Gabriel Meraz, a senior honors student at Skyview High School in Thornton, is this year's recipient of the CU Leadership, Excellence, Achievement and Diversity scholarship awarded by the Parents Association at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
The scholarship consists of $10,000 divided into four annual supplements of $2,500. The award was presented to Meraz at a July 18 banquet for high school students who successfully completed the CU-Boulder Pre-Collegiate Development Summer Residential Program.
Meraz has maintained a 4.0 grade-point average throughout middle school and high school and is ranked No. 1 in his class. He is also Head Boy, or student body president, and is a member of the National Honor Society.
He has been a student in the CU-Boulder Pre-Collegiate Development Program since seventh grade and plans to major in aerospace and astronautical engineering at CU. His goal is to become an astronaut with "a Ph.D. in the palm of my hand."
Meraz is the eldest of six boys in his family and will be the first in his family to attend a university. His first language was Spanish and when he started school he learned to read and write in English in three months. Since then, he's been involved in many gifted and talented programs throughout his school career.
According to Peter Simons, director of the Office of Parent Relations, Meraz has captured the hearts of everyone he works with at CU-Boulder and exemplifies the goals of the CU-LEAD scholarship.
The CU-LEAD scholarship is sponsored by the Parents Fund and is designed to help students from disadvantaged backgrounds and first-generation college students achieve a college education. It is issued to a high school senior who meets certain academic and economic criteria and who plans to enroll at the university in the Pre-Collegiate Development Program.
The Pre-Collegiate Development Program is a CU-funded, systemwide academic program for middle and high school students. It is structured to ensure students are academically prepared to enroll at CU-Boulder or any postsecondary institution. The program also works in collaboration with parents, guidance counselors and the community.
For more information on the CU Parents Association call (303) 492-2283 or visit the Web site at . For more information on the Pre-Collegiate Development Program call (303) 492-8243 or visit the Web site at .