WENDY’S WORKER WON A $194,500 YALE SCHOLARSHIP
A Cape Cod Wendy’s shift manager got into Yale after his bosses promised to put him through college if he stayed on the job. Meet Thalles DeSouza.
Thalles Winner DeSouza, 23, was accepted to Yale University in May 2026, the New York Post reported. The Times of India reported that his full scholarship was worth more than $194,500.
He already has a plan. “I’ll be majoring in political science, and my minor will be human rights,” he told TODAY. “But everything will be on the pre-law track because I want to go to law school. That’s the plan.”
DeSouza was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and survived a shooting inside his home there. He moved to the United States with his family at 13.
He started working at a Wendy’s on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, while still in high school. He became a shift manager before he had even graduated.
The offer that kept him at Wendy’s
DeSouza considered leaving the fast-food job for construction work, which would have meant more money for college, TODAY reported.
Then Wendy’s owners Usama El-Sehrawey and Ernest Smily stepped in. “If you stay at Wendy’s, I will make sure you go to college,” TODAY quoted El-Sehrawey as saying.
The two owners set aside money based on the hours DeSouza worked. That support helped pay for three years at Cape Cod Community College, and TODAY reported the owners planned to pay his tuition directly once he enrolled.
“We saw a bright future in him, and so we wanted to help in any way we can,” Smily was quoted as saying.
DeSouza made the most of it. At Cape Cod Community College he earned straight A’s, founded a religious club and served as student body president. He then studied at Bunker Hill Community College before applying to Yale.
What happened next
Smily died in 2023, so he was not around to see Yale say yes.
On July 28, 2026, DeSouza posted a thank-you on Facebook to El-Sehrawey and the late Smily. He wrote that he had the chance to thank them in person and share where their investment had taken him.
“Sometimes all it takes is one person who believes in you,” he wrote. “I’m living proof of that.”
Fox News also interviewed DeSouza, El-Sehrawey and Terry Smily, whom TODAY identified as Ernest Smily’s son. TODAY pictured the three of them together.
DeSouza planned to begin classes at Yale in fall 2026, TODAY reported.
