill Lynch, the international financial service firm, promised Wednesday to award a total of $24,000 in merit scholarships to six students.

Already identified as candidates for their leadership skills and college potential, the teenagers learned they could receive $4,000 over two years. All they needed to do was apply.

“Wow,” said Nidia Ornelas, 18, after considering the opportunity. “This is a big deal.”

The scholarships are part of Project GRAD (Graduation Really Achieves Dreams), a national reform program that helps elementary through high school students improve math and reading skills, raise standardized test scores and eventually attend a college or university.

Last June, the Los Angeles Board of Education approved the acclaimed program for students in the northeast San Fernando Valley, an area where test scores are typically below average and many families are financially unable to send their children to college.

San Fernando students who receive the scholarships, which may be announced as early as next month, must mentor another student in a Project GRAD school for a minimum of 50 hours, as well as attend the Merrill Lynch Leadership Institute during the summer of 2001.

Merrill Lynch is also awarding scholarships to students in Chicago, Miami and New York.

A scholarship would help Ornelas set a positive example for her two younger brothers, she said.

“I want them to succeed,” she said after the lunchtime announcement. “I think it would help them if they saw me go to college and then come back and help the community.”

Officials including top Los Angeles Unified School District administrators, local politicians and leaders from the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley emphasized giving back to the northeast Valley.

“You have a responsibility to go to college and help improve San Fernando, Pacoima, Sylmar and other parts of the Valley,” said Cindy Montanez, 25, a San Fernando councilwoman and UCLA student. “We need you working in the private and public sectors, in education and nonprofit settings. We need you here.”

Luis Perez, 19, wants exactly that. With four sisters and a brother, Perez said he wants the northeast Valley to be “a good place for my family, even better than it is.”