Living the Dream
Scholarship opportunities got Angelo State on Uvalde native Tressa Reading’s radar, and then a campus visit convinced her to join the Ram Family.
“A huge goal of mine was to graduate from college debt free,” Reading said. “So I researched all the major scholarships available at different universities. I applied to a dozen Texas schools and then started going on campus tours.”
“When I walked into ASU’s University Center, cheerleaders, dancers and the band were there to welcome us,” she continued. “They were super excited to see us, and that was really different. It stuck with me. After that visit, I knew I wanted to go to ASU.”
“Because of the scholarships, I’m not constantly worried about working to support myself or pay for college. I can invest that time and effort into extracurricular activities.”
Now a senior mathematics major in the Pre-Health Professions Program, Reading has been awarded one of the largest ASU Distinguished Scholarships, a New Family Honors Scholarship, a Mathematics Department Scholarship and several ASU general scholarships. To say she has made the most of them would be an extreme understatement.
“Because of the scholarships, I’m not constantly worried about working to support myself or pay for college,” Reading said. “I can invest that time and effort into extracurricular activities, like trying to grow our Math Club, being secretary of the Honors Student Association, and volunteering with the Children’s Advocacy Center. I’m also a Hospice volunteer and I did an internship at Shannon Hospital.”
Reading has also participated in WHIT tutoring for foster care youth and completed over 200 hours of job shadowing with different physicians. All of that helped lead to her being awarded early acceptance to the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine, where she will start in August 2024.
And when she walks the stage at ASU commencement next spring, she will achieve her original goal.
“Knowing that I’m going to graduate from ASU without any debt gives me incredible peace of mind,” Reading said. “Knowing that the only debt I’ll have to focus on in the future is for medical school is a blessing. I just feel very blessed to have received these opportunities.”
“Knowing that I’m going to graduate from ASU without any debt gives me incredible peace of mind. I just feel very blessed to have received these opportunities.”
“Through my volunteering, I’ve met a lot of the people who donate to those nonprofit programs and also to ASU,” she added. “They are just so generous. The fact that they are willing to help so much enables individual students to have better peace of mind about their finances and be able to focus on their academic interests and activities. I’m incredibly grateful that they chose me.”