Torrie Eagle Staff, a Roosevelt High School (Portland Public Schools) senior featured in a February 2015 Promise of Oregon video, is among 23 Oregon students awarded a prestigious Gates Millennium Scholarship.
The OregonLive website reports that Torrie hopes to become a doctor and work for the Indian Health Service. In late 2015, Torrie was admitted to Stanford University, which accepts only about 5 percent of undergraduate applicants.
The Gates Millennium Scholars Program awards 1,000 full-ride scholarships annually to high-achieving students of color, and is one of the most sought-after scholarships in the country.
In the video about Torrie, she describes how cycles of alcoholism and diabetes have taken a toll on Native Americans, and in particular on her family. But she has refused to buckle in, maintaining top grades while staying involved in student government and her school’s basketball team.
