The set was made for children, but it meant a lot to López, who until then had done her homework on the bed, the bus or the subway. As she and her mother moved from place to place in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx, she cherished the miniature furniture because it gave her a space all her own.
“The table and the chair became a motivation for me to keep going and keep doing my homework and pursue my dream of higher education,” she said.
Her drive paid off. López is a star student at the Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics and has participated in extracurricular activities like the Model United Nations.
And she is one of 10 students chosen this year for The New York Times College Scholarship Program, which means she will get up to $15,000 in financial assistance for every year of college, as well as mentoring and internship opportunities with The New York Times Co.
The scholarship, which is financed by reader donations and an endowment fund, has helped hundreds of students afford tuition at top-tier universities.
This year’s winners shared their experiences with homelessness, poverty and abuse. They described family members’ struggles with mental illness and addiction. They recalled traumatic experiences that, ultimately, motivated them to fight for change.
“I just want to stop the cycle, because it’s just too much pain,” said Davina Scott, 19, who witnessed devastating violence growing up in Jamaica and systemic injustice in Queens, where she lives now. She has been accepted to Howard University and wants to study political science and criminal justice.
Anchal Malh, 17, was evicted from her home in Queens on the night before her 12th birthday. Despite a period of homelessness, she excelled in school. This year, she will become the first woman in her family to attend college. For girls in future generations, she said, “it’s my responsibility to make sure that they have a woman in the family to look up to.”
Melanie Earle, 17, was involved in a car crash four years ago, leaving her with post-traumatic stress that she struggled to talk about for a long time. She hopes to use her scholarship to pursue mechanical engineering, humanitarian studies and maybe a language or two.
Jaylen Campbell, 17, earned top grades in middle school but was frustrated when his efforts did not improve life for his family in Brooklyn. So he collected bottles and cans on the street to recycle for a nickel apiece. Now he feels the academic work is paying off. Another scholarship has taken him to China, and in college, he wants to study engineering and use it to improve people’s lives.
Nefertari Elshiekh, 18, worked several jobs to support her family and still became an honor student. She was so grateful for the education she received that she is determined to become an elementary schoolteacher — and to fight for fair educational policies.
Hanah Jun, 17, watched her mother struggle with mental illness while she and her grandmother did their best to stay afloat in Queens. But Jun also excelled as a volleyball player and musician, participated in student government and held part-time jobs. She is passionate about the environment and open-minded about her career. “I just want to help people,” she said. “I think that through everything, I’ve developed a very strong sense of empathy.”
Jun and several other scholarship winners described their favorite young adult novels or comic books with infectious enthusiasm, explaining that they found role models in fiction when they could not find them in real life. But the nonfiction was less comforting: In essays and interviews, all 10 pointed to recent news headlines that had left them unnerved or afraid.
Salma Elsayed, 17, a model student who taught English to girls in Egypt in 2017, was struck by news reports of teachers going on strike across the United States. “The issue of education in this country is constantly something I think about, and the disparities that students face,” she said.
Derek Rodriguez, 17, said news reports about children being separated from their parents at the U.S. border with Mexico struck a raw nerve. He could relate. His stepfather was taken away by immigration agents who stormed his home when he was 5. “That was the point when I had to grow up,” he said.
Rodriguez wants to become an international businessman and see the world. Elsayed, inspired by activists in her own community, is considering running for office.
Runnie Exuma, 17, has creative ideas about what she might like to study in college — something that combines technology, humanities and the arts. And as an activist, she has already worked for racial justice and immigrants’ rights. “Any activist work I do is connected in a way,” she said. “It’s a struggle that we’re all fighting for.”
These students know a scholarship will not make their problems disappear. When Jun learned in late February that she was a winner, she was in the parking lot of a funeral home, mourning her mother’s death. Scott said that her half sister, Latrar Scott, 25, went missing more than a year ago and still had not been found. And while Campbell’s achievements have earned him travel opportunities and academic accolades, he still collects bottles from time to time to raise extra money for his family.
“I still want to help with groceries,” he said.
The students are following in the footsteps of nearly 300 others who entered The New York Times College Scholarship Program before them, like Dextina Booker, 25, who was a member of the 2011 cohort.
Booker earned her bachelor’s degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is pursuing a master’s in integrated design and management. Ultimately, she plans to go into academia.
During her undergraduate years, she learned to appreciate everything she has overcome — not only because the difficulties made her stronger, but also because they gave her a useful perspective. “A lot of the ideas that I come up with stem from my background, from the people I know and the things they need,” she said.
Booker added that the scholarship’s mentorship opportunities made her feel less alone among college classmates who had grown up in relative privilege.
“Having someone there who understands even the basic things about you — you feel seen,” she said. “It feels like you’re not alone.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.