2013 Portage High School graduate Mariela Murillo has been awarded the $2500 "Realizing the Dream" scholarship. The scholarship is awarded by the Independent Colleges of Indiana (and funded by the Lilly Endowment) to students who will be first generation college graduates. Each of the thirty-one Indiana independent colleges awarded a scholarship. Mariela is currently a sophomore at Valparaiso University studying nursing. As part of the program, each recipient gets to select an educator that has been influential in their lives. The honored educators each receive a $1,000 grant for classroom use. Mariela selected Portage High School Social Studies teacher Mark Marvin. A banquet honoring the scholarship recipients and their teachers was held at the Keystone at the Crossing Sheraton in Indianapolis on November 1st.