News and Event Highlights | Scholarship News | Football Classic | Applicant News | Photo Gallery
2017 Richardson Scholar Awards
2017 Richardson Scholars (left to right) Brittany Evans and Zachary Alerte
Brittany Evans
This Sebastian River High School IB diploma student truly defines diligence, determination, and focus. She’s had a remarkable high school academic career. She’s ranked Number 2 in her class and is graduates with a staggering 4.87 GPA, an AP Scholar with Honors distinction and memberships in the National honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta, and Masterminds.
Her math teacher writes, “As a former Richardson Scholarship recipient, I am familiar with the motto, ‘To Learn, To Lead, To Serve.’ I believe this student epitomizes these qualities and strives to fulfill this motto each. She excels in multiple extra-curricular activities and sports while maintaining leadership roles within those activities. She’s a bright, hard-working, jovial, young lady who has garnered the respect and admiration of not only her peers, but also of the faculty at our school.”
Outside the classroom, she found equal success as captain of the soccer and lacrosse teams, where she worked diligently to lead her team to four straight district championships – two as captain. “I stayed after practices every day to teach the new girls the defensive formation, passing, and stick work,” she writes. Not in vain were “the countless Saturdays spent practicing wall ball together…before I knew it, I heard a loud siren that shook my insides, and within seconds my entire team ran towards me.” They had won the district title again.
This student will be a success in life because of her dynamic qualities and dogged work ethic. She is heading to the University of Florida in the fall where she will study chemistry. No doubt she will make an immediate positive impact in Gainesville.
We are honored to award the Richardson Scholar Award to Brittany Evans.
Zachary Alerte
His grades are all As. He's earned 5s (the highest score) on all his AP exams, and, yes, he earned a perfect 1600 on his SATs. It must come easy to this St. Edward’s School student. Not really, says his school counselor. “Although he seems to excel in everything, it does not mean that it all has come easily. He is one of the hardest working students that I know. He gets his competitive drive from his parents, who emigrated to the US from Haiti and Jamaica and maximized their own educational opportunities here. But his greatest influence, he says, has been his older brother who has autism. He’s shown him that no matter the arbitrary limits others put in front of us, we can surpass them and define our own potential. It’s his brother who’s inspired him to push himself to his limits and never be told that he can’t achieve more.”
This inspiration led him to multiple academic honors, including rankings as a National Merit Commended Scholar, a National AP Scholar, Spanish National exam gold medalist, and his school’s Laurel Bowron Humanitarian Award and Darby Gibbons Top Academic Award. He flourished also as Captain of the Academic World Quest Team that tied for first place at Nationals and as president of the Mu Alpha Theta Math team.
Still he was one of the best players on his school’s Varsity soccer team, which he captained as they won the district title this year. While he considers himself an introvert, his actions made him a valuable leader of his team. “As I’ve grown up, I’ve slowly begun to realize what my definition of a leader is. No matter what you say, there is nothing paramount to that which you do. To be a leader requires action”
This fall he will attend Harvard University where he plans to major in medicine.
We are honored to award the Richardson Scholar Award to Zachary Alerte.
