Orcas SSIS student receives full-ride to Tufts University

Myla Ross was stunned when Tufts University awarded her a full-ride, five-year scholarship.

“It feels not very real,” laughed the 18-year-old Spring Street International School senior who lives on Orcas.

Next fall, Ross will be attending the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts, where she will pursue a BFA/BA 5-year dual degree with a major in fine arts and a minor in creative writing. The scholarship was awarded through Questbridge, a vetting program for high-achieving high school students that partners with 48 top U.S. colleges to provide full scholarships.

“I first heard about it from Spring Street’s college counselor last year,” Ross said. “It’s been such a lengthy process. I am very excited.”

The first round of the application process is the College Prep Scholars Award, which gives recipients tools to succeed in submitting college applications. Ross was accepted into that as a junior. This is followed by the National College Match process. Of the 17,900 applicants to that program in 2022, a total of 5,613 were selected as finalists, who then ranked up to 15 of the partner universities to apply as an early decision. From that grouping, the colleges’ admissions departments chose scholarship recipients. This year, 1,755 students were selected. Of this, Tufts, located in Massachusetts, matched 20 applicants, including Ross.

Ross has been a devoted artist since she was little and now works mainly with oil painting. Her art has been displayed at the Orcas Library and Orcas Center.

“I have a lot of really artistic people in my family. My dad is an incredible artist and my grandfather is too,” she said. “My grandmother always made sure the house was filled with any kind of art supply available.”

Ross is the daughter of Katelyn Nichols and Marvel Ross and the granddaughter of Paula Shuman. She attended Salmonberry School as an elementary student and says her love of creative pursuits, including writing, began there.

“We had these little journals that we’d write and draw in every morning. That’s where it started for me,” Myla said.

Her favorite medium now is poetry, short fiction and flash fiction, and she often combines all three. She was accepted into the Reynolds Young Writers Summer Workshop at Dennison University last summer.

Since middle school, Myla has attended Spring Street, where she says creative writing teachers like Heather June and art instructor Taylor Bruce have mentored her.

“Taylor has been super wanting and willing to meet with me after school and on weekends,” she said. “For one of the May terms during COVID, I did a month-long internship with her about portraitures.”

June says school staff has witnessed Myla “blossom into a consummate writer and visual artist who, at her core, loves and appreciates people, nature and philosophical discourse.”

“She gives of herself wholeheartedly and is one of the most contemplative and least judgmental people we know,” she said. “Myla says that she learned more last year than ever through the discussions in her AP English class, where she came to understand that, while it is almost impossible to remove one’s feelings, and in turn, one’s self, from a heated debate, the greater goal is to approach discourse with a sense of humor and flexibility that allows for genuine communication and growth. Myla will challenge herself and succeed, with uplifting aplomb. She benefits any learning community of which she is a part.”

Myla started playing piano in kindergarten as “a very reluctant student.”

“I was not on board with practicing every day but my grandmother made me stick with it, and it developed into this thing that I really love. I can just go to someone’s house and play them something,” she said.

Now Myla has had more than a decade of classical piano instruction from Catherine Pederson, who she describes as a “second grandmother.”

“Everyone has been so supportive of me to experiment and grow,” she said.

Myla loves to travel, and this spring will accompany a group of Spring Street students to India and Nepal. In her free time, she spends time with friends and walks her dog Taco. Myla also has a passion for swimming in the ocean, which she tries to do every day.

“It’s my source of rejuvenation,” she said.

In 10 years, Myla says it’s “safe to say” she will be writing and making art. She is planning to pursue a master’s degree abroad.

“Ultimately I would love to teach art at the college level,” she said.