DESIGNERS
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TWO OUTSTANDING HIGH SCHOOLERS AT THE JESUIT COLLEGE PREPARATORY SCHOOL OF DALLAS ARE THE RECIPIENTS OF THIS YEAR’S BACHENDORF’S SCHOLARSHIP FOR OVERALL ACADEMIC IMPROVEMENT, NOW IN ITS 30TH YEAR.
Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas is a private, college-preparatory school for young men. Mr. Bock worked with the late Michael Alchediak, S.J., to establish the Bachendorf ’s Scholarship for Overall Academic Improvement fund in January 1992. The scholarships are awarded at the student convocations each May to one sophomore and one junior who have shown the most overall academic improvement during the year. This scholarship goes toward the students’ tuition in their junior and senior year, respectively. For the last few years, Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas has selected the Bachendorf ’s Scholarship winners by interviewing five juniors who have made the biggest jump in grade point average (GPA) from sophomore year to the end of first semester junior year and then the end of the 12 weeks of second semester. These five students are asked to reflect on their turnaround—what factors went into their improvements, what personal changes they made, which teachers or peers were helpful and supportive of them, etc. Get to know this year’s recipients below:
AARON LARSON ’22
SON OF JULIE AND SIDNEY LARSON Aaron was the frontrunner in both parts of the process—he increased his overall GPA by more than 3 percentage points, which is the best of any scholarship winner in the past three years, and he made the honor roll first semester junior year. Aaron has especially excelled in AP computer science, which is notable because most scholarship winners are not in AP classes. His personal narrative and story of how he changed his academic approaches and how he engaged teachers during the interview stood out. Additionally, Aaron is on the Jesuit bowling team and was close to achieving Eagle Scout when interviewed.
EMMANUEL DANIEL ’23
SON OF ELIZABETH KEBEDE AND DANIEL DEMESSIE Emmanuel deserves this award—the effort between his freshman year vs. his sophomore year was night and day. He is a smart young man, but during his sophomore year he became more focused and reached out for help when needed, which in turn really helped him improve greatly. Emmanuel would be the first to tell you that he put a lot more effort into his studies this year. It wasn’t just that he completed more assignments, but he asked for help and used the resources that were being offered. One of his teachers told us that he was very responsive to nudges from the LRC. He worked diligently and used his time wisely when he was there. He also has a healthy dose of confidence for his age. He interacts with adults well, and his peers look to him for social cues. We were all hopeful that he would make a turnaround this year, but he gets all the credit for the results.
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10/15/21 3:41 PM
