Fourteen Dane County high school students and two returning students earned scholarships amounting to $40,000 from the Women in Focus, Inc. “I Have a Dream” Scholarship fund on Sunday, April 23, at Madison College.
The organization has awarded more than 300 scholarships to Dane County students of color amounting to over $450,000 since 1985, with one of those recipients being Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne.
The scholarships were based on both need and merit with many of this year’s recipients being first-generation college students.
“Going to college has always been my aspiration, but there has been and still is an underlying fear,” said Jaleah Price, a scholar from Exploration Academy via Verona High School who has been accepted into Cornell College and Howard University. “That fear is expenses.”
Price, who was unable to receive her scholarship in person and had her acceptance speech read on her behalf, wrote about once being homeless and the struggles of college access and affordability.
“As people like me are not expected to graduate from college like our white peers, but with such odds, hardships and financial fear I will not give up on my future,” said Price. “In essence receiving this scholarship is one step closer in relieving that strain of poverty.”
Each student received a $2,500 scholarship raised by funds from the organization’s “I Have a Dream Scholarship Ball.” It is the only fundraising event Women in Focus, Inc holds to raise scholarship funds. Scholarship amounts vary by year based on the amount raised during the ball.
This year’s awardees represented local organizations like the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County, Simpson Street Free Press, Madison School and Community Recreation and Centro Hispano, and boasted desires to continue making an impact on the worlds around them.
“I want to see more teachers of color teaching in classrooms and I believe if I want to see a change, I have to be this change first,” said Evelyn Cuellar, a scholarship recipient from West High School who plans to attend Edgewood.
Many of the scholarship recipients were also first and second generation immigrants.
“This opportunity and financial aid that Women in Focus is giving me is a movement in closing the achievement gap for people like me from the Latino community and I also see it as furthering myself for both parents who risked their lives crossing the border between poverty and future success,” said Alfred Lopez-Daniel, a senior from Memorial High School attending the San Francisco Art Institute.
The organization will hold its 32nd Annual “I Have a Dream” Scholarship Ball on January 13, 2018.
