The Alpha Kappa Chapter of the Kappa Delta Chi Sorority at the University of Wisconsin Madison is giving undocumented students two more days to apply for its $500 Emerald Excellence Scholarship.
The Latina sorority gives out a scholarship every year, but this is the first time applications have been restricted to undocumented immigrants, but open to undocumented students at UW, Edgewood and Madison College. The move mirrors the theme of this year’s Emerald Gala, which is The Intersectionality of Immigration.
“This year because of our theme of immigration, we really wanted to focus on that,” said chapter president Estafany Armenta. “That’s why we chose to award the scholarship to undocumented students. We just realized that they aren’t able to receive any federal financial aid, and those scholarships they can apply for are very limited.”
Applicants must describe a community service event that has impacted them and describe how they embody Kappa Delta Chi’s values of unity, honesty, integrity and leadership. The recipient must also commit to complete a service learning project with the sorority.
The deadline to apply is Sunday, March 31. The application is available online here.
The recipient will be chosen and notified by Monday, April 1, and the scholarship will be awarded at the Emerald Gala on Saturday, April 6. The Gala is free and open to the public, but registration is requested online here.
This year’s Gala keynote will be delivered by immigration attorney Aissa Olivares.
“She was very influential with helping with the recent ICE raids that happened back in late September, early October,” Armenta said. “That’s also why we thought it’d be an important theme to just bring out because of the recent events that have happened and the political climate in general, just bringing a light to the issue and how it affects people.”
