Dayton claims four of Ohio’s 16 Gates scholars

Foundation will pay for all college expenses, including grad school.

Dayton Public Schools had a record four Gates scholarship winners for the class of 2009. Recipients are (from left) Amber Sizemore, Christina Martindale, India Brown and Charles Wilkes II.

Staff photo by Ty Greenlees Dayton Public Schools had a record four Gates scholarship winners for the class of 2009. Recipients are (from left) Amber Sizemore, Christina Martindale, India Brown and Charles Wilkes II.

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Photos: Gates scholarship winners

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By Anthony Gottschlich, Staff Writer Updated 9:30 PM Wednesday, April 22, 2009

DAYTON — A record four Dayton high school seniors have captured scholarships from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that will cover all of their college expenses — medical, law and graduate school included.

The four Gates Millennium Scholars, introduced Wednesday, April 22, during a ceremony at Dayton Public Schools’ central office, represent a fourth of Ohio’s Gates winners this year. Only Columbus has more at five.

Three winners said when their academic careers are over they want to return to Dayton, home to the families, teachers and others who have helped them.

“They’ve given me so much,” said Amber Sizemore of Thurgood Marshall High School. “Everybody wants to leave Dayton, but I want to return to help rebuild it.”

Sizemore, an 18-year-old aspiring pediatric orthodontist and daughter of Katherine Sizemore, plans to attend Spellman College in Atlanta.

India Brown, also a senior at Thurgood Marshall, plans to attend Ohio State University to study mechanical engineering, then pursue a doctorate before returning to Dayton.

“I feel like the community has already given me so much, I want to come back and give back to it,” said Brown, the daughter of Dara Brown and Arthur Lynch of Dayton.

Same for Charles Wilkes II, a 16-year-old student at Dayton Early College Academy, a charter school sponsored by Dayton schools and operated by the University of Dayton. He wants to attend Morehouse College in Atlanta, then enter business or medical school at an Ivy League university.

“I think that it’s very important that I come back and make a difference,” said Wilkes, son of Theressa Brooks of Dayton and Charles Wilkes of Toledo.

Christina Martindale, a 17-year-old senior at Stivers School for the Arts, is headed to the University of Pennsylvania, where tuition, room and board total about $50,000 a year.

The aspiring nurse and daughter of Suzanne Martindale said a return to Dayton is a possibility, but it’s too early to say.

“There’s so much in the world, I don’t know,” Martindale said.

Administered by the United Negro College Fund, the Gates program awards 1,000 scholarships annually to “outstanding minority students with significant financial need,” according to its Web site, ww.gmsp.org.

To date, Dayton Public Schools has had 15 Gates scholars since the Gateses established the program with a $1 billion endowment in 1999. Ten are from Stivers, which was ranked with DECA as among the nation’s best public high schools in a December issue of U.S. News and World Report.

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