Two students from Arvin High School have been accepted into the Gates Millennium Scholars Program, securing financial assistance to pay for college.More than 61,000 high school seniors apply for the program, which aims to provid e opportunities for outstanding minority students with significant financial need to reach their highest potential. This year, 750 students are receiving scholarships.Esmeralda Ramos and Yaquelin Acosta began navigating the multiple competitive phases of the application process last fall. According to Arvin High School Principal Ramirez-Leyva, it has been several years since any student at the school received this scholarship."And what made me want to apply is I know how important these opportunities are, especially scholarships, because I know that my family isn't financially well off, and this would be a great help to me and my family and my future." Ramos said."For my family, our finances are pretty tight. So I was really worried that the scholarship, that if I didn't get the scholarship, how I was going to cover that, but with the scholarship, I don't have to worry about that anymore. That's really nice." Acosta said."And I was starting my senior year. I knew I needed to get some sort of scholarships for the future, but I thought I was going to get a lot of, like, local ones or something, but to see that I got this big one is really, really a shocker." Acosta said."I still can't believe it, but I'm extremely grateful and I'm just excited for what else is yet to come and the opportunities that I'm afforded through this scholarship." Ramos said.Gerardo Guzman, a counselor at Arvin High School, has worked with both students since their freshman year."I've seen the work they put in every single year. I see how hard they work, how involved they are. So seeing them accomplish something like this is very exciting. And again, I'm very, very proud of them." Guzman said.Ramos is already looking at ways to help her community after she graduates from college."So I plan to work on legislation specifically helping disadvantaged communities like Arvin and Lamont, I hope to help people not only here in my community, but in other communities as well through economic investment." Ramos said.This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.Stay in Touch with Us Anytime, Anywhere: Download Our Free App for Apple and Android Sign Up for Our Daily E-mail Newsletter Like Us on Facebook Follow Us on Instagram Subscribe to Us on YouTube ...read more read less