63 Third-Grade Students In Arizona Surprised With A Full-Ride Scholarship To College

During an assembly at the Arizona elementary school, district officials announced that 63 third graders will be awarded a full-ride scholarship covering tuition, books, and room and board. What’s more, students will have the opportunity to attend any college of their choice.

It should come as no surprise that the room was soon filled with cheers and tears of joy.

“I just couldn’t hold it back because it just means for sure my son is going to college. I don’t have to think about it. He’s going,” Brandon Gailliard, a parent of a student at the elementary said, according to NBC15.

The good news was made possible by the Rosztoczy Foundation. The private organization was created in 2005 to help Hungarian students find scholarships for college. In 2012, the founder launched the College Promise program to ensure students will be college-ready and bound, according to the company’s website.

“The goal, through the generous officer of this family, is that finances will not be the barrier, that college is an option for every third grader right here at Bernard Black,” Roosevelt School District Superintendent Quintin Boyce said, NBC 15 reports.

Rosztoczy Foundation’s generous contribution follows ten years after surprising around 80 third-grade students in 2012.

Erika Valadez, who is now a freshman at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, is thankful for the financial relief. The 19-year-old believes her journey in college would not have been within arms reach without the donation.

“I think I would have taken a few gap years to try to earn some money,” Valadez said, according to The Washington Post. “Now, I won’t graduate with over $100,000 in debt.”