NOTRE DAME PREP SENIORS AWARDED SPECIAL SCHOLARSHIP

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April 17, 2024

For information on admission to Notre Dame Prep, please click here. 

Academic record, strength of application essays, community service and personal qualities among scholarship criteria.

Notre Dame Prep seniors Xochitl Aranda, Diego Betancourt, Morgan Bissett, Julissa Diaz-Macias, Alondra Pedroza and Jose Turrubiartes Tapia have been awarded college scholarships sponsored by the Ric Gonzalez Memorial Foundation, joining a long list of Notre Dame Prep students who have earned the annual award.

The Ric Gonzalez Foundation, which since 2004 has been providing college scholarships to deserving Hispanic students living in Southeast Michigan, has so far conferred more than 150 scholarships totaling in excess of $500,000. The scholarship funds can be used toward whichever college or university the students choose to attend and can also be used for books and other necessary school supplies. 

The foundation was formed after the passing of Fredrick (Ric) Julian Gonzalez, co-founder of automotive- and aerospace-supplier Gonzalez Group, based in Pontiac, Mich. Applicants are evaluated on the following criteria: academic record, strength of application essays, community service and personal qualities.

 

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More on Fredrick (Ric) Gonzalez from the Ric Gonzalez Memorial Foundation:

Frederick, or Ric, as he was known to friends and family, was born in Detroit, Michigan on June 28, 1949. He was raised in Harper Woods, Michigan. In his time in the Grosse Pointe schools he became a star athlete and hHonor student. As a multi-year letterman in football and track, and carrying a 4.0 GPA, Ric set his sights on college and continuing his football career. However on December 30, 1967, that dream was cut short when he was involved in a head-on collision while returning from a skiing trip. Ric sustained multiple injuries and was left paralyzed from the chest down. Over the next eight months and through three hospitals, Ric began his slow recovery. While he would remain paralyzed the rest of his life, his achievements were exemplary.

Ric became an accomplished artist, guitar player and entrepreneur. He graduated from Princeton University in 1972 with a degree in aArchitecture and urban planning. After a few years spent traveling the country painting he began work at Smith, Hinchman & Grylls, a leading Detroit architecture firm. Working in a corporate structure never really suited Ric or his incredible lust for life. Change came in 1975 when he joined his father, Henry Gonzalez, to found Gonzalez Design Engineering Company. For nearly three decades Ric would lead the growth and diversification of the family–owned company building it into a $100 million a year organization with over 700 employees.

In 1980, Ric married his lovely wife, Ricca, a loving union that lasted until Ric’s passing in 2004. For a man confined to a wheelchair that might seem to be enough. Achieving “enough,” however, was not how Ric defined his life. He was involved in dozens of charitable causes. He made time in his own life to meet and talk with troubled youth in the Southwest Detroit community where his father grew up. And he sat on the Board of Directors of organizations dedicated to furthering higher education, minority business development and stemming gang violence. His ever-present smile would light up a room as he rolled in and his love of humanity could be felt by everyone he ever met.

While Ric was confined to his wheelchair for 36 years he was never defined by it. He brought to this world more than he ever took back and in so doing showed the world what it means to be a human being.
 
Check out the foundation’s website at www.rgmf.net or call 248-548-6010 for more information.

For information on admission to Notre Dame Prep, please click here.

Comments or questions? mkelly@ndpma.org

About Notre Dame Preparatory School
"At Notre Dame Prep, we inspire our students to become the best versions of themselves. We challenge them through an experience of academic excellence, focused on active, project-based learning. We invite them to explore a world of opportunities beyond the classroom. We guide them as they grow in spirituality within a community strong in its Catholic and Marist identity."

Notre Dame Preparatory School is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. Notre Dame Preparatory School's upper school enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame Prep's middle and lower schools enroll students in pre-kindergarten through grade eight. All three schools are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDP is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the National Association of Independent Schools. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School, visit the school’s home page at www.ndpma.org.