SOUTH FULTON, Ga. — A local high school student says she has proof that hard work pays off. Westlake High School senior Makenzie Thompson has amassed more than $1.3 million in scholarships. She’s also been accepted to nearly 50 colleges.
Makenzie showed Channel 2′s Tom Jones all the colleges who want her on their campus, and the millions in scholarship money they’re willing to pay to get her there.
“We have Delaware State with $64,000. Xavier with $100,000,” she said, pointing to the list on the school wall that shows the schools she’s been accepted to and the scholarship amounts they have offered. “Tuskegee with full tuition and books. We also have Wingate with 128 thousand,” she said with pride.
Makenzie’s list towers over the other student’s lists. It’s so long she couldn’t put all of the colleges on hers.
“So up here I have 48. I have 49 acceptances but we ran out of room,” she explained.
But it’s the 1.3 million scholarship offers that’s getting so much attention. The honor student admits she was taken aback when she added up the offers.
“Once I hit a million I was like that’s kind of crazy. Like people don’t make a million in their lifetime,” she said with excitement.
Makenzie’s principal says she is a star studded student who is driven and willing to get involved wherever she is needed. “Everything that she does is for excellence and academics,” Jarvis Adams said.
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The honors student is Senior Class President. She’s co-captain of the dance team. She volunteers and does work-based learning at a veterinarian clinic. The City of South Fulton has given Makenzie a proclamation. And the school board plans to recognize her.
Her parents say she’s always been a hard worker and had a plan for her life.
“She knew what she wanted. And she knew what it was going to take to get there,” her father Stephen Thompson said.
Still, they were shocked when the scholarships started rolling in.
“We were ecstatic. I said oh my God. 1.3 million and they’re giving you this just based on paper,” mother Jennifer Thompson said.
Makenzie admits 1.3 million in scholarship offers is quite an accomplishment. She was asked if she feels proud.
“Oh I am extremely proud of myself. It’s been a long time coming. A lot of long nights,” she said.
Makenzie has been accepted to UGA, Purdue, Clemson, Ohio state and so many others.
But she is going to Tuskegee University to study animal science. She really wants to be a veterinarian.
At the rate she is going she will achieve that goal and more.
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