Morgan Zetts, Telstar 2024 graduate Kate Michaud Photography

BETHEL — Telstar High School principal John Eliot said this is the first time that two students at Telstar have been awarded the Mitchell Scholarship in the same year.

Kyra Rose-Espinoza, Telstar 2024 submitted photo

The 2024 graduates are Morgan Zetts and Kyra Rose-Espinoza.

The Mitchell Institute is a Maine-based nonprofit scholarship and research organization founded by Senator George J. Mitchell to improve college outcomes for students from every community in Maine.

Rose-Espinoza and Zetts are two of the 184 recipients of the Mitchell Scholarship, representing public high schools statewide. They will each receive a $10,000 scholarship, as well as ongoing leadership and professional development programming and supplemental funding opportunities for activities related to career development.

Rose-Espinoza is headed to Johnson and Wales University in Rhode Island where she will pursue a degree in Baking and Pastry Arts. She said, “I’m so grateful for all the scholarships I have received this year, college is possible because of them and all my hard work and I want Telstar students to realize that there are opportunities out there for them, they just have to be willing to go after them!”

Zetts will study nursing at the University of Southern Maine. Said Zetts, “I am super grateful for the opportunity to be selected as one of the Mitchell Scholars this year! I can’t wait to begin my next journey at the University of Southern Maine with this extra help!”

The scholars
The 2024 class of Mitchell Scholars will pursue their academic goals and career aspirations with the support of the broader Mitchell Institute community, including more than 3,600 alumni who mentor Mitchell Scholars and provide them with career networking opportunities.

When they matriculate at colleges and universities in Maine and across the nation, the new class of 184 Mitchell Scholars will join 458 currently enrolled Scholars, who, collectively, will receive more than $6 million in awards from the Mitchell Institute during their college careers. With financial and programmatic support from the Mitchell Institute, 89% of Mitchell Scholars complete college and achieve a degree, compared with 62% nationally, and more than 90% earn all A’s and B’s in their college courses.

Casey Near, scholarship director at the Mitchell Institute, oversaw the selection committee’s holistic review of more than 1,500 Mitchell Scholarship applications in 2024 that considered high school students’ academic history, community impact, and degree of financial need.

“Our applicants this year truly wowed us with their aspirations, their courage, and their accomplishments,” Near said. “By every measure, our 2024 recipients are exceptional.”

Forty-two percent of the 2024 Mitchell Scholars were inducted into their school’s chapter of the National Honor Society. Outside the classroom, 82% worked during the school year, they volunteered an average of 61 hours annually, and nearly one-third were captains of a varsity sport. Seventy-two percent reported having a household income below the state median, and nearly half will be the first in their family to attend college of any kind.

“From their letters of recommendation, we have students described as the fabric of the school, a force to be reckoned with, no better citizen, and a league of their own,” Near said. “We have valedictorians, Maine Principal’s Award recipients, Upward Bound participants, student body presidents, college-level researchers, and three-sport athletes. We have big siblings who provide for their families and young people who have lived through incredible tumult. They truly represent the best of Maine. We are so proud of all these students have accomplished and all they aspire to.”

The Institute

Founded by Senator George J. Mitchell, the Mitchell Institute’s core mission is to improve the likelihood that young people from every community in Maine will aspire to, pursue, and achieve a college education. By awarding more than $1.8 million in college scholarship funds to students from every community in Maine, the Mitchell Institute unlocks the potential of the state’s young people so that they can find success in college and contribute to the vitality of their communities.

In addition to providing each Mitchell Scholar with a $10,000 scholarship, the Mitchell Institute provides support programs for leadership development and supplemental funding opportunities for activities related to career and professional development. This combination of personal, professional, and financial support makes college degrees more attainable for Mitchell Scholars, who graduate at a rate 30% higher than the national average and are more likely than their peers to work in Maine or return to the state after graduating from college.