Scholarship Recipients 2018-2019

Katon will graduate from Albuquerque High School in May, 2018 and plans on attending Georgetown, Rice, or Columbia University.

The application essay question asked students to discuss how the ideas expressed in the Mayflower Compact influenced the US Constitution. Katon discussed the Compact concept of consent of the governed to follow equitable laws and how this concept preceded even the age of enlightenment and is implicit in the US Constitution.

Mr. Luaces earned a GPA of 4.41 and an ACT score of 34 which places him in the top 1% of test takers. His AP math teacher stated: He makes his peers more apt to learn, his teachers more inclined to push their students, and the classes more interesting and challenging for all. Katon aced a plethora of AP classes and earned the AP Scholar of Distinction award. His AP History teacher reported he earned a perfect score on the AP US History exam and that his ability to articulate his thoughts of the best she has witnessed in her career.

His co-curricular achievements are impressive. He was president of the student body, competed in Mock Trial and won the Gene Franchini Outstanding Witness award, participated in Model United Nations as the lead delegate in NM State Simulations, earned his letter on the AHS track team, was a co-founder and co-president of the Student Peace Organization. His interests include classical and jazz guitar, unicycling, juggling, and stilt walking! Katon works as a paid intern in Contrast Engineering.

One of the winners of the 1620 Scholarship is Alexis DeVore, who graduates from Eldorado High School, Albuquerque, NM with a 4.3 GPA in May, 2018. Alexis plans on attending the University of New Mexico.

The application essay question asked students to discuss how the ideas expressed in the Mayflower Compact influenced the US Constitution. Ms. DeVore found common ground in several places. One area was the parallel she drew between the Compact with its wording implying that through time, the ideas in the Compact must be altered to meet the general good of the society, and the US Constitution often viewed as a living document to be interpreted to fit the period it exists in.

Alexis’s SAT score was 1400. This places her in the 90th percentile nationally (excellent ranking). Her ACT score of 29 places her in the 92nd percentile for the US and 95th percentile for NM. She is an AP Scholar. One teacher stated Alexis has taken many AP classes and “the reason she is successful is that she has a great ability to analyze difficult texts and information and synthesize that information so she can apply it to the real world.” Another teacher states “Alexis loves to learn and to challenge herself. I know she will do will in college because she is an intelligent, driven, and organized young lady.“

Her co-curricular activities include: student body secretary, a national qualifier in beach volleyball, community service in Oklahoma (70 hours), teacher for a 5th grade science expo, a judge for that fair, UNICEF Club member, Garden Club founder, a Reality Project Member, worker for Project Share and Wings for Life, on the Senior Forum, a homecoming princess, National Honor Society member, Special Olympics assistant, and a Road Runner Food Bank volunteer.

Alexis has worked rather extensively as a Dions employee, four Hills Country Club lifeguard, math and science tutor, YMCA youth basketball coach, and Club Pilates sales woman and instructor trainer.