Two outstanding seniors, Layth Dieyleh and Shelby Anderson, receive the prestigious Daniels Fund scholarship, and get to attend the college of their choice.
Seniors Layth Dieyleh and Shelby Anderson are all smiles after winning the Daniels Fund Scholarship. Photo by Tori Wallace
On April 24, 2013, two senior Spartans, Layth Dieyleh and Shelby Anderson, were awarded the prestigious Daniels Fund Scholarship. This scholarship is given to 250 outstanding seniors in four states: Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico. Over 3,000 students applied for the scholarship this year, and Colorado had 176 scholarship recipients.
The Daniels Fund is a legacy originating from the well-known entrepreneur Bill Daniels. This fund has aided over 2,000 high school seniors since the year 2000. This scholarship covers four-year or two-year college tuition, the entire cost for room and board at the college of their choice, the fees, books and supplies, and any miscellaneous educational expenses. The Daniels Fund believes that a Daniels scholar has character, leadership, and service.
Layth Dieyleh, who also placed third in state for wrestling, plans on using his scholarship to attend the University of Denver. “I am not quiet sure about what I would like to study, but I know that I would like to take a semester at DU and then transfer over to Stanford,” said a hopeful Dieyleh, who said completing the process of getting the Daniels fund is enough stress on its own. Applicants must fill out an application and write four essays. The biggest part of the whole process is that they have to make sure that they are eligible financial aid wise. Before students can even finish the application they have use a calculator, enter in how many are in their household and how much money their family makes, and then, if they are eligible, they can continue on. “Writing the essays was one of the hardest parts to me, not to mention the anticipation of waiting for your answer. I just wanted to find out my answer. Even if it was a ‘no,’ I still just wanted to know,” explained Layth, who was in disbelief when he found out he got the scholarship. “My first reaction was that it wasn’t real. The whole day I was thinking to myself that this isn’t real, and that I would wake up soon. It is a life changing opportunity,” said Dieyleh. “If I could give anyone who is interested in applying for the scholarship advice it would be that you need to start building your resume now. The more experience you have the easier it is to write and to talk about. If you make it to the interview process, don’t be nervous. The people who are interviewing you are just people. They have feelings too. Don’t do what every one else does; be your own person and you will be set,” exclaimed Layth.
Shelby Anderson, who is the President of the Interact Club here at Thomas Jefferson High School, says she plans on attending the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. “I plan to attend this school primarily for their journalism program,” said a very excited Anderson, who said she believed that the interview process was the hardest part of the whole application. “These people hold your entire future in their hands, and you are worried about saying the right things or the wrong things, and so you stress out a whole lot more than you would expect,” explained Shelby. Anderson is a little different from Layth. She can’t wait to move out of Colorado. “I was so excited when I heard that I got the scholarship; I just can’t wait to get out of Colorado because that’s what I want, and I want a brand new start for everything. I was also really excited because I know that Mizzou is one of the top journalism schools and that’s what I want to do,” stated a very excited Shelby. Anderson’s older sister was almost a semi finalist, which is the process before getting to the interview, but she didn’t quite make it. “I think that watching my sister go through the process, I definitely wanted to try, too. I told myself that I had nothing to lose. Either you get your whole tuition paid for or you don’t. Applying wouldn’t hurt anything, and obviously it didn’t,” joked Shelby. “My advice to future applicants would be that it is a big deal, but always have a ‘Plan B’. Never give up on your dreams, as long as you really want it, nine times out of ten you’ll get it,” said Shelby.
Thomas Jefferson usually gets scholarship winners every year. “We normally get one or two people who win the scholarships every except for last year, which was a bummer, but I am glad that two of our very own Spartans won it this year,” said Tabitha Rocha, who works in the Future Center at TJ and worked very closely with Layth and Shelby during the application process.
“I think that it is an amazing opportunity for them. I also think that any time we have winners of Daniels and all kinds of wonderful things, it is a motivator to other students here because they believed that if it happened to somebody else at TJ it could happen to them. I think that it feeds excitement not just for scholarships but college as well,” stated a proud Principal Sandra Just.
All of the Spartans at TJ are very proud of Layth and Shelby for representing their school so well, and can’t wait to see what the future holds for them.
