Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Jarales groups give $1,500 worth of scholorships to local students

Julia M. Dendinger News-Bulletin Staff Writer; jdendinger@news-bulletin.com

Jarales By putting their collective heads together and combining efforts, two groups from southern Valencia County have made the future brighter for three county students.

At a potluck, community celebration at the Don Jose Dolores Cordova Cultural Center in Jarales last month, local students Allen Chavez, Trey Cordova and Catherine Baca were each awarded a $500 scholarship.

The Don Jose Dolores Cordova Advisory Committee and Southern Valencia County Communities Association Scholarship Program was proud to announce the first scholarship effort by the two groups was able to raise $1,500 for the three scholarships awarded to students living in the Jarales, Bosque, Pueblitos and Los Trujillos corridor.

Through a series of fundraisers supported by the communities, the scholarship program was able to raise the money.

Anthony Carrion, president of the communities association and Susan Cordova, president of the advisory committee, welcomed the almost 100 people who came to the cultural center that evening to celebrate the academic achievements of the three students.

"This was a very difficult decision to make," Cordova said during the presentation. "But you three were tops.

As the program grows, Carrion said the hope is to raise more money in order to award more scholarships.

"As a retired educator, I hope we get more applicants every year," he said.

In addition to living in the specified geographical area, Cordova said the applicants had to submit a copy of their transcripts showing a current grade point average of 2.5 or higher at either the high school or college level.

"We didn't limit this to high school graduates only," she said.

The applications had to be accompanied by a letter of recommendation and a narrative from the students expressing their educational goals and philosophy and how the scholarship would assist them in meeting their goals.

"You could tell these kids put a lot of thought and effort into their narratives," Cordova said. "It really gave us a good idea of who they were."

Scholarship winner Catherine Baca had a plan, and she is sticking to it. A 2008 graduate of Belen High School, Baca is currently enrolled at the University of New Mexico and pursuing a degree in nuclear pharmacy.

"Right now I have enough credits to be a junior," she said. "I did summer school and dual enrollment to get a head start."

The nuclear pharmacology program has two years of prerequisite classes followed by four more years of instruction.

Baca chose to pursue this particular career path after watching her own mother under chemotherapy. "I was curious about how these chemo treatments were supposed to be helping my mom and others when my mom always left feeling worse after a treatment," she said in her letter to the scholarship committee.

With his entry into George Washington University just months away, Trey Cordova said in his letter that this scholarship would help push him along towards his goal of and obtaining his degree.

After the award ceremony, Cordova said he was definitely planning to come back to his community after obtaining his degree; he plans to pursue journalism.

Allen Chavez graduated from Belen High this spring and is planning to attend the University of New Mexico-Valencia Campus for his basic courses before transferring to New Mexico State University.

Once at NMSU, Chavez says he wants to pursue a major in one of three fields — wildlife and fishery, wildlife management or wildlife science.

"As a game warden, I can help protect animals in their own environment from people by making sure people aren't causing wild fires or destruction of state property," his letter said.

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