It wasn't the famous order that his software firm be split in two that moved Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates to tears last week -- it was Charlene Russell's effort to fight back tears during her acceptance speech.
Russell -- a Filipina-American business student at Vancouver, Washington's Clark College -- was one of the first recipients in the inaugural round of Gates Millennium Scholars grants, announced last week at a ceremony in Seattle, the Los Angeles Times reports.
"The friends and the family and the teachers who pushed me ... they believed that something was great inside me. And now I do believe it," Russell said during the ceremony.
Gates matched her emotion as he followed her remarks. "It may not be the most visible thing I'll do this week, but it's the most exciting thing of all," he said.
The Millennium Scholars program will award 4,100 scholarships this year as part of a 20-year, $1 billion commitment by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to boost minority academic opportunities, especially in technical fields.
More than 62,000 nominations have been received during the last six months, program administrators report.
The scholarships pay the difference between any financial aid the recipient may get from their college or university, and the total for their tuition, books and housing. The scholarships will be renewed yearly if recipients maintain a 3.0 grade average.
After this initial round, an estimated 1,000 new scholarships will be awarded every year. The program is being administered by the United Negro College Fund in partnership with the the American Indian College Fund and the Hispanic Scholarship Fund.
Nomination materials and deadlines for next year's Gates Millennium Scholars will be announced in November. Detailed information regarding the Gates Millennium Scholars can be found at the program's site at http://www.gmsp.org/.
To view a Webcast of the ceremony go to:
http://webcast.mediaondemand.com/
gatesfoundation/20000608/
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