Congratulations To Christopher Echanique and his parents Robert and Yolanda

Congratulations to our own Christopher Echanique who was awarded the coveted Gates Millennium Scholarship, which has an estimated value of $250,000 and can provide for all of his financial needs through graduate school.

Echanique is the first senior in Hernando County to receive the prestigious Gates scholarship, which aims to help African-American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian Pacific Islander American and Hispanic American students with high academic and leadership promise.

Ranked seventh in his graduating class, Echanique earned a 4.24 weighted grade point average, demonstrated financial need and showed leadership skills at the school. Computer engineering is a good choice for him, said his mother, Yolanda Echanique. It combines creativity, math, and computers — all the things he loves.

His parents, Yolanda and Robert Echanique, own Echanique & Son Mechanical Corp. in Spring Hill, which installs commercial air conditioning systems at places like CVS. An older brother, Andrew, is a student at the University of Florida.

When Echanique is done at UCF, he said he might aim for a job at Microsoft. Or maybe, with the help of the Gates Scholarship, he'll pursue a master's degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he said.