Two Lauderhill BCPS Students Named to Elite Class of 2013 Gates Millennium Scholars

Two Lauderhill Broward County Public Schools (BCPS) students are members of an elite class of 2013 Gates Millennium Scholars. Kiona Elliot of Northeast High School, and Chanique Vassell of Boyd Anderson High School, are among the 1,000 winners throughout the country who were named to this year’s Gates Millennium Scholarship Program.

Scholarship recipients all receive good-through-graduation scholarships that can be used to pursue degrees in any undergraduate major at the accredited college or university of their choice. The scholarship program, which provides recipients with leadership development opportunities, mentoring, academic and social support as well as financial assistance, is supported by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation through the UNCF (United Negro College Fund).

Kiona Elliot of Lauderhill

Northeast High School

Kiona is ranked #13 of her 433-member graduating class. She has a weighed GPA of 4.6 and is one of the school’s four Senior Leaders. 

Kiona founded the Junior Academy of Science while in the 10th grade and served the role of president for three years. Her three years of independent research allowed her to present at the Junior Science, Engineering and Humanities Symposium for two years. Kiona’s creativity and passion for science led her to receive first place awards in both the County and State Science Fairs. She also competed in the Intel International Science Fair. As one of the 12 nationally recognized Bezos Scholars, Kiona attended the Aspen Ideas Festival at the Aspen Institute in Colorado.  

She was the chief communications officer of the Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam and was invited to the White House Science Fair, where she persuaded President Obama to demonstrate her team’s invention of a portable collapsible water sanitation station. Kiona will attend the University of Florida this fall.

Chanique Vassell of Lauderhill

Boyd Anderson High School

Chanique Vassell is driven to excellence. She is salutatorian of her class, ranked #2 with a weighted GPA of 5.2 and an unweighted 3.7. 

She has received numerous awards, including the Harvard Book Award, Advanced Placement English Literature/International Baccalaureate Foreign Language Department Award, and the Principal’s Achievement Award. She is a member of the Sister2Sister Club, the Key Club, and the National Honor Society. 

Giving back to her community and helping others is important to Chanique. She has over 800 community service hours to her credit. Chanique has been a Delta Sigma Theta Scholastic Honoree and has been on the Principal’s Honor Roll since 2009. Through the Questbridge Scholarship Program, she will attend Columbia University this fall to study biochemistry.