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Arlington > News: Scholarship Effort Offers Hope for Undocumented Students by SCOTT McCAFFREY, Staff Writer (Created: Friday, June 10, 2011 8:26 AM EDT)
| Text Size | Printer Friendly | Email this story | Recipients of inaugural Dream Foundation scholarships included Jose Vasquez, Hareth Andrade, Antonella Rodriguez-Cossio and Henry Mejia. (Photo by Scott McCaffreHe may not yet be an American citizen, but Henry Mejia still wants to live out the American DreI despise the idea of throwing away the opportunity my parents gave me when they brought me and my brothers to the United States,” the Yorktown High School senior (and a valedictorian) said as he accepted a scholarship June 9 from the Dream Foundation, a local effort to provide support to local undocumented students heading off to institutions of higher education.

Mejia, who will attend Bucknell University in the fall on a full-tuition POSSE Scholarship, is an example of the type of student who needs support from the entire community, said Dream Foundation board member Luis Padilla.

“We stand here ready to give a hand to today’s dreamers and tomorrow’s leaders,” he said. “Sending our students to college is not a luxury - [it is a] community responsibility.”

Besides Mejia, scholarships were presented to Washington-Lee High School seniors Antonella Rodriguez-Cossio and Hareth Andrade and Arlington Mill High School Continuation Program senior Jose Vasquez. They will be attending Northern Virginia Community College in the fall.

“I feel ready for the challenges that lie ahead,” said Andrade, who came to the U.S. 10 years ago with her grandparents and younger sister. From NVCC, she hopes to move on to pursue a bachelor’s degree in architecture.

Students without proper immigration paperwork aren’t prohibited from attending college in the U.S., but in Virginia are required to pay out-of-state tuition rates for public colleges and universities - even if their parents have lived in the commonwealth and paid taxes for years. And undocumented students face significant challenges in applying for financial aid.

Those facts irk Isabel Castillo, an immigrants-rights activist who was guest speaker at the scholarship ceremony, held at the Arlington Education Center. She suggested the political leaders have ignored the plight of high-achieving immigrants who are shut out of college opportunities.

“We have to be advocates for ourselves. No one else is going to speak for us,” Castillo told students. “Only criminals hide. We are not criminals. Whether you are legal or not, you can go to college.”

For Rodriguez-Cossio, who is set to graduate this month from Washington-Lee and already has taken honors coursework at NVCC, not going to college was never an option, despite the obstacles.

scholarship