As graduation approaches for the Class of 2019, members of the senior class are preparing to go to college and begin the next chapter of their lives. For Zyan Wynn, a boarding student from the Atlanta area, his next chapter will come with a big assist from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Mr. Wynn has been selected as a 2019 Gates Millennium Scholar, and he will use his award to attend Princeton University in the fall. Mr. Wynn has had an outstanding career at McCallie as a scholar and student leader and was named the winner of the Campbell Award as one of the top students from the Class of 2019, said officials.
The Gates Millennium Scholars Program, funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was established in 1999 to reduce the barriers to college for diverse student populations with a significant financial need. The program provides these students students with an opportunity to complete an undergraduate college education in any discipline area of interest.
“Zyan has been a leader on this campus since the day he arrived,” Headmaster Lee Burns ’87 said. “He was going to succeed wherever he went to college, but this scholarship will help him reach his full potential at one of the most prestigious universities in the nation.
“The Gates Foundation made a great choice, and I know Zyan will take full advantage of this opportunity.”
Mr. Wynn has been involved in a multitude of service projects in his time at McCallie, and he is a leader in and out of the classroom. He has taken a leadership role in the school’s yearly day of service during each of his four years at McCallie, and he has helped organize several charitable efforts and service projects. He served as a resident assistant in Pressly Hall this year, helping lead incoming freshmen through their first year on McCallie’s campus.
Mr. Wynn will be awarded the 2019 Billy Michal Student Leadership Award by the National WWII Museum in New Orleans. Zyan is the first McCallie student ever to receive this award.
In 2018, he was a national finalist in the National History Day competition with his documentary film about Carter Woodson, the man who invented Negro History Week, which eventually evolved into Black History Month. His film was shown in the Oprah Winfrey Theater at the National Museum of African-American History and Culture on the mall in Washington, D.C.
Upon finishing their undergraduate studies, Gates Millennium Scholars may request funding for a graduate degree program in one of the following discipline areas: computer science, education, engineering, library science, mathematics, public health or science.