Young violinist wins free ride to college

To say she swam puts it mildly.

Today, Hernandez, 18, is preparing for college at Texas A&M University in College Station, where she will attend on a free ride all the way through graduate school, thanks to a Gates Millennium Scholars Program scholarship.

An accomplished violinist who performed for nine years with the Youth Orchestra of San Antonio, Hernandez is one of 1,000 students across the country to receive the award, which was started in 1999 with a $1 billion donation by Bill and Melinda Gates.

Hernandez was valedictorian of her class at Lanier High School. She's an inveterate overachiever who hasn't let a humble beginning — her father built their modest West Side home with his own two hands — prevent her from attaining a host of lofty goals. And she's dreaming big for the future.

“I'm a very competitive person,” she says, smiling and speaking in a soft voice. “I like winning.”

Hernandez got her start playing the violin — she also plays the viola — at the Good Samaritan Community Services center in her neighborhood. Youth orchestra classes there let young people learn how to play music and receive a free instrument. Her four younger siblings also attended the classes.

Soon the small home was filled with the sound of practicing fingers.

“Sometimes my parents would kick me outside to play,” Hernandez quips.

Early on she showed a keen aptitude for the strings.