Spunky Kahuku grad
wins $25,000 scholarship
Nothing's ever been easy for April Alvarez.
At 3 years old she was diagnosed with growth hormone deficiency, a disease that doctors said would stop her from doing just about everything. They said she wouldn't grow. They said she would never read or write. They said she had no short-term memory. They said she should just accept her fate and learn to live with the limitations.
But Alvarez didn't listen.
She worked her way through years of hormone treatment, learned to read and write, grew to 5 feet 4 inches (she's the tallest girl in her family), made the honor roll at Kahuku High School, plays water polo and paddles.
Next week, the 17-year-old Kahuku High senior will be on her way to Chicago to receive a $25,000 college scholarship.
The Discover Card Tribute Award was given to nine students selected from 4,500 applicants nationwide.
The recipients are chosen for their outstanding accomplishments in special talents, leadership and community service as well as for their academic performance.
"For every one success, April's had 10 failures," said her mother, Pam, "but she's not crushed by failure. She doesn't let anything stop her. There are always a million reasons why she shouldn't do something, but she does it anyway."
Alvarez plans to attend the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York next fall and hopes to study fashion design in Italy and eventually have her own line of clothing.
For right now, though, she is content to revel in her latest victory.
"Usually when something good happens, people say that it made their day," Alvarez said. "Well, getting this scholarship made my life."
This is the second year in a row that a Hawaii student is among the nine national winners for the Discover card Tribute Award. Last year, Jonathan James Eno, of Maui, received the award.