Mineola High School 10th-grader Yesenia Hanif was named the grand prizewinner in the Univision/ACT Contest, Sweet 15: A Dream Achieved Contest. Hosted by Univision’s Despierta America morning show, the purpose of the contest was to inspire girls to showcase their academic skills and to provide financial assistance to help students realize their postsecondary dreams.
As the grand prizewinner, she earned her a $50,000 scholarship.
Yesenia learned of the contest from her mom after watching Despierta America at home one morning, and urged Yesenia to apply.
After meeting application qualifications (including a minimum GPA of 3.5), and completing a series of challenges, Yesenia appeared on the program several times throughout the fall and earned one of the top three prizes, which was a paid quinceanera, held on Dec. 7, 2018 at a local venue. To her surprise and excitement, later that month it was announced on air that she was the show’s grand prizewinner after answering the question: “If you were invincible for a day, what would do?”
“I’m very excited and grateful to know that I have a financial security blanket to allow me to achieve and pursue my goals without fear of college debts,” Yesenia said of the prize. “Everyone here in Mineola was so supportive, even as I frequently had to fly to Miami to be on the show.”
