Two Indian River School District students receive Horatio Alger scholarships

GEORGETOWN – Two Indian River School District students have received Horatio Alger Scholarships, the school district announced in a press release last week.

Yamileth Lopez-Renoj of Sussex Central High School received a National Horatio Alger Scholarship valued at $25,000, while Vivian Felipe-Lucas of Indian River High School was awarded a Delaware Horatio Alger Scholarship valued at $10,000.

Lopez-Renoj was the only student from Delaware to be named a 2024 National Scholar.

The Horatio Alger Association provides scholarship assistance to deserving young people who have demonstrated integrity, determination in overcoming personal adversity, academic potential and the personal aspiration to make a unique contribution to society.

Each year, the Association awards more than 100 national scholarships of $25,000 each to high school seniors representing every state and the District of Columbia. Since its inception in 1984, the program has awarded more than $262 million to more than 35,000 students in the United States and Canada.

Lopez-Renoj is the seventh Sussex Central student to be named a national scholar. Other winners were Jonathan Gibson (1997), Michelle Brittingham Gutierrez (2002), Megan Seek (2005), Cristie Happekotte (2007), Rosemond Dorleans (2013) and Milena Alarcon Rodriguez (2016).

Since 1997, the Horatio Alger Association has awarded national, state and career and technical education (CTE) scholarships to 44 students from Sussex Central High School and 18 students from Indian River High School.

Lopez-Renoj attended the Horatio Alger National Scholars Conference in Washington, D.C. from April 3-7. At the event, she met the other 2024 National Scholars along with distinguished members of the Horatio Alger Association.

Felipe-Lucas was one of four students from Delaware and three from Sussex County to receive the $10,000 Horatio Alger State Scholarship.

“Thanks to the foresight and generosity of the members of the Horatio Alger Association, these scholars are given the financial and educational support to pursue their American Dream,” said Scholarship Field Director Mary Jo Timmons, who worked as a school counselor in the Indian River School District for 24 years before retiring in 2004.

The Delaware scholarship program is sponsored by Michele Rollins and Family and is given in honor of the late John W. Rollins, a Delaware businessman who served as the state’s Lieutenant Governor from 1953-1957. Mr. Rollins became a member of the Horatio Alger Association in 1963 and was a staunch advocate of its scholarship program.

The Horatio Alger Association bears the name of renowned author Horatio Alger, Jr., whose tales of overcoming adversity through unyielding perseverance and basic moral principles captivated the public in the late-19th Century. In 1947, the association was founded on the premise that anyone, regardless of their circumstances, could achieve the American Dream, which was defined as freedom, mutual respect and equality of opportunity through hard work, tenacity and resolve.

For more information about the Horatio Alger National Scholarship Program, contact Mary Jo Timmons at (302) 228-1964 or mjhtimmons@outlook.com.