GENESYS STUDENTS EARN GATES MILLENNIUM SCHOLARSHIP
Students' award winning successes prove training program's value
May 25, 2006
HOUSTON -- Genesys ITS proudly announced that two of its young professionals, Dennisse Galdamez and Joel Reyes, recently earned the prestigious Gates Millennium Scholarship. They were the only two students from their graduating class at Cesar E. Chavez High School, and among only 19 from the entire city of Houston to earn this scholarship, according to Mary Williams, Director of Communications and Administration at the Gates Millennium Scholarship Program.
"I am extremely proud of Joel and Dennisse" said Rafael Alvarez, Genesys' Founder and President. "They exemplify that Genesys students, with their abilities, are able to overcome adversity and achieve high goals when presented with good opportunities."
The Gates Millennium Scholarship is a highly competitive scholarship that covers unmet need based on the institutional financial aid award letter for up to five years of undergraduate study, and offers additional funding for graduate school in the fields of science, library science, engineering, mathematics, education and public health. The scholarship, considered a "holy grail" of scholarships, is provided to minority students coming from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and is offered to only 1,000 students in the United States each year. Galdamez will use the scholarship to attend Rice University in Houston, and Reyes plans to attend the University of Houston.
"I got the big one, which is great!," Reyes said. "I cried when I heard the news as I am the first person in my family to ever attend college."
Although Galdamez and Reyes both finished in the top 10 percent of their class of 446 students at Chavez High School, their accomplishments through Genesys working for top Houston corporations also played a major role in earning the Gates Scholarship. At Genesys, both became Microsoft Certified Professionals. Galdamez performed PC help desk support at Reliant Energy while Reyes was the Genesys team leader at United Space Alliance, a major NASA contractor.
"Being the young leader of the other technicians might have been scary, but in reality, it was just the opposite," Reyes said. "The respect I receive at USA has been unbelievable."
His supervisor has even more to say about the young professional.
"We are very excited to hear the news on Joel's scholarship," said Tracy LaGrange, Houston Mods Lead. "Joel has shown that he will be a success in his studies and career after college. "Furthermore, the Genesys team has been very beneficial to USA, allowing the USA technicians to work more efficiently with their assistance."
Genesys ITS, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit provider of information technology services, trains and employs underprivileged high school students in the IT services profession with the goal of engaging them into a successful career track early on. Through this program, students discover that they can succeed as professionals. This realization, during their senior year in high school, has a tremendous long-term impact on their lives as they change their educational and career path and pursue a more professional one. Ninety percent of Genesys graduates go to college, which is significant considering they come from low-income neighborhoods and almost all are first-generation college attendees.
This year the program is serving more than 100 students in the Houston area, and is expanding with a pilot program in engineering and a satellite office in Clear Lake
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