The Madison area Latinx population has grown quite a bit over the last quarter century, and so has the Sánchez Scholars program which has been helping first-generation Latinx students with financial needs who have a desire to pursue higher education.
“Our Sanchez Scholar family has gotten really big over the years and I’m proud of all of their accomplishments. When I see them reaching their goals, that’s when I feel the most happy and that’s when I feel the most successful,” Lesli Vázquez, the longtime coordinator of the high school Sánchez Scholars Program, tells Madison365. “We are really excited about celebrating our 25th anniversary this year on April 11 at the Madison College Truax campus. We are getting ready for that big event.”
Retired UW-Madison Professor Roberto Sánchez initially established a scholarship fund at the Madison Community Foundation in collaboration with the MMSD to inspire academic excellence by local Latino youth and to build a pathway for those in high school and postsecondary institutions to achieve their academic dreams.
There are currently 22 Sánchez Scholars — eight freshmen, five sophomores, four juniors and five seniors. Every year, Sánchez Scholars graduate from high school (but still remain part of the Sánchez Scholar family) and new Sánchez Scholars are picked from throughout area middle schools.
“I feel like every year it gets harder and harder to select our scholars,” Vázquez says. “Every year, it just gets harder to pick only three or four students. So this is the first year where we picked eight and they’re a wonderful bunch. They were well received by everyone. Most of them really have become part of the family. It’s just a really good group of kids.”
Sánchez Scholars receive financial support to help cover costs such as computers, graphing calculators, supplies, extracurricular activities and fees for summer enrichment programs, according to the Friends of Sánchez Scholars website, and staff members monitor academic progress and help ensure pre-college planning.
Throughout the year the Sanchez Scholars keep busy with a variety of field trips, activities, and events, many of which are held at Heugel Elementary School where Vázquez is a bilingual resource specialist.
“The Sanchez Scholars hosted a Dia de los Muertos event at Heugel and they had a lot of fun. The school has been very welcoming to the Sanchez Scholars and the Sanchez Scholars come here and they do everything including helping out at parent meetings,” Vázquez says. “I feel like one of the biggest pluses is the kids [at the school] seeing older students doing this and learning from their example. And also the parents, they’re very appreciative, and they’re like, ‘Oh my goodness. What do I need to do to have my kid apply for this program?'”
Vázquez has been the coordinator for the Sánchez Scholar Program for 21 years now so she has not only seen the Sánchez Scholar family grow, but she’s seen many students grow up into adulthood, start their careers, and have their own children.
“One moment I’m with a Sánchez Scholar and she is a very young student in little braids and then the next moment I’m at her wedding. It’s crazy how time passes. But it’s very fulfilling for me,” Vázquez says. “It’s very rewarding and very emotional for me, because I get to share in that journey, and I get to see them be happy and successful and just good people.”
The Sánchez Scholars program is the only entity in the Madison area offering first-generation Latinx youth an articulated pathway with scholarship support from ninth grade through a college degree. This is achieved through culturally and linguistically targeted high-touch mentoring and annual financial help ensuring high school graduation followed by coordinated post-secondary support at Madison College and the University of Wisconsin-Madison in collaboration with the Sánchez scholarships in those institutions.
The Sanchez Scholars program has achieved a 100 percent graduation rate for its over 90 scholars to date, and a nearly 100 percent rate of post-secondary advancement, according to its website.
“As our Sánchez Scholars students get older and are having families and pursuing careers I’m always trying to reel them back because I know how impactful their experience can be to share with some of the young people who are in it now,” Vázquez says.
“There are so many relationships that get built, too,” she continues. “Most of the relationships that I have built with the students through the years are never-ending. I go to their weddings. I’ve seen their children. I keep tabs on their careers.”
The community support is a big part of what make a difference in the Sanchez Scholars program and helps change lives and trajectories. Ideally, Vázquez says, in a world with unlimited funds, they would want to accept everybody that is nominated into the program.
“For Professor Sánchez, this was his legacy, and we really honor his wishes,” Vázquez says. “It’s been a wonderful 25 years. I don’t think any of us knew how much this would grow. We knew it would be impactful. We knew it would be important, but the growth in the students that we’ve had has been amazing, and we just can’t continue to do it if we don’t have that support.
“We’ve been lucky that we’ve had a lot of people do things in kind for us or for the students,” Vázquez adds. “And, you know, when I talk about the work that gets done with the Sanchez Scholars, it’s never me … it’s me and a million other people out there who have this inspiration and motivation to help our community and our young people and try to remove some of those barriers that the students have in order for them to be successful.”
Community donations can be made to the Sánchez Scholars program here.
“We’re at a point now with the 25th celebration where we’re looking to build the endowment,” Vázquez says. “So one of the big things that we’re working on right now is trying to strategize on how we will go about fundraising, not just for the event, but to grow the endowment. The purpose of growing the endowment is that that money is there forever and that the interest that it generates is what keeps the machine going.”
The heart of the Sánchez Scholars program is the high school support, including scholarships and staffing, which are also funded by the Sánchez endowment at the Madison Community Foundation (MCF) and the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD).
“They are amazing kids in the Sánchez Scholars Program. I can’t rave enough about them,” Vázquez says. “I feel like with the growth of the program and all of this volunteer service that they’re doing, it just has made them feel more like a family, which was the whole point. Professor Sanchez didn’t have a family, so I kind of feel like it’s my goal in life to make it his family.
“I feel like a lot of the kids have this linear vision of what life is going to be once they graduate high school, and it turns out not to be linear, and that’s where things get frustrating,” Vázquez says. “You have to work extra hard at having them not lose motivation and just keep moving forward and sometimes pivoting. And, you know, if that’s not the way, then let’s look for another way, but in the end, we’re going to get it done.”
