Simon Tchira, Future Engineer and Scholarship Winner

Everything comes down to people

Growing up in Miami-Dade County, Simon Tchira looked forward to attending college in a completely new setting. He saw it as an opportunity to broaden his perspective, build connections across the country, and take on challenges outside his comfort zone.

Stepping outside his community would allow him to meet other students who were passionate about problem-solving in engineering and financial planning. However, it could also mean higher tuition and an unfamiliar environment.

Today, the Hollywood, Florida high school senior is set to attend Vanderbilt University on a Posse Foundation Scholarship. This full-tuition award will make it possible for Tchira to attend the prestigious Tennessee engineering program. And it will send him there with ten other Miami region urban high school graduates from similar backgrounds.

“I was very invested,” he said. “Each scholarship application felt like an opportunity, and I was motivated by the possibility that one more essay could make a meaningful difference in my future.”

Tchira is stacking the award onto a competitive Coca-Cola Scholars Program Scholarship and others (12 in total), including the Florida Farm to School Essay Contest, which he found via Scholarships.com.

His road to going out-of-state to learn science with a “posse” began with an early interest in a different field.

When he started high school, Tchira was keen to go to college to major in finance. He enjoyed solving problems through budgeting, planning, and fundraising. He was interested in all aspects of management.

A series of surprising encounters outside his community helped him change his mind.

In tenth grade, Tchira found himself enjoying physics. “I liked it because it was very concept-based and very applicable,” he said. That summer, he won a scholarship to attend a STEM program in the U.S. Naval Academy.

Although the experience was outside his comfort zone, he enjoyed meeting young people from across the country who were as driven as he was.

“It was just something new,” he said. “From my little bubble that I live in back at home … it was very humbling to see other kids that were athletes, they were smart, they were outgoing.”

He was keen to meet new people outside his circle again.

So, the following year, he completed a high school summer internship program at NASA, where he was part of a team that designed a Mars rover prototype. They were selected to present at the American Geophysical Union BrightSTaRS conference.

This experience helped him view engineering as a skill rather than a subject matter which clashed with his interest in finance. “Engineering is a mindset,” Tchira said. “If you’re doing engineering, you improve your critical thinking and problem solving skills.

He was still leading high school finance clubs, such as serving as president of National Business Honor Society. However, by the time senior year came into view, he also began reaching out to people in engineering on LinkedIn, including people who had transitioned into finance from an engineering background. He learned about Vanderbilt.

The school stood out for offering a program in engineering management open to engineers; so he would not have to choose. When he visited campus, Tchira also noticed that students there were supportive rather than competitive.

There was “no gatekeeping…people want each other to succeed, instead of putting each other down,” he said.

However, without financial support, his family could not afford Vanderbilt.

A few years earlier, Tchira had watched his older brother get into a number of good schools. Many of them were out of state, and charged higher tuition rates.

“He was also a great student,” Tchira said. “Because of the money, he couldn’t go.”

His brother ended up attending the University of Miami on a full tuition scholarship, where he is majoring in electrical engineering.

When it was his turn to apply for college, Tchira created a spreadsheet and started applying for scholarships for which he qualified. He signed up for a free account with Scholarships.com, created a spreadsheet, and applied for 146 awards in total.

“I was very invested,” he said. “Each scholarship application felt like an opportunity, and I was motivated by the possibility that one more essay could make a meaningful difference in my future.”

He started on a winning streak: he won the first four scholarships for which he applied. This early success boosted his morale — which kept him going through the dozens of rejections and near misses that followed.

It also sustained him through the unique process of applying for the Posse scholarship.

The Posse Foundation partners with a handful of colleges in each applicant’s region. Partner colleges offer full-tuition scholarships to the group of students selected from that area, who attend as a cohort.

Tchira asked a trusted high school counsellor to nominate him. She did. He made it through two rounds of interviews before committing to attending Vanderbilt early decision, a condition for progressing to the final round.

He spent a day with other finalists, participating in various activities while being observed by admissions officers. At 9 p.m., he was called in for a Zoom meeting.

“They said, ‘Simon, we want to tell you that you made it,’” he said. “It was very personal.”

He rushed to share the news with his family. Every time he wins a scholarship, he sends screenshots of the award to his parents and calls his grandmother. He also shares the news with the counsellor who nominated him for Posse. (They were both disappointed when he failed to win the only scholarship which would have awarded her some prize money, too.)

Tchira’s advice to students applying for scholarships is to cast a wide net, build a strong support system, and remain open to learning throughout the process.

“Don’t count yourself out of any opportunity,” he said. “Apply for as many scholarships as you can, lean on the people around you for support, and be willing to learn as you go.”

If something doesn’t work out, “take your failures gracefully,” he added. “When I see, ‘we regret to inform you,’ I'm like, okay, that's fine. Acknowledge that you failed and improve upon it, but … it doesn't define you at all.”

To make it through the roller coaster of applying for scholarships, it is invaluable to surround yourself with those who build you up.

He is currently getting to know the students in his Posse cohort. They have weekly workshops designed “to be comfortable, and [to form] a mini family, so you're going into school knowing people,” he said.

“Everything just goes down to people. So, talk to everyone.”