HOUSTON -- The Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo is in the business of entertainment, but education is its mission.

This week, the organization changed the lives for hundreds of students, KPRC Local 2, Your Education Station, reported Friday.

Rodeo officials handed out 324 scholarships on Wednesday to the tune of nearly $5 million. Each scholarship was for $15,000.

Millions of dollars that pour in through ticket sales go out as scholarships. But what the scholarships mean to students cannot be measured in money.

Carolina Chavez's $15,000 scholarship will allow her to start pre-law courses this fall. She will be the first person in her family to ever attend college -- something of which her parents never dreamed.

"They didn't get the opportunity to go to school, like my mom, they didn't really even go to elementary school. So it's kind of more not really doing it for myself , but most of it doing it for them. All the hard work that they've given -- everything they sacrificed for me and my sister and my brother," she said.

With college tuition averaging $80,000, putting a child through four years of school means years of sacrifice for most middle-class families. A little help makes a huge difference.

"When my mom saw it, she said, 'No, there has to be a catch.' And she read the whole letter again. We're just really excited, said Monique Coolman, a HLS&R scholarship winner.

"I can tell you we're very, very thankful that we got this scholarship. I get watery eyes cause it's a big help for us. It definitely is, so I'm very excited and very thankful," mother Lili Coolman said.

"A dollar when you need it is worth a lot more than a dollar when you got it. And hopefully, we're rewarding good academic performance, but also helping good academic performance and helping them make an impact on our community. This is reinvesting in Houston and Harris County and Texas," said Charles R. "Butch" Robinson, HLSR chairman.

Each year, the rodeo provides about $10 million in scholarships to Texas students to attend Texas schools.

The Rodeo's image is tied to Texas' past, but its vision is squarely toward the future.

More Information:

HLSR Education Section
Scholarship Information