Fiesta de las Estrellas 2008
DIANA GETRICH VILLEGAS:
Good evening. On behalf of the Board of Directors, staff, and most importantly the students and families at Barrio Logan College Institute, I’d like to say a sincere thank you to the UCSD Hispanic Scholarship Council for honoring us with an Estrella award.
Our mission to prepare Latino students from San Diego to become the first in their family to go to college began in 1996, with a small group of elementary students. Since then, BLCI has grown to serve elementary, middle, and high school students, and their parents, with a dynamic range of services and support that we like to call the ABC’s of College Prep: Academic Support; Building Skills; and College Knowledge.
To date, BLCI has 27 college-enrolled alumni, three of whom are currently enrolled here at UCSD. Our goal is to help 100 students make their college dreams a reality over the next decade. I am confident that many of those students will make UCSD their first choice university, and hope they will become recipients of the scholarships that you are raising money for tonight.
I’d like to briefly introduce you to BLCI graduate, Lucio Calderon, who will share a few words about what community programs like BLCI and scholarship programs like the Hispanic Scholarship Council have meant for him.
LUCIO CALDERON:
Good evening. As a first-generation college student, the tutoring and support that BLCI provided me made a big difference on my personal path to college. BLCI helped to prepare me for college, but without financial assistance, my family would not have been able to bear the costs of college tuition. Without scholarships, I never would have been able to attend UCSD. Scholarships gave me the chance to pursue a college education.
As the first member of my family to attend college, it’s encouraging to know that organizations like BLCI and the UCSD Hispanic Scholarship Council are continuing to work to improve educational opportunity for students like me. On behalf of all the scholarship recipients like myself, I would like to say thank you.
Thank you for providing scholarships to first-generation college students, for allowing them to pursue their college dreams, and for helping to provide them with the opportunity to better their lives through higher education.