POMONA – Diamond Ranch High School senior Brendan Chin is one of 1,000 students from across the nation selected to receive a Gates Millennium Scholarship, providing him with a good-through-graduation scholarship to any college or university of his choice.

The Pomona Unified student was chosen from among tens of thousands of applicants for the Millennium Scholar Program, established in 1999 through a $1.6 billion grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Winners of the scholarship were officially announced May 1.

“It is with great pride and joy to announce that one of our stellar students has been selected to receive this award and make his dreams of pursuing higher education a reality,” said Board of Education President Andrew Wong. “This speaks volumes of the caliber of students Pomona Unified produces and the academic and social support our schools provide to prepare them for the 21st century workplace.”

Chin will use the scholarship to pursue a degree in computer science at UC San Diego.

“This award is a huge honor and I am so grateful to have gotten this opportunity,” Chin said. “I want to thank Diamond Ranch, my teachers and peers for supporting me throughout this journey. I hope to make my alma mater proud.”

The Millennium Scholarship program helps high-performing students attain their dream of attending four-year universities and colleges through graduate school. Each year, it enables 5,000 students to attend and graduate from 800 of the most selective private and public schools in the country, including Ivy League colleges, flagship state universities, United Negro College Fund member institutions and other minority-serving universities, according to UNCF.

“This is yet another example that our young people of Pomona Unified can compete with the best of the best,” Superintendent Richard Martinez said. “This scholarship will provide Brendan, who has done phenomenal work at Diamond Ranch, the opportunity to excel in his chosen field and become a model of our next generation of leaders.”