DALLAS — When high school seniors Maria Gamez and Dat Tran joined dozens of fellow students in their school’s library for an assembly, they had no idea they were the main event.
Gamez looked nervous as students filed in the library at Dallas ISD’s Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center. She and the other students were told they were gathering for a STEM-related assembly where they would hear from leaders at Amazon.
Students sat through a few speeches before Vickie Yakunin, the head of community engagement in North Texas for Amazon, revealed the real reason everyone was gathering.
She announced Gamez and Tran were two of the 400 Amazon Future Engineer Scholarship recipients from across the country.
Confetti bombs and roaring applause followed as Yakunin presented the students with sealed Amazon shipment boxes.
As Gamez and Tran sat shocked, Yakunin insisted the boxes be opened.
“I know when an Amazon package arrives at my house, I’m opening it quickly,” exclaimed Yakunin. “What are y’all waiting for!?”
Soon after, eyes swelled with tears of joy, accompanied by loud cheers and applause as Gamez and Tran pulled out bright orange cards announcing they were being awarded $40,000 over the next four years to pursue computer science and engineering degrees.
“I really wanted this scholarship,” said Gamez as she cried tears of joy. “This is a really big deal for me.”
When asked how he felt about the award, Tran was tongue-tied.
“I can’t think of anything right now,” he said with a big smile on his face.“My head's in like a jumble right now.”
After an event held in their honor, they couldn’t wait to call their moms to share the good news. Both their mothers were also surprised to hear the news.
“We wanted it to be a real surprise, so we couldn’t let the parents know,” giggled Yakunin.
Both scholars are immigrants and first-generation college students. Gamzez was born in Mexico, and Tran in Vietnam.
“As a first-generation college student myself, I know how transformational a college education can be,” said Yakunin. “Not only are they getting the $40,000 over four years, they’re also being offered a paid internship after their freshman year to gain practical work experience with mentorship from Amazon leaders.”
Yakunin added both Gamez and Tran exceeded all of the requirements for the prestigious award.
“We get thousands of applications and they are reviewed by a third party,” said Yakunin. “There are certainly a lot of criteria that the students have to meet in order to even apply for an Amazon Future Engineer Scholarship.”
Come this fall, Gamez will attend the University Of Texas at Austin and Tran will attend Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.
When asked who helped on their road to success, neither student hesitated to answer. For Gamez, it’s her two older brothers.
She had this message for them: “Alex, Axel, thank you,” said Gamez as tears rolled down her face. “Y’all really opened all the doors for me. I love y’all so much. Y’all were my first inspirations for everything.”
Tran says he’s also thankful for his family, but doesn’t think he would be as successful without the help from his computer science teacher Travis Burton.
“I can get my students up to a certain level, but beyond that, they two have the drive and the desire to excel beyond what I offer in the classroom,” said Burton. “Dat is one of those students this year that’s really taken the ball and ran with it.”
Burton said he’s proud of Tran’s accomplishments, especially when he and three of his classmates created an app aimed at reducing food waste.
With graduation right around the corner, Gamez and Tran have words of wisdom for students who might be stressed about the future.
“Just believe in yourself as much as possible,” said Gamez. “You know how much you care, you know how much effort you’re going to put into something. Apply to that program, apply to that club, whatever you want is obtainable. I truly feel like everything is possible.”
“The amount of hard work and dedication that you put into something really oversees the talent,” said Tran. “If I could give any bit of advice to younger students, it would be to just put your all into it. You’ll reap the benefits eventually.”
If you have an interesting story or an issue you’d like to see covered, let us know about it.
Share your ideas with DFW human interest reporter Lupe Zapata by emailing him at Lupe.Zapata@Charter.com
