WRCB Channel 3 Chattanooga News, Weather | CSAS Graduate Wins Major Scholarship

CSAS Graduate Wins Major Scholarship

CHATTANOOGA (WRCB) -- A graduate of the Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences, has been awarded a scholarship from the Gates Millennium Scholars Program. Preston Harris is the second Hamilton County student to get the honor. Harris will use the scholarship to attend Fisk University in Nashville. He is the son of Preston and Remeca Harris. 

The scholarships are offered to minority students from low-income families. They can be used at the college or university of their recipients' choice, covering tuition and other college expenses from freshman year through graduation.  Preston Harris is one of 1,000 students around the country, one of six students in Tennessee and the only student from Chattanooga chosen to receive a 2009 GMS scholarship.

The 13,000 Gates Scholars funded since the Program's inception have attended over 1,500 colleges and universities, including Ivy League colleges, flagship state universities and UNCF member historically black colleges.  Gates Millennium Scholars recipients have an average graduation rate of almost 80 percent, higher than the graduation rate for all college students, and higher than the rate for high-income students.