A Katy teen whose WhatsApp community helped her secure a full-ride college scholarship will become the first person in her family to attend college. In her pursuit of higher education, Melanie Haro-Cortes found support through the nonprofit Seeds of Fortune, an organization that helps young women from diverse backgrounds access higher education. Leveraging the power of WhatsApp Communities, she connected with peers across Texas in the program who share similar backgrounds, and through this community gained access to information about financial aid, college prep support, and more.

Haro-Cortes is a recent graduate from Morton Ranch High School, who will be attending Claremont Mckenna College on a scholarship, majoring in economics with a finance sequence. She was a member of Seeds of Fortune’s 2024 class, participating in their Innovation Research Program.

"As an eager and curious rising high school senior, I yearned to participate in greater enlightening experiences - the motivation that led me towards Seeds of Fortune through extensive research on Scholarships.com,” said Harto-cortes.” I impulsively applied to the organization’s ‘Innovation Research’ program, which pairs selected students with Fortune 500 companies to complete consulting-based projects. After experiencing the privilege to meet professional lawyers from my appointed law firm, receive valuable college application insights, and connect with other bright girls,”

“I applied for the Seeds of Fortune ambassador board to further spread the organization’s vast opportunity,” Harto-cortes said. “Seeds of Fortune played an influential role throughout my senior year, helping me maintain a balance between my additional extracurricular involvements in multiple honors societies, community service, Future Business Leaders of America, and an internship. As a recent graduate from Morton Ranch High School, I will now be attending Claremont Mckenna College on a scholarship. I aspire to discover more new involvements, complete research in a foreign country, and continue spreading professional, educational, and financial knowledge amongst more young women. "In the future, I ultimately aspire to attend law school to become a lawyer."