Jackson student named as a recipient of 2023 Gates Scholarship

JACKSON, Tenn. — A local student won an incredible scholarship.

The Gates Scholarship is a highly-selective scholarship where about 300 high school students nationwide will win. They will be awarded a last-dollar scholarship, meaning this scholarship will cover the remaining expenses after financial aid.

Madison Agomuo, a very recent graduate of Jackson Central-Merry’s Early College High, is a recipient of this scholarship, and she tells us a little bit about the process.

“You had to be at the top ten percent of your class,” Agomuo said. “You had to have leadership skills through community service, volunteer work and extracurricular activities. It was a minority scholarship, so you had to be a part of the ethnicities or races. Then you had to show personal skills such as emotional maturity, perseverance, and dedication.”

Madison plans to attend Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. Spelman is one of the top HBCUs in the country. Madison is very excited to go to Spelman and really believes it will get her to where she wants to go.

“They’re the leaders. They are the top HBCU, so I wanted to go to the top,” Agomuo said. “It’s a liberal arts college, but they also focus on the sciences. They are one of the top HBCUs that send African Americans to medical school, so I wanted to go somewhere that I knew would put me on the right path for my goals.”

Madison also talked about her parents and how they have helped her and supported her during the scholarship process.

“But I also want to give a shoutout to my parents, because they were my biggest motivator. When I asked them to help me, or to read over this, or how this should go, they did everything,” Agomuo said.

The Gates Scholarship was started in 2017 by Bill and Melinda Gates.

Madison says the Gates Scholarship provides opportunities to people that may not ever get something like this.

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