Granger, Hunter students granted scholarships to U of U

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This fall, two West Valley students earned recognition and a prestigious scholarship to help fund their studies at the University of Utah.

Robmary Y. Juarez and Yvette A. Toribio, both seniors from local high schools, were two of only four graduating high school students awarded the University of Utah Chicano Scholarship for the 2011-2012 school year. Juarez and Toribio were honored at an awards banquet held Sept. 23 and will receive $2,500 to help pay for tuition and expenses during their freshman year at the school.

University of Utah College of Social Work professor Jason Castillo said the scholarship is awarded to students who achieve an outstanding level of academic achievement, are committed to community service and have demonstrated financial need for the aid.

He said many of the scholarship recipients have come from single-parent households and first-generation college students.

“We are so proud of them,” Castillo said.

Juarez graduated from Hunter High School with a 3.3 cumulative grade point average. While attending high school she took challenging advanced placement classes, was a student body officer and served as a bilingual translator in her community.

Toribio graduated from Granger High School with a 3.6 cumulative grade point average and scored high on both the SAT and ACT tests.

To qualify for the scholarship, both students completed an application during their senior year of high school, submitted a personal statement demonstrating their commitment to higher education and provided two letters of recommendation written by members of the community.

Juarez and Toribio have both expressed a desire to pursue higher education and professional careers in medicine.

The University of Utah Chicano Scholarship was established in 1973 by a group of Chicano university students, staff, faculty and members of the community “in honor of the ideals and principles of equal opportunity and social justice in education.”

This year, 11 scholarships were awarded. Four scholarships of $2,500 each were awarded to graduating high school seniors; three scholarships of $2,000 were awarded to continuing undergraduate students at the University of Utah; and one scholarship in the amount of $1,500 was awarded to a graduate student at the university.

Castillo said all high school students with the desire to pursue a college education should plan to apply for the scholarship in their senior year before the yearly deadline in January. He said the scholarship is open to everyone who meets the qualifications.

“[The Chicano Scholarship Fund] is not a race-based scholarship,” Castillo said. “This opportunity is available to all students.”

For more information about the University of Utah Chicano Scholarship Fund, students and high school administrators should visit the University of Utah website at http://chicano.utah.edu.

The following statements were taken from the application written and submitted to the university by Juarez and Toribio for consideration during the scholarship application process.

"I want to shape my community through inspiring my Hispanic people from inside, when the Hispanic community can see strong leaders coming from their neighborhood then can feel free to dream and not be ashamed of who they are and where they come from," Juarez said.

"As a first-generation student, I dream of academically excelling in college and thus, demonstrating to the Chicano Community or our enormous capabilities. Like any other ethnic group, we share ideas and beliefs, we think logically, and we plan for our future within our values. Accordingly, I want my community to realize the importance of education. Since not many of us attend a college, I want to inform them about the countless opportunities and benefits they may obtain. Moreover, I plan to work hard towards my bachelor's degree in order to set a perfect example to my Latino peers,” Toribio said.