Riscilla Colelay

May 07, 2017

Riscilla Ashley Colelay is currently a senior at Desert Christian High School in Tucson, Arizona. Riscilla is Apache and was raised below the poverty level on the White Mountain Apache Reservation in the White Mountains of Arizona. She has lived with host families for the four years she has attended Desert Christian High School in Tucson. Her tuition has been provided by scholarships from the Arizona Leadership Foundation and other organizations. She feels very thankful, “I have experienced so much of this big world by coming to Tucson to go to school and I am so grateful for the doors this has opened for me.”

Ricialla’s favorite class is advanced biology. She has been able to take two advanced biology field trips to California to study sea life. She also has been involved with Desert Christian by playing on the volleyball and basketball teams. She loves to travel, shop and take care of younger children.

Ricialla feels like Desert Christian has offered her a higher level of education than the previous schools she attended in White Mountains. She thrives on having the advanced classes and considers this one of the reasons she will be more prepared for college. With her academic achievements, she has received grants and scholarships and will be attending Northern Arizona University in the fall of 2017. She plans to study nursing at NAU and hopes to one day work in a pediatric related medical field.