Minas Gerais Agency | A student from the Sol de Minas State Network wins a scholarship worth R$2 million to study at an American university

The passion for science and the search for scientific knowledge motivated Malu Bustamante, 18 years old, to take the first steps on the path that will lead her to obtaining a scholarship worth 2 million Brazilian riyals to study at a university in the United States. united. A student at Mario Goulart Santiago State School, in the city of Pederalva, south of Minas Gerais, Malu was the only Brazilian selected by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to study, as of August 2023, in the Scientific Management course at Claremont McKenna College, California.

Malou is delighted that this dream has come true. “I was so happy to be selected and to win this scholarship. The result came on the day I graduated from my third year of high school. When I read the selection acceptance letter, I thought it was a lie,” celebrates the student. She says that one of the institution’s criteria for choosing its name was its school performance, since the ninth grade of elementary school. The process I participated in to apply for the scholarship started in 2020, still in the pandemic period, and lasted about two and a half years.

Science has been a part of Malou’s life for a long time and has become more present in the past three years, prompting her to dedicate herself to winning the scholarship. During high school, I participated in national competitions, and in 2020, I started developing research and publishing on the social media platform. In 2021, she participated in the Brazilian Olympiad in Astronomy and Astronautics (OBA), where she won a gold medal. At the Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad for Public Schools (Obmep), she won a bronze medal.

“It is an opportunity to see how science works around the world to provide examples already applied in Brazil in countries that are at the forefront in this field, such as India, the USA and China. I want to contribute to the greater recognition of the region, because technology goes hand in hand with people. I intend to return to Brazil after graduation and work in the field of implementing innovative technologies, such as nanotechnology, quantum computing, and computer-brain interface, because I am very familiar with these lines of research.

The Deputy Principal of Mario Goulart Santiago State School, Teresinha Aparecida Rodriguez, spoke about the importance of this award, seeing a student from her school gain international recognition. “I started in 2007 as a teacher, I was a supervisor and vice principal and now I’m going to be principal. My role has always been to support the students. Through remote teaching, I realized Malou excelled. I always supported her and told her she could get anywhere if she just believed. It wasn’t I have the slightest doubt that she will achieve this feat because of her commitment and dedication, she has always been an exemplary student, and was able to relate the project she was involved in outside the unit with her studies at school,” confirmed Theresienha.

For a student, in public school, there are many talents to be discovered by the world. Mallo stated, “What I want most is not to be an exception among the thousands of public school students, so that in the future this can become a reality for everyone.”

Now, the student expects to stay for four years on US soil until she completes her graduation. For Malou, the future is long, as a long journey outside of Brazil awaits him. She hopes that science will be the bridge that will lead her to dive into this great universe that the student knows with the words of William Shakespeare: “I can live short and consider myself the king of the infinite space.”