Bishop Dunne’s Million Dollar Student: Krystal Garcia of Oak Cliff

​While many of Bishop Dunne’s Class of 2015 will head off to college this fall on scholarships, one student amassed over a million dollars’ worth of offers to attend their universities: Krystal Garcia.

"Krystal is one of the most dedicated and competitive students I have seen in all my years at Bishop Dunne,” says Mr. Meza, Moderator of the Los Latinos Unidos Club. Krystal was the club’s president this year, and a member of the club all four years in high school.

Fifteen different universities and colleges offered her scholarships, including Abilene Christian, Baylor, Houston Baptist, Iowa State, St. Edward’s, St. John’s, TCU and the University of Dallas. She accepted the Terry Foundation Scholarship, which will pay all her tuition and living expenses to attend Texas Tech University in Lubbock.

Greg Schettini, Campus Minister, math and chemistry teacher, met Krystal in her freshman year, and said of her, “Krystal is a perfectionist who allows herself to mess up and try again. When Krystal was a freshman, she told me that her goal was to get into the top 10% of her class. At the time, I saw her as a typical student who was very social, and maybe more interested in having fun than making good grades, so I asked her if she thought that was a realistic goal for her. Obviously, she was determined to prove me wrong.”
 
College Counselor Keisha Brown said of Krystal, “She was very pro-active in getting the information about the different scholarships available. If I advertised a new scholarship opportunity, Krystal was right there ready to take it.”
 
Krystal applied to every state school in Texas and was accepted to all of them. She applied for the Terry scholarship, and said, “I went to visit Texas Tech with my mom the week after prom and it was really great – I really do like it. I saw the teachers and a group of Terry scholarship winners there and saw where I’d be living, in Murray Hall.” That sealed the deal for her. “Texas Tech accepted me first, so I think it was meant to be,” she says.

She plans to study biology and go on to medical school to become a pediatrician.

She explains, “I really do love kids! I volunteer with different organizations like the Concillio. My mom and I are involved with the ‘Dream Big Project,’ which helps to get scholarships to those in the Latino community, especially first generation college students like me. I volunteered over the summer with Children’s Medical Center last year. The summer before that I went on the Bishop Dunne mission trip. After playing with the children in Honduras, I realized that people always need medicine.”

Ms. Lydia Torrez got to know Krystal on the mission trip to Nicaragua. “She was very quiet but she speaks Spanish, so was an incredible resource for us there. She was wonderful with the children, especially getting the games going. I could tell she enjoyed working with them.”
 
Her favorite teacher was on the mission trip that year. “Ms. York was my mission trip leader and I had just finished Spanish II. I’m bilingual, but I’ve never been confident in my ability to speak the language, but I was fine talking with the children. She told me how great I was doing and said, ‘You should take my pre-AP Spanish III class next year,’ which I did, and then ‘You should try in AP Spanish Language.’ I had her two years. She was really influential,” enthuses Krystal.

Another strong influence is her mother and grandmother, who are the biggest inspirations in her life. They sacrificed so much for their children, and Krystal works hard to make sure that what these women invested continues to pay dividends through her.
 
Krystal plans on attending medical school after college and then returning to Dallas to live and work. She knows when she’s at college she’ll miss her mother, Veronica, who works at the Bank of America, and her grandmother, Carmen, and grandfather, Ron, who also live with her in Oak Cliff.

But she’s ready for the next step in her life. She says, “You’re always more capable than you think. I never dreamed I’d get this scholarship. It’s amazing.”

Ms. Keisha Brown, Bishop Dunne’s College Counselor, encourages the class of 2016 to apply for as many scholarships as possible. “You only can be considered if you apply by the deadline.” She sends out weekly announcements about available scholarship opportunities. Most colleges are happy to have Bishop Dunne students apply for financial scholarships.

Krystal’s list below is an example of what is available:

Abilene Christian University - $60,000

Baylor University - $56,000

Coe College - $80,000

College of St. Mary - $56,000

Houston Baptist University - $70,000

Iowa State University - $38,000

St. Catherine's University Presidential Scholarship - $84,000

St. Catherine's University Venture Scholarship - $20,000

St. Edward's University President's Merit Scholarship - $72,000

St. John's University - $95,000

Terry Foundation Scholarship (full ride) - $88,800

Texas Christian University Founders Scholarship - $40,000

Texas Tech University Presidential Scholarship - $12,000

University of Dallas Paul Wood Scholarship (full tuition award) - $133,440

University of Dallas President's Scholarship - $88,000

University of Houston Academic Excellence Scholarship - $18,000

University of Mary Hardin-Baylor - $20,000

Total Awarded - $1,031,240

For more information on Bishop Dunne Cathoic School see the school's website at www.bdcs.org. Bishop Dunne has a number of summer camps for both athletics and academics. Contact Tim Hall for information on the academic camps: thall@bdcs.org. To learn more about sports at Bishop Dunne see: www.Dunnesports.com.