Javier Bordallo Platero, a native of Villagarcía de la Torre and a student at IES Llerena, will study the next year in the US. He will obtain grade 11, which is the equivalent of our first year of high school. His grades obtained in the third year of ESO allowed him to qualify for the scholarships awarded annually by the Amancio Ortega Foundation. There are few students from Extremadura who have achieved this help. It is not easy to access them, due to the high academic level they require, although it is not the only case that we have had in our area or in our town.
The Amancio Ortega Foundation grants a total of 500 scholarships per course; 250 for Canada and 250 for the United States. Of that total, 80 are for Galician students and the rest are distributed among the rest of the autonomous communities. For the next course, the scholarship students in the province in addition to Javier, are from Don Benito, one student, and from Mérida, three. They will all go to the United States.
In his case, Javier Bordallo had more than the nine with three on average that he obtained in Third Year of ESO and also, his nine in English. The bases for being eligible for this aid are clear. What is necessary to access it is to have an average of seven and a half and an eight in English. The scholarship includes the financing of all expenses incurred during the trip and stay in the United States.
Once the requirements have been more than met by Javier Bordallo, the selection process includes a written exam, which was held in Cáceres last November and a personal interview and oral exam that they took from home via Skype, which was carried out out recently.
Javier and his family now have confirmation that he has been awarded the scholarship. This student also has some notions of what his next course will be like.
“Apart from the mandatory subjects that the Foundation imposes on you, such as the history of the host country, there are also the optional subjects that are conditioned by those that you need here to have your studies validated. That is to say, even if you can choose economics, if it is not validated here it is foolish to take it. We have to choose the ones that can validate you so that when we get here we can continue in second place”
And then, do you know what you’re going to do?
I want to pursue a science career so I will take science subjects but I still don’t know which ones because it depends on the educational center I have to go to because the electives may change.
Until now this family is only aware of the grant of the scholarship and the destination country chosen by Javier. In the coming months, the location will be confirmed.
He started to formalize the application “because he had always wanted to study abroad” and he did it with a friend who will not accompany him because she did not pass the tests.
With his sights set on finishing this course while maintaining his level and also on the novelty that starting high school in the United States will mean for his learning thanks to the Amancio Ortega Foundation, Javier, now with his scholarship awarded, is a source of pride for his parents although he express that “it is good that you are going to study so far away but you could have chosen somewhere closer” and for your teachers for whom you know that you must arrive at your destination with “a good level so as not to leave them in a bad place.”