CHS Senior Wins $20K KFC Foundation Scholarship

COVENTRY, RI — CHS senior Bailey Borkowski’s  April 1, 824 Tiogue Avenue KFC shift started with a surprise party with family and coworkers celebrating her $20,000 KFC Foundation Scholarship win, which she’ll use at Brown University.

Bailey, a KFC Team Member at the local restaurant, plans to use the scholarship for tuition as she studies biology at Brown, aiming to become a physician. Her current preference is cardiology, she says. Attending the surprise, gathered in the KFC dining area, were her co-workers, including KFC Director of Operations Alice Gomes, Area Manager Tabitha Munroe, and General Manager Alex Gutierez.

They described Bailey as a cheerful, reliable colleague, and studious.

“She’s a great worker. She always has a positive attitude,” said Gutierez.

“She even does her homework here,” during her off-time, said Munroe.

They know Bailey is focused on her studies, and have been cheering on her scholarship application. Munroe said she and Bailey’s other colleagues learned she had won the scholarship March 19, and have been working hard to keep it under wraps until the big reveal. Bailey had been asking about the scholarship in the last few weeks, he said, but he didn’t let it slip.

For her part, Bailey said she was truly surprised. “There was just no way of knowing for sure if I was going to receive anything. I mean, hundreds of thousands of people run in this, all over the country,” she said. Bailey said she hasn’t learned yet what about her essay application won the scholarship. She said she’ll use it for tuition at Brown.

“This alone will absolutely make a huge dent. It covers about half of a full year,’ Bailey said. She’s still waiting to hear about other scholarships she’s applied to. She’ll study biology as an undergrad, and aim for medical school, likely cardiology. “But, we’ll see,” she said.

Her acceptance to Brown was for their program in medical education, which saves her the trouble of re-applying to medical school, allowing direct admittance to their medical program after undergraduate graduation. It won’t save her time, but she won’t need to take the MCAT, which would involve a lot of additional studying.

Bailey’s dad, Chris Borkowski, manager of the KFC at Quaker Lane in West Warwick, was alerted to Bailey’s win a few days before the surprise party. He had to exercise a little parental authority to make sure Bailey’s schedule stayed on track for April 1. She has a busy schedule, including dance classes and after-school clubs.

“I just pulled the dad card,” said Chris, who was at the Coventry location early while Bailey’s mom, Hye-Young, drove her in to work for what she thought was a normal shift.

Also attending the surprise, were Bailey’s grandparents, Walter and Joanne Borkowski, her aunt Jennifer Manni and her son Joseph, her uncle, Warwick Post Editor Rob Borkowski, and great aunt and uncle John and Pamela Algiere.

Borkowski Details KFC Foundation Scholarship Essay

In her application, Bailey said she’s inspired by her mother’s journey to the United States in search of opportunity, where she and Chris met and married in 2008. Since then Hye Young earned U.S. citizenship and a nursing degree, and a job at Rhode Island Hospital as a Registered Nurse, working the Renal Department.

Bailey wrote in her application that she’s grown up with a deep appreciation for sacrifice, resilience and the pursuit of something greater.

“I didn’t know that they had published that,” Bailey said when asked about the remarks released by the Foundation. “It’s definitely something that’s very special to me. And she’s my biggest supporter, always and forever. Her passion and her perseverance is absolutely something that I revere. It’s something that I always keep in mind, day to day.”

Bailey said Chris let her know about the scholarship and helped her apply as she dealt with some of the more detailed parts of the questions.

“I think their character, both, is just very hard-working, very inspiration and is part of it is absolutely why I am the way I am today,” Bailey said.

Bailey is among more than 300 KFC® restaurant employees nationwide awarded a total of $2 million in scholarships. She’s one of only 11 to receive the top $20,000 award based on a personal essay and demonstrated financial need. Since its inception in 2012, the program has awarded over $25 million in scholarships to more than 8,500 KFC restaurant employees.

“We are just very thankful and very, amazingly, proud of Bailey,” Chris said.

“I am absolutely so thankful of everyone who has gotten me through my journey thus far, from my family and my friends, to the co-workers that I’ve gotten so close with in the past year or so. I’m just so thankful for everyone around me,” Bailey said.