Congrats! to SLI alumna Gabi Gonzalez Recinos, whose path to a nursing career is featured in a recent Laurel Ridge Community College student profile titled Scholars Latino Initiative Made College Accessible for Laurel Ridge Community College Nursing Student.
“The program helps first-generation college students learn about how college works,” the profile quotes Gonzalez. “SLI is what helped me learn how you can get a scholarship, why your GPA is important, and why it’s important to be in extracurriculars. They even helped us visit colleges that were in Virginia.” She said she visited the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech and James Madison University with SLI.
Gonzalez received a scholarship from SLI and a technology grant for her first year at Laurel Ridge, and a smaller alumni scholarship for the 2026-27 academic year.
In 2025, the year Gonzalez graduated from Handley, Valley Health awarded SLI a $25,000 grant to support SLI college scholarships for students pursuing health related careers. Valley Health is a Platinum sponsor of this November’s Celebracion de SLI’s Million Dollar Año (tickets at vasli.org/celebracion).
Gonzalez’s alma mater John Handley High School has had 63 students take part in SLI since it began with the class of 2016. Of those, 25 have gone on to Laurel Ridge, which is also a sponsor of Celebración.
At the 2026 Winchester SLI Meet & Greet, she shared about her new job as a CNA and ongoing nursing studies.
“I’m really grateful,” she said. “I feel like I am pretty successful and honestly, it’s because of you guys, SLI.”
