By 509J Communications
A Madras High senior will be heading to the University of Oregon after receiving a scholarship from the Ford Foundation.
Christina Thomas was born and raised in Warm Springs, Oregon. She is one of around 130 students who were selected to receive this scholarship. The scholarship will cover 90% of unmet college costs.
“I was super excited and I feel super blessed obviously,” Thomas said. “I am very grateful and fortunate for it.”
Throughout her time in the Jefferson County School District, Thomas has been an active student. She is involved with the National Honor Society, Leadership, Yearbook, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Key Club and Art Club.
She is a student-athlete. She played volleyball all four years at MHS, and played tennis for the last two. Before picking up the racket, she was part of the track team.
Thomas also was the student representative from MHS for the school board. She would give monthly reports to the board to let them know everything that was happening at Madras High.
“At school, I think I’m going to miss the support,” she said. “All my teachers know me, I know all my teachers. I’m going to miss my family.”
She plans on going the pre-med route and studying biochemistry while attending Oregon. Once she finishes that, she plans on attending medical school at the University of Washington.
“I want to become a physician and I want to advocate for more rural, Native American families like my community,” she said. “There’s just not a lot of representation in the medical field and I think that’s really important to be a role model and kind of set the standard.”
Thomas credits a number of teachers and staff members who helped her along the way. One of those is Sam Loza, who runs the Future Center at MHS.
“I’d like to thank Miss Loza for telling me to stop focusing on college applications and I need to focus on how I’m going to pay for college,” Thomas said.
Above everyone else though for Thomas is her mom, Shirelle Thomas. She wants to thank her mom for supporting her throughout the years.
“She has just been like the one stable person I always had, you know because obviously, I can’t do anything without her,” she said.
Thomas will walk across the stage to receive her diploma with the class of 2022 on June 4th.