Green Bay Washington Middle School student wins college scholarship

Emmanuel Sanchez's teachers at Green Bay's Washington Middle School say the eighth-grader is a poster child for the American Dream.

He arrived in the United States as a first-grader unable to speak English, and now, at age 13, he has won a scholarship to cover the costs of attending the college of his choice.
Sanchez was one of 50 eighth-graders throughout the country this year to win a Jack Kent Cooke Foundation young scholar award, which will pay for his entire college tuition.
"Education is very important to my family," he said. "My parents always talk about the importance of going to school and studying."

More than 1,000 seventh-graders nationwide apply for the Young Scholars Program each year, according to the organization. Sanchez applied in April and received an acceptance letter last month.
The idea is to provide high-achieving students from lower-income families the academic and financial resources to continue their education and achieve their goals. The average family income is about $25,000, according to the program, and most make less than $60,000 a year.
After high school, young scholars are eligible to apply for continued undergraduate and graduate support from the foundation.


Sanchez isn't sure what he wants to study yet or where he'll go to college, but says his favorite school subject is geometry. He has already enrolled in a geometry class at Green Bay East High School.
Sara Stewart, gifted and talented coordinator with the Green Bay School District, said Sanchez was an easy choice to nominate for the scholarship.
"We figured he had as good a chance as anyone," she said. "He's so good at everything he does."
School counselor Steve Kranitz agreed.
"(The family) came here so the kids could get an education, and Emmanuel just made the most of it," he said. "He's a tremendous student. He's a tremendous athlete — really good in soccer. He's just unbelievable. He's one in a million.

"Best of all he's humble, you don't always see that in kids his age. He's very well liked by his peers."
Stewart said Sanchez spent about two months filling out the application and carried the folder with him all the time. "He took it very seriously," teacher Stacey Siudzinski said.
Although it will be a few years before Sanchez starts his post-secondary academic life, the program will help him and other scholars along the way.

Stewart said each student is assigned an adviser who visits the family and helps develop an individual learning plan.
"They try to take what are the children's hopes and dreams and help mold their school experience to maximize their opportunities," Stewart said. "The sky's pretty much the limit. Whatever Emmanuel hopes to do, they will help him figure out how to do it."
Next summer the foundation will host a welcome weekend for families at its Virginia location. That gives scholars a chance to meet other students and their families, Stewart said.
Sanchez is part of Washington Middle School's Achievement Via Individual Determination, a program for college-bound students.

"He really is one of those students I think is going to go great places and we're going to say we knew him 'back when,'" Kranitz said. "He couldn't have afforded, or the family couldn't have afforded — or even known about — some of the opportunities and education he now can have."