Congratulations to our own Benton Community Senior Andrew Gates on receiving the College Bound National Rural and Small Town Award. He is one of 62,000 students from across the country to earn academic honors from the College Board’s National Recognition Programs! These National Recognition Programs grant underrepresented students with academic honors that can be included on college and scholarship applications and connect students with universities across the country, helping them stand out during the admissions process. Colleges and scholarship programs use these honors to identify students from underrepresented groups through College Board’s Student Search Service.
Andrew earned this recognition by excelling on his PSAT Exam and in his classrooms. Students who may be eligible have a GPA of 3.5 or higher and have excelled on the PSAT/NMSQT or PSAT 10, or earned a score of 3 or higher on two or more AP Exams; and are African American or Black, Hispanic American or Latinx, Indigenous, and/or attend school in a rural area or small town. Eligible students are invited to apply during their sophomore or junior year and are awarded at the beginning of the next school year.
When asked for a quote for this article Andrew replied “cats are like fires, if you have one in your room, you'll get no studying done". We have to assume with his strong academic record, that he doesn’t have a cat in his room.