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2018 Student Success Stories
“The ACSF scholarship program helped me stay on track for graduation and encouraged me to make the most out of my college career. As a first gen student, t was very reassuring to know I had support from the scholarship coordinators if I encountered any problems. Not only did the ACSF program offer social support, but it helped tremendously with financial aspects, as well. The scholarship enabled me to put all my efforts towards my academics rather than worrying about financial problems. Being an ACSF scholar meant putting my best efforts forward in all my academics and encouraged me to be more involved in my community. Having graduated, I am especially grateful for the scholarship because I do not have to scramble to find a job and stress about repaying my loans like I know a lot of people go through post-grad. I am thankful that I was about to delay my job search until after the semester ended because I was able to focus on my classes and finish out my degree on a strong note.”
- Lillian, Molecular, Cellular, & Developmental Biology (MCDB) and Sociology Major, Certificate in Public Health.
“When I first immigrated to the US, back in 2011, college was never a goal of mine and it was never even an option until my sophomore year. I was simply tasked to perform well and graduate high school in order to start working and start saving up for when I was ready to go back to Mexico. Just like my parents have done it, and their parents did it. But when my professors and peers start taking notice of my academic success, the conversation was finally brought up and the possibility of attending college was slowly becoming a reality. As the years went by, the idea kept lingering in my mind but the cruelty of it all finally set in when I first applied to college and saw the huge price tag that came with it. I was crushed, my parents hopes, and dreams seem to vanish just as fast as they came when they found out I was admitted. "We will go back to plan a", they thought. But I did not want to slave my years here in the US just like they have done or how our ancestors have done it in the past. I wanted to be someone, I wanted to change the system and break the cycle. So I started applying for aid. After a very rigorous process I had a very tough decision to make; attend a very challenging university or settle for what was affordable. Thanks to this scholarship I was able to change the scales and make it possible to attend Colorado School of Mines, and even though my time at Mines has not been easy, I am very grateful for all the opportunities, people, and mentors who have helped me along the journey. Hopefully by the end of this year I will have officially graduated from Colorado School of Mines with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and will have officially broken the cycle by becoming the first in my family to graduate with a college degree. I am deeply grateful for this scholarship and everything it has done for me, so from the bottom of my heart, thank you ACSF.”
- Raymundo, Computer Science Major
