The six other scholarship recipients are Samuel Collins Jr., Jimmy Gomez, Emily Persons and Minh Phan from Benjamin Banneker Academic High School; Emily Olmstead from the Duke Ellington School of the Arts; and Sesen Gidey from Woodrow Wilson Senior High School.
The University selected the students from the pool of 2007 applicants who also attend D.C. Public Schools. The selections were based on grade point average, standardized test scores and teacher recommendations.
Recently, the ineligibility of public charter school students has caused a slight stir in the education policy community.
"Charter schools are public schools, so to not include charter school students in the application process is in essence denying a percentage of public school students who could benefit from this opportunity as well," said recent GW alumna Emily Cherniack, who is also a research associate at the Graduate School of Education and Human Development.
She stressed that District charter schools are no different from D.C. public schools when it comes to privilege.
While there are many public charter schools in D.C. today, they did not exist when the scholarship program began 18 years ago. In a statement from University President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg's office, expanding the program in the future has not been ruled out. The statement cited inadequate resources as the main reason for delaying such an expansion.
"We look forward to the day when we can expand the program," the statement said. "We are working hard to endow the scholarships so that we can continue to offer this generous financial assistance to even more deserving District youth."
The University selected the students from the pool of 2007 applicants who also attend D.C. Public Schools. The selections were based on grade point average, standardized test scores and teacher recommendations.
Recently, the ineligibility of public charter school students has caused a slight stir in the education policy community.
"Charter schools are public schools, so to not include charter school students in the application process is in essence denying a percentage of public school students who could benefit from this opportunity as well," said recent GW alumna Emily Cherniack, who is also a research associate at the Graduate School of Education and Human Development.
She stressed that District charter schools are no different from D.C. public schools when it comes to privilege.
While there are many public charter schools in D.C. today, they did not exist when the scholarship program began 18 years ago. In a statement from University President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg's office, expanding the program in the future has not been ruled out. The statement cited inadequate resources as the main reason for delaying such an expansion.
"We look forward to the day when we can expand the program," the statement said. "We are working hard to endow the scholarships so that we can continue to offer this generous financial assistance to even more deserving District youth."
