Wendys worker Thalles DeSouza accepted into Yale University after bosses helped fund his college dreams: Changed my life
He’s a true Winner.A Wendy’s manager, who fled to the United States after he survived a shooting inside his own home and was pushed by his bosses to attend college, is heading to Yale on a full scholarship.Thalles Winner DeSouza credited the two owners of Wendy’s locations in Cape Cod for investing in his education despite his telling them he wanted to escape the fast-food industry for better pay.“Four years ago, while I was working as a manager at Wendy’s and finishing high school, Mr.Usama El-Sehrawey and the late Mr.
Ernest Smily awarded me a scholarship to attend Cape Cod Community College,” DeSouza wrote on Facebook on July 28.DeSouza landed his gig at Wendy’s as a teenager and was quickly promoted to shift manager when he was a junior in high school.A year later, DeSouza wanted to change jobs and head into construction for better pay so he could start saving up for school.
DeSouza’s bosses, who owns all seven Wendy’s on Cape Cod and Plymouth, came up with a better idea.“He told me that he would like to go and work in construction because there is more money in construction than Wendy’s,” El-Sehrawey told TODAY.com.“I said, ‘If you stay at Wendy’s, I will make sure you go to college.’”“At the time, I had no idea how much that opportunity would change my life,” DeSouza said.El-Sehrawey and Smily began setting aside extra money for every hour DeSouza worked at the restaurant, eventually collecting enough to pay for three years of tuition at Cape Cod Community College.While he attended the local school, DeSouza started a religious club on campus, earned straight As and served as the student body president for two years.DeSouza transferred to Bunker Hill Community College for a year before he applied to Yale University, which accepts roughly 2% of transfer students each year, according to the Yale Daily News.
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