Snow senior semifinalist for Cook

 Foundation transfer scholarship

By Robert Green

Staff writer

2-20-2020

Snow College student Andrea Bustillo has been selected as a semifinalist for a lucrative scholarship from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation and hopes she can take her education to the next level.

Now in her final semester at Snow College, Bustillo will soon be graduating with a 3.9 GPA and an associate’s degree in arts and would like to use the transfer scholarship, if she gets it, to study broadcast communication and film production at a four-year university, she said.

She has been chosen as one of 456 semifinalists from a pool of nearly 1,500 applicants, representing 311 community colleges.

There are 60 scholarships available this year, said a foundation spokesman. The recipients will be announced in April. Selected scholars will receive financial support for up to three years and comprehensive educational advising.

Bastillo applied for the scholarship with the help from a great team of teachers and advisors from Snow College, she said.

“It’s been an honor and a blessing to get this far,” she said. “The team here at Snow College has been amazing to help me with this opportunity.”

In case she is not selected, Bastillo said she will try to pursue her education regardless. “I have a plan B to fall back on,” she said. Her good grades and academic excellence will enable her to pursue other scholarships as well.

Bustillo is an international student from Honduras and she came to Ephraim a couple of years ago. She has been taking communication classes to prepare for the future and has enjoyed working on the Snow College newspaper, Snowdrift.

Her philosophy is that if you can dream it and work hard for it, you can do it.

Through this award, the Foundation supports high-achieving community college students as they transfer to some of the best four-year institutions in the country to complete their bachelor’s degrees.

Cooke transfer scholars are selected based on their exceptional academic ability and achievement, financial need, persistence, service to others and leadership.  Students must be currently enrolled community college students or recent graduates residing in the United States.

The Cooke Foundation is dedicated to advancing the education of exceptionally promising students who have financial need. Since 2000, the Foundation has awarded over $200 million in scholarships to over 2,700 students from 8th grade