“Tears of joy” for CSF Scholar Angelica

After years of uncertainty, Angelica overcame obstacles and achieved her dreams with the help of CSF.

Angelica had dreams of attending college.

But when she enrolled as a first-year student at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma, Washington, those dreams seemed out of reach.

Angelica came to the U.S. at age four when her parents migrated north from Mexico City. She attended nine schools before arriving at Mount Tahoma, where she balanced a full schedule that included sports and Running Start classes. But despite her hard work, college access remained an obstacle.

“In middle school, I learned that my status as an undocumented student would impact my future,” Angelica said. “Not having a social security number limited my work opportunities and meant I couldn’t receive federal financial aid or some scholarships.”

It wasn’t until Angelica learned about College Success Foundation programs in ninth grade that she began to envision herself attending college. “As long as I wanted to go to college and I was willing to work, CSF would help me,” she said.

Her hard work began as soon as she started ninth grade at Mount Tahoma and continued as she started Running Start classes her junior year. With CSF programs and a CSF advisor right on campus, she kept college in her sights, participating in CSF’s HERO program in ninth and tenth grade and CSF’s Achievers program her junior and senior years.

Through a donation to CSF, she received a Dell laptop her sophomore year—a tool that would prove indispensable for her Running Start coursework and college and scholarship applications. Throughout her junior and senior years, Mount Tahoma’s College Prep Advisor Melody Rodriguez helped with academic advising, college readiness and college planning.

Targeted, personalized advice and assistance from CSF helped her map out a realistic path to college and follow it, Angelica said.

“The mentorship piece was especially important for me,” she said. “I wanted a support system to reassure me I was worthy of the college application process and of getting into a University. CSF gave me that, and more.”

Years of mentorship and careful planning paid off—halfway through her senior year, Angelica learned that her dreams of attending college would come true. She’d been awarded an Act Six scholarship, a full-ride scholarship open to undocumented students. “All the stress and fear that I had carried with me since 8th grade turned into tears of joy,” she said.

On May 16, 2017, Angelica served as the keynote speaker at CSF’s Empowering Youth – Tacoma luncheon. The following week, she graduated from Pacific Lutheran University with two bachelor’s degrees, one in Hispanic Studies and one in Business Administration with an Accounting concentration. She plans to pursue a CPA license and begin a career as an accountant while remaining involved with CSF as a mentor—undoubtedly using the time management skills she learned as a CSF scholar to juggle her post-college commitments.

Angelica looks forward to helping others on their own paths to college success, she says. “I know that I have a responsibility to use my life experiences to help improve the lives of others,” she said.