This year, five Utah students were named Gates Millennium Scholars, a program that provides scholarships for five years of undergraduate school and potentially five years of graduate fellowship in selected fields

Established in 1999, the program was initially funded by a $1 billion grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and aims to provide an opportunity to go to college for outstanding minority students with significant financial need.

One thousand scholarships, out of around 11,000 applicants, are awarded yearly to black, Hispanic, American Indian/Alaskan and Asian/Pacific Islander students with high academic and leadership promise in hopes of increasing representation of those groups in disciplines where they are severely underrepresented.

The program has funded more than 11,000 scholars attending more than 1,300 different colleges and universities since its inception. Utah winners this year include:

Raya Wall

When 18-year-old Raya Wall heads to Smith College in Massachusetts later this year, she expects to have to discover herself all over again.

Throughout the year, Wall, who attends the Academy of Math, Engineering and Science, has been active in the community working with Salt Lake Neighborhood Housing Services to build a garage on a home and renovate others, with the help of a group of 11 other students. She teaches drug and alcohol classes to youths, tutors children and provides free child care to her neighbors.

Of American Indian ancestry, she was born and raised in Utah and plays the bass guitar in a community-based Brazilian percussion band Samba Gringa.

She is excited to "establish my own independence" at the all-girls college in Northampton, where she hopes to study English and later enter the medical program.

John Ioane

Riverton High senior John Ioane isn't the first one in his family to receive the Gates Millennium Scholarship. His sister also received the award a few years ago. But he said being named a winner and having the opportunity to have his school paid for has taken a huge load off of his shoulders.

Aside from earning a high GPA and being an outstanding student, Ioane is also a star athlete in football and track and field, throwing the discus, shot put and javelin. He is also a member of the school's student senate, and his favorite subject is math.

Ioane moved to Utah from American Samoa in 2005 and is the middle child among eight brothers and sisters.

He plans to attend Utah State University to pursue an engineering degree and then go on to earn a master's and a doctorate. He also hopes to be a member of USU's track and field team.