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BRAINERD — One of the biggest gifts in Olivia Armstrong’s life came from an unexpected place: Taco Bell.
Armstrong recently received the Live Más scholarship from the Taco Bell Foundation and attended their Summer of Connection conference from July 7-10. The highly competitive scholarship saw over 15,000 applicants and 350 received an award.
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Armstrong’s passion is acting. She performed in many theater productions during high school and she will use her scholarship to attend an acting program in New York City called the Neighborhood Playhouse.
“It’s an acting conservatory where you train 9 to 5, Monday through Friday,” Armstrong said. “It’s pretty intense and pretty rigorous, but I’m very excited.”
Armstrong graduated from Pequot Lakes High School in 2022 and attended Central Lakes College. The scholarship was one of many Armstrong applied to while browsing for scholarships online.
“The scholarship is from the roundup program at Taco Bell,” Armstrong said. “When you go through the drive-thru and they ask you if you’d like to round up, that’s what the money goes to.”
After applying, Armstrong learned she received a $10,000 scholarship in February and was shocked. The awards range from $5,000 to $25,000.
“I didn’t think it was true just because of the odds,” Armstrong said. “I believe it’s like 3-4%.”
The Summer of Connection event featured a wide variety of guest speakers, activities and workshops on topics like career readiness. Armstrong said attendees could choose which of the many events they went to.
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“You could tell that the people on the panels and different people talking in our little groups really cared that you were there,” Armstrong said. “They really wanted to uplift you and make you feel ready.”
Some of the morning workshops featured fun activities. Armstrong attended one about water aerobics, which she found particularly enjoyable. The entire experience was a positive networking opportunity.
“It was a really good chance to do a bit of connecting and meet people from all over,” Armstrong said.
Attendees received buffet-style catering for all their meals, during which they were not fed Taco Bell, despite the conference’s affiliation.
One of Armstrong’s favorite parts of the trip was how, during every meal, attendees could sit with a new group of strangers and get to know them.
“You would sit down and those people at your table who you didn’t know minutes ago, now you know like 10 more people than you did before,” Armstrong said.
On her way home, Armstrong said her flight was delayed multiple times, but the experience ended up being a positive chance to talk with several other scholarship recipients from Minnesota who were on the same flight.
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“Usually it’s a bit annoying when your flight gets delayed, but we had such a great time together because we had the chance to reflect on our week and expand our connection,” Armstrong said.
Currently, Armstrong still lives in the Brainerd lakes area, but she will be moving to New York to begin her program in just a few weeks.
Armstrong said she appreciated the application process for the scholarship because it allowed her to focus on her passion that she values above all else: acting. Applicants were only required to submit a short, open-ended video about themselves.
“You submit a two-minute video and they base it off that,” Armstrong said. “You don’t have to submit any transcripts or anything. It’s a passion-based scholarship.”
Thanks to the scholarship, Armstrong will now work to turn her love for acting into a career.
Armstrong encouraged any local students to apply for the scholarship even if they think it is unlikely they will receive it.
“People from small towns can still do great things,” Armstrong said.
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