Two Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) students are among 21 students in the Washington, D.C., region who have been recognized by the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, a nonprofit organization established by the White House in 1987.
Rosemary Morataya, a senior at Mount Vernon High School, received a silver award in the engineering and mathematics category, which includes a $2,000 scholarship to support her plans to pursue a degree in aerospace engineering, astrophysics, and business at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Allan Phillips, a senior at Oakton High School, received a bronze award in the engineering and mathematics category, which includes a $1,000 scholarship to support his plans to pursue a degree in genetics and synthetic biology at Stanford University.
Both of the awards are sponsored by ExxonMobil.
The Hispanic Heritage Youth Awards program offers educational grants to Hispanic high school seniors chosen by regional selection committees based on their academic achievement, leadership, community service, category focus, and an essay about the role their heritage played in their success.
Allan Phillips, a senior at Oakton High, has been selected for the second consecutive year to receive the 2015 Jose Rizal Youth Award at the Embassy of the Republic of the Philippines on Thursday, Dec. 17. The award recognizes outstanding Filipino-American youths who display academic excellence and community service. He is an active member of Oakton’s Cougar Robotics and Engineering Club and Technology Students Association.