Old Mill High School senior Kirellos Abou Elsaad has been named a winner of the prestigious Gates Millennium Scholarship that will pay the bulk of his expenses for undergraduate, graduate school, and post-graduate education, as well as related costs.
Kirellos, a student in Old Mill’s International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IB), is the fifth county student in the last three years and third IB student over that same time to claim one of the 1,000 scholarships awarded across the nation annually by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In Maryland, 20 students received Gates Millennium Scholarships this year.
“We talk every day about empowering students to seize opportunities that we help create for them, and this is a perfect example of a young man who has both opened doors for himself and taken advantage of doors that were already open,” Interim Superintendent Mamie Perkins said. “This is also a testament to the great work our teachers, counselors, and other school system employees do with students every day.”
Kirellos moved to the United States several years ago, and has excelled in the IB program. He ranks second in his class of 484 students, and plans to study engineering at the University of Maryland next year.
Outside of his academic work, Kirellos ran track and field at Old Mill for two years and has played one year on the school’s tennis team. He is a four-year member of the school’s Key Club, and has participated in numerous service activities like Relay for Life. He also has volunteered at the Anne Arundel County Public Library and the University of Maryland Medical Center.
Gates Millennium Scholarships can be used to pursue degrees in any undergraduate major at any accredited college or university. Continuing Gates Scholars can also request funding for a graduate degree program in certain areas of study.
The goal of the Gates Millennium Scholars Program is to promote academic excellence and to provide an opportunity for outstanding minority students with significant financial need to reach their highest potential by:
- Increasing the representation of these target groups of students in the disciplines of computer science, education, engineering, library science, mathematics, public health, and the sciences; and
- Providing seamless support from undergraduate through doctoral programs.
For more information on the Gates Millennium Scholars, visit www.gmsp.org.