Chicago teen awarded $1.3 million in scholarships

CHICAGO (WPVI) -- 17-year-old Raven Galloway is readying for high school graduation with straight As across the board.

"There were a lot of late nights, very, very late nights trying to complete homework to the best of my ability," she reflected four years later.

WLS-TV reports, these top marks at Williams Prep School of Medicine earned her a jaw-dropping $1.3 million in combined scholarships for college. She celebrated this triumph with family, especially her mom and grandma-both of whom did not go to college.

"Just being able to share my experiences with them is good," Galloway said with grandmother Rosemary Carter at her side.

"I've prayed for her through this, I've prayed with her and it's just been such a tremendous experience for us all," Carter said, adding, "I teased her, 'you go to school seven days a week, don't you?'"

When I asked Williams Principal Dr. Jullanar Naselli and School Counselor Betsy Salomon-Auguste if there's anyone out there like Galloway, Naselli responded, "There is not."

The two mentors saw this early on.

"She is definitely a take charge, if nobody else is doing it I'm going to do it type of student," added Salomon-Auguste.

Galloway is president of her school's National Honor Society chapter, a school ambassador, and unofficial Williams Prep photographer! In addition to her school work, Galloway's been a part of three college prep programs on weekends and over the summer, all leading to the daunting college application process-and months spent on her essays.

"I like to read, a lot....I want a new generation of readers to feel how I feel when I read books, as if they are getting pulled by words into another world," she wrote in her final essay version.

After sending applications out, the letters started coming.

"Huge numbers that's coming out to after four years it's 70,000, it's over 100,000.... I even sat with her and was like 'ok, I'm going to say these numbers. You add them while I'm adding them to make sure we're both coming up with this number," recalled Salomon-Auguste with a laugh.

The duo's math adds up to $1.3 million from 10 schools and outside scholarships for Galloway alone.

Salomon-Auguste asks all seniors to apply for scholarships to help prepare them for their futures. Before this year, the most scholarship money ever collected by an entire Williams senior class was $5.5 million. Even when you take away Galloway's more-than-a-million dollar haul, the school had a record-setting year: more than $7 million dollars for just 30 students.

With plenty to pick from, Galloway chose Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee; the school offered her a scholarship of more than $50,000 a year. She plans to study psychology and English with tenacious curiosity.

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