Newark Teen Nails Down Highly Competitive Gates Scholarship

NEWARK, NJ — A Newark teen has earned a highly competitive Gates Scholarship, district administrators announced Wednesday.

Crystal Caldwell, a student at Arts High School, has been selected as a Gates Scholar and member of The Gates Scholarship Class of 2022, according to the Newark Board of Education.

This year, 37,000 applicants from across the nation participated in a rigorous application process, vying to become one of 300 scholarship recipients. The prestigious, full-ride scholarship pays for all undergraduate expenses, and offers access to a network of fellow scholars and other distinguished leaders.

Caldwell, a visual arts major, will be attending Lehigh University in the fall, where she will be majoring in engineering and minoring in fine arts.

She recently offered some advice for future Gates Scholarship applicants, saying that all she did was “listen to my teachers, do my homework and participate in lots of extracurricular activities.”

“If I can do it, so can you,” Caldwell encouraged her peers.

Caldwell’s sister, Ashley Drake, said that words can’t describe how proud she is of her sibling.

“I’ve witnessed how adversity has made her strong,” Drake said. “She is an amazing student who is deserving of this amazing opportunity. I know that our father is smiling down on her.”

Caldwell got a hearty congratulations from two district administrators, Board of Education President Dawn Haynes and Superintendent Roger León.

“Crystal worked hard, especially during her time in high school, and her efforts deserve an award of this magnitude,” Haynes said.

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