{"id":103263,"date":"2021-08-17T16:36:38","date_gmt":"2021-08-17T23:36:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=103263"},"modified":"2021-08-17T16:41:30","modified_gmt":"2021-08-17T23:41:30","slug":"quartz-hill-high-school-student-wins-nasa-armstrong-scholarship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2021\/08\/17\/quartz-hill-high-school-student-wins-nasa-armstrong-scholarship\/","title":{"rendered":"Quartz Hill High School student wins NASA Armstrong scholarship"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure id=\"attachment_103264\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-103264\" style=\"width: 674px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Divonte-Williams.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-103264\" src=\"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Divonte-Williams.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"674\" height=\"495\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Divonte-Williams.jpg 674w, https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Divonte-Williams-300x220.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 674px) 100vw, 674px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-103264\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Divonte Williams [Photo courtesy: Tameka Williams]<\/figcaption><\/figure>PALMDALE &#8211; <strong>Divonte Williams &#8212; <\/strong>a 2021 Quartz Hill High School graduate who successfully balanced academics, soccer, choir, and volunteer work &#8212; was recently awarded the NASA Armstrong Employee Exchange Council\u2019s <em>2021 Thomas W. Finch Memorial Scholarship<\/em>. The scholarship is available to sons and daughters of Armstrong employees and offers $2,000 per year for up to four years, contingent on full-time enrollment and a 3.0 GPA.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe scholarship was extremely completive,\u201d said Randy Thompson, scholarship committee chairman. \u201cThrough a blind evaluation process, Divonte Williams was the scholarship board\u2019s unanimous selectee. We are pleased to award the scholarship to such an incredibly dedicated student, and we wish him the best in his educational endeavors.\u201d<\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; margin-top: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; \" id=\"theav-878749798\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4504301096758439\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block; text-align:center;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-4504301096758439\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"5907184250\" \ndata-ad-layout=\"in-article\"\ndata-ad-format=\"fluid\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>Divonte is the son of <strong>Tameka Williams<\/strong>, who is an accountant at the center, and <strong>Damone Williams Sr.<\/strong> Williams\u2019 stepparents are <strong>Jerald Herron<\/strong> and <strong>LaShondra Williams.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am proud of his determination and commitment to accomplishing what he sets his mind to, including academics and sports,\u201d Tameka Williams said. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t give up. He naturally has the drive and determination to accomplish his goals.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Divonte said his motivation to go to college began with his parents instilling in him the value of education and knowledge. As a kid, one of his hobbies was rock collecting. That interest grew into a career path, which he plans to begin with studying geological sciences this fall at California State University, Northridge. He is looking forward to guidance from his older brother, <strong>Damone Williams Jr.<\/strong>, who also attends the university.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI plan to gain hands-on knowledge and experience throughout my college career by taking advantage of all training, opportunities and other programs that become available,\u201d Divonte wrote in his essay. He states that he would love to land a job with NASA, which would give him the opportunity to work with geoscience research teams.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to study theories and hypotheses about the earth\u2019s crust and develop my own hypothesis about what happens in the deeper layers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Divonte achieved a 3.14 GPA in his academic studies at Quartz Hill High School. He was captain of the varsity soccer team and was the goalkeeper. He also participated in the Quartz Hill High School Chamber Singers and the school\u2019s Acapella choir. In addition, his community service included volunteering with the Skid Row motorcycle club <em>Feed the Homeless<\/em> in 2019 and 2020 and with the <em>Popeye Toy Run<\/em> in 2017-2019.<\/p>\n<p>The Exchange Council scholarships are named for five former NASA Armstrong employees, with honorees selected on a rotating basis.<\/p>\n<h6><em>[Information via news release from NASA&#8217;s Armstrong Flight Research Center.]<\/em><\/h6>\n<p>&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PALMDALE &#8211; Divonte Williams &#8212; a 2021 Quartz Hill High School graduate who successfully balanced academics, soccer, choir, and volunteer work &#8212; was recently awarded the NASA Armstrong Employee Exchange Council\u2019s 2021 Thomas W. Finch Memorial Scholarship. The scholarship is available to sons and daughters of Armstrong employees and offers $2,000 per year for up [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":103264,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29,1499,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103263"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}