Scholars Latino Initiative scholar Gino ’22 never planned to attend college in the US, but now hopes to study computer science at a prestigious university here. A restaurant server, writer, and member of the National Honor and Spanish National Honor Societies, Gino is poised for an academically packed senior year.

When did you decide you wanted to go to college?
As a kid, you always want to be a doctor. I remember when I was in first, second grade saying that I was going to be a doctor. But now that I’m an adult, I’m afraid of needles and I don’t like seeing other people’s blood, so I’m better off using computers.

I didn’t know that I wanted to go to college until probably 6th or 7th grade. That was when I was back in my country, El Salvador. I just said that I was going to go to the university, but I never thought that I was going to be able to. 

But then in 2018 everything changed for my brother and me, because my mom decided that we had to come to the U.S. My dad had come to the US when I was four, so he could give us a better life. Then he got sick, and my mom was like, “It’s now my duty to move to the U.S. and be giving you guys the life that you guys deserve.” She was going to come by herself, but then my cousin called her and said, “Hey, just wait one month, and then we’re going to help you” to bring my brother and me. My mom returned home and waited, and a month later she told us we were moving to the US next month. 

It was never in my plans to come to the U.S. I had thought I would live my whole life in El Salvador, but it didn’t happen.

What has been your high school experience?
I didn’t know English when I came to the U.S. during my freshman year, so they put me in 9th grade even though I was supposed to be a sophomore.

Sophomore year I actually started taking regular classes and honors classes, and I joined a few clubs, including SLI. I almost dropped my Honors history class, but I didn’t, and got a 103% in the class. It made me more confident with taking more difficult classes, because I know that I can do it if I really want to. 

In my junior year I took two Advanced Placement (AP) classes and two dual enrollment classes for college credit, and honors classes as well. My GPA was 4.1

I could have graduated last year, because I only needed two classes, but I decided to stay so I could boost my GPA and take more AP and dual enrollment classes, and make my resume stronger so I can show colleges what I’ve done with only several years in the US. 

For my senior year I am taking three AP classes (physics, government, and Spanish literature) and two dual enrollment classes (calculus and English). I’ll also continue working and doing community service, so I can give back to the community. I’ve already signed up for different community service opportunities that are happening this upcoming month.

How did you join SLI?
In my freshman year they handed out SLI information in my government ESL class. I filled it out, and wrote my essay that we’re supposed to write, and I then handed it back. I was like, “I just came to the U.S. I’m probably not at the same level as the other kids applying, so I’m definitely not getting in,” but I got in.

SLI introduced me to ways to give back to the community and help the community become a better place. I didn’t know how to give back to the community when I was a freshman, but SLI introduced me to different things, like volunteering at an elementary school. That gave me a different view of things, and led me to sign up for more community service opportunities.

What about computer science interests you?
I like all the mystery there is behind computers, how they actually work, and all the impact they are going to have on the future, and the impact that they’re having right now on us. It gives me goosebumps just trying to learn how everything works in them.

Since I was a kid I was really curious about everything. If I need to know something, I’m actually going to look for it, and if I want to learn something, I’m not going to be okay until I learn it, until I’ve mastered it.

Back in El Salvador, I had a camera and a computer that my cousin left for me. My favorite show was about magic, so I looked up how to do all the visual effects, and by 12 years old I was recording myself doing magic tricks and editing them using visual effects. My videos were not good, but they were not bad, either – kind of good. I could make things disappear and reappear at a different place, making it look smooth, like it actually happened.

I took AP computer science principles this past year, and got 100% in the class. 

You’re also a writer?
One of my biggest goals is to publish a book and make an impact on readers. When I was 15 I created a cover for a book that I was going to write, and the whole plot, and I actually wrote it. It has 25 chapters, with around 2,000 words per chapter. That was the first book that I wrote. 

There was one trilogy that I was going to write, like Hunger Games and Harry Potter mixed together. I developed the plot for the three books, but I didn’t end up writing them. I actually have lots of drafts of different books that I want to write, more than 20, more than 30 drafts. 

What has kept you motivated?
My family, and mainly my mom. I was doing everything because of them, because I wanted to make them proud. My mom didn’t finish grade school or anything like that, and she didn’t go to high school, and I feel like it would be disrespectful for them if I didn’t keep going, pushing myself to be better, to give them a future they deserve. 

I want my brother to see me as a role model. I want him to know that if he wants something, he can do it. He just has to believe that he can do it and he will.

This summer Scholars Latino Initiative scholar Juana ’22 started her first job, at a department store. She loves helping customers, she said in the following interview with SLI, and plans to continue serving others as a nurse practitioner.

Why did you decide to work in a department store?
I was trying to get out of my comfort zone. I know a lot of people, but I also like to be with just a few people. So I thought, “Let me get a job and save money.” And I’m loving it there. 

I like seeing different people, the customers. One day I was feeling kind of sad, and this lady came to me and she said, “Have you tried this candy?” She loved this candy. It was like Italian lemon flavored. She said, “Here you go, you can try it and tell me if you like it.” Now it’s one of my favorites.

She made my day. That’s something that I love about working with different types of people: They can make your day better.

Who are some other people you have learned from?
My dad always told me, “Hey, you’d better go to college, better get a degree, because I didn’t have that opportunity, and I want you to have it, for a better life.” He wants me to be that person, to be a professional. And I want that, too. I don’t want to just do it for him, I want to do it for myself. So I always had that mindset of going to college.

He started taking some programs that would help him progress in his work. He keeps studying. He’s like, “I just want an opportunity to go to college, too.” 

I used to make fun of him. I used to say to him, “Hey, Mr. Google,” because I could ask him whatever, and he would always have an answer. Even if it wasn’t right, he always had an answer.

What are your career goals?
I want to become a nurse practitioner. I love everything related to the human body, how every system in our body has a different function, and how they all work together. I believe our creation is so fascinating.

For a nurse aid class this fall, I’ll be at a retirement community. I’m excited to learn about caregiving in that setting.

What has been your experience with SLI?
SLI has given me many opportunities to grow

I applied to SLI at the end of my freshman year. I was afraid to speak in public, and I remember the first year. [My SLI program director] was always asking us many questions about different topics. He was always pointing at people, saying, “What do you think about this? What do you think about that?” I was always so nervous, like, “Oh my God, I don’t want him to pick me.” But he has helped me to be more confident in public speaking.

SLI has created for me a vision for college, how to get into college, how to be a college student but also how to be a better college student. It has also given me a lot of opportunities to be around brilliant people who teach many good things including how to be one of them.

It has also given me opportunities to work with my community, the Latinx community. I’m so thankful that I’m in SLI, and I can’t wait to see all the amazing things we will do this year.

Gina’s parents loved taking the family on mini-vacations – so her dad worked extra hours to make them possible. “If you have a good education, you can get good money and you can do these fun things,” he told her. Now Gina ’21 can pursue higher education, thanks in part to help from her SLI experiences. She talked with SLI about the challenges of being the first in her family to go to college.

Why did you decide to go to college?
My dad is very big on education. He thinks education is the most important thing in the world. He would love to take us on vacations, like mini-vacations to the beach or to Florida and stuff like that, and so he’d always say, ‘If you have a good education, you can get good money, and you can do these fun things.’ So that was also something I was raised with.

My father could take us on vacations but he would have to work long hours, from 5 a.m to 5 p.m in extremely hot factories that could reach a hundred degrees Fahrenheit. That’s a lot, so if I just have a good diploma and a good education, I don’t have to go through all that harsh work. I grew up with that concept engraved in me and that pushed me to go to college. 

What is your family’s story?
Both my parents, they don’t have their high school diploma. I think my mom got a little further, but they both didn’t finish it. I think they both dropped out, and they came up to America instead. But my dad knew that he was going to need to know more, so his English is a lot better. He can do his own things, and everything. The boss keeps trying to promote him, but he doesn’t have a diploma, so he just doesn’t take it. 

My mom still needs a little bit of help, which is also another part of me growing up, that I would have to help her with setting up doctor’s appointments and translating what the school needed from her. Which is why I think I matured a lot faster than my friends in a sense, because I did a lot of grown-up things that I needed to do, to help my family. When I was younger I wouldn’t get scared of calling a pizza place to order pizza because I had done more difficult tasks growing up. 

My dad always pushed me to go to college, mostly because nobody in the family had. Not just in my household family, but my entire family in general. The most that had happened was my two older cousins got their high school diploma and then I think one of them started going to Lord Fairfax Community College, but I don’t know if they’re still attending.

My parents are both from Mexico and came up here. They started down in Florida, made their way up, and ended up staying in Virginia. I have one brother. He is going to be starting high school this year. We are four years apart in age, so as soon as I leave a school he enters the school. I won’t be here to help him, which I kind of wish I was, to give him tips and advice, but I think he’ll be fine. Yeah, he’ll learn new things.

Besides Scholars Latino Initiative (SLI), what were your high school involvements?
Although lots of the things that I did while [in high school] I did unknowingly, I’m glad that I did them. For example, I joined the Interact club, which is now a huge thing in my life. Freshman year I joined and then sophomore year I decided to run for an officer position, and I became sophomore rep, and then I ran again for junior year, and I became secretary. And then this year I was vice president. Major leap.

Especially when I was younger I got pretty good grades. I was always getting A’s at [elementary school] and in middle school. In elementary school I was taken out of class because I was a bit chatty, so I would – I was a little bit competitive, so what would happen is I would race my classmates into finishing our work and then three minutes would go by after I finished everything and I would start talking to everybody. They ended up pulling me out for an Excel program. So I would end up being taken out of class to do harder work, I guess, and then I went to [middle school] and I still got A’s and I was still in Excel there, and then I got to high school and I was pretty decent. I had my first AP [Advanced Placement] class. That was a little difficult, but I still did well.

What are your college (and beyond) plans?
I’m going to the University of Pittsburgh. I am a first generation student so this is new for my family and all. My dad wanted me on the East Coast, so I only looked at applying for colleges there. My mom, on the other hand, wanted me to stay in town, but I ended up choosing to attend the University of Pittsburgh. They offered me the most in scholarships and money, and since I’m going to be majoring in biology, they have a really good science department.

I like working with real things, things that I can see and stuff like that, so I’m going to be looking for research opportunities and trying to work in the lab as a first year. But I do plan on maybe going to medical school. I don’t say that because a lot of people want to say that, but I do want to get my doctor’s degree. So yeah, I probably will go to medical school. That’s kind of the plan right now. I’ll probably stay at Pittsburgh for my bachelor’s and then when I start going to grad school or medical school, I’ll see what school I end up going to, and I’ll probably end up moving there. I do want to come back to my hometown.

What was your experience with SLI?
I got connected with SLI from my world history teacher, so freshman year. He’s like the first honors class you take when you get to [my high school], and I’m pretty sure he was the one that recommended me. He asked me and my friend to join and he was actually one of the people that interviewed me when it was time to get interviewed. 

Lots of people think high school is just about going to school and getting good grades, but as a first-generation student, sometimes it’s about building connections. SLI really helped with college, especially this year. 

How did SLI help you?
I was paired up with my mentor for college, and she was a huge help for me. I didn’t really know about the whole application process for applying to colleges, and I also didn’t know how early you should start, but she would keep texting me and reminding me. 

First we talked about what I wanted to do. She was really helpful with that because I had a lot of ideas circulating, and so we had a meeting and I wrote everything down and she made me take a few personality tests and career tests, and she did research for some of them, and she spent a bit of time differentiating for me what I should major in and what I should just keep as a hobby. We had conversations about how to get resumes done and talked to my guidance counselor and my essays and all that, and she was really good about reminding me to finish it.

She would send me text messages like, ‘Did you finish applying to this school? Did you finish this spreadsheet?’ and those texts – I wanted to respond right away, so I would get on them and finish it, just to respond and say ‘Yeah, I finished this.’ She was really helpful with that. I don’t know if she knows that that was pushing me, but it really was, because I felt like someone was depending on me to complete my work. It helped a lot. 

And to show her the information that I had done. I did a few spreadsheets, which I’m pretty proud of – they’re really nice. They have all the tuition and extra fees broken down for all the schools, how far away they are from here, the GPA they needed, what they requested of me, the essay topics I needed to write about, and the deadlines for the early action, regular decision, and decision notification. So I made those. She really enjoyed those and that was really helpful in deciding where I was going to go, because it laid out everything and all the information very clearly.

So yeah, I ended up choosing Pittsburgh. But that was a journey.

What’s next on your journey?
I also don’t know who my roommate is going to be because I kind of procrastinated on that. Pittsburgh does allow you to select – they have genres, kind of, so if you’re interested in a particular subject matter you can pick one and they’ll assign you someone who also has that interest. So my roommate will probably be doing a lot of volunteering work or will probably be a leader in some sort of club or something, because that’s what I chose, because I really want to get involved. And I know that if I have a roommate that wants to do the same thing, it’ll be a lot easier.

I hope I have a good first day, because I’m going to be meeting a lot of people, a lot of teachers, and trying to get my way around. But I’m excited.

Even though soccer had always been a big part of his life, the suspense was nerve wracking. Daniel ’21 had never before tried out for a school athletic team, and that February night, along with 60 or 70 hopeful peers, he watched as his high school’s coaches filled their rosters. 

One by one, players – including some of his closest friends – were called into the office and named to either the varsity or junior varsity team.

“I started getting nervous,” he said. “I was like, ‘Wow, the spots are filling up.’” 

And then, finally, Daniel was called. The coach said he’d liked what he’d seen in Daniel: a work ethic and willingness to put his body into defensive play. 

“He loved how I was one of the people who actually love defending,” Daniel recalled. “He told me, ‘Congratulations, you made the team.’”

The varsity team, at that.

“I walked out of the office with a big smile on my face,” he said. “All my friends we came and we cheered together. It was really nice.”

But maybe not surprising, considering Daniel’s general approach to life. 

*The COVID-19 pandemic subsequently disrupted Daniel’s soccer plans. In May 2021 he sent this update: “I am finally able to play soccer with my friends once again, which has been amazing.”

PAIN – AND PLANS

A junior, Daniel is a scholar in the Scholars Latino Initiative (SLI), a nonprofit that creates college opportunities for first-generation Latino/x high school students. He’s a member of the Key Club and the culture club Latinos Unidos, and president of the Spanish Honor Society.

His academic load is anything but lightweight: Advanced Placement (AP) U.S. History, AP English, an online college class, AP Calculus, and AP Chemistry. During another class period, he offers math peer tutoring.

Already certified in phlebotomy through a high school class last year – but still too young to work in the field – Daniel’s goal is to be a nurse anesthetist. 

It’s an ambition that he came by honestly: “I was a really clumsy kid, so I would get hurt a lot,” he said. When he’d need stitching or other treatment, “I would always feel the pain.”

He plans first to become a registered nurse at community college, then earn a bachelor of science degree in nursing, and then pursue a master’s degree to become a certified registered nurse anesthetist.

“What’s notable about Daniel,” said his SLI program director, “is his genuine, deep caring for people. He is a devoted student who is learning the long-term benefits of perseverance and consistent, continued work. Daniel applies himself to excel in academics, yet keeps life in perspective with all that is around him.”

PATH TO SLI

Daniel was born in Arlington, Virginia; his family moved when he was two years old. His parents, from El Salvador, didn’t attend college – but always wanted a “better future” for their children.

“They made sure that I kept it in the back of my head,” he said. “They really want what’s best for me.”

His older sister, a SLI alum, finished high school with a year’s worth of college credits and is now on track to earn a bachelor’s degree in business.

“I saw the benefits that SLI was giving her,” Daniel said, “like preparing her to gain leadership skills as well as how to get a feel for college and how to prepare for it.” In ninth grade he was recommended to the program by a teacher and applied, then was interviewed and accepted.

“I wanted to gain those skills that SLI had to offer,” he said. “I’m grateful to SLI for giving me such a great opportunity.” 

Daniel has participated in SLI book seminars on analytic thinking skills, and the program matched him with a university student mentor who has given him “really helpful” time management tips for academic success. 

SLI also pushed him out of his comfort zone to start new friendships, he said, and to collaborate with others and join in team-building service projects such as a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day event packaging food for community members. 

“I don’t see myself as the same person I was two and a half years ago,” he said. “I see myself as someone who’s more outgoing. My work ethic has increased, and my determination to do something. There’s times where maybe the results aren’t what I want, but I’m always pushing through to make sure that everything improves for the next time.”

FAITH ROOTS

Daniel and his family are devout Seventh Day Adventists, and his guiding principle is “Ama a tu prójimo como a ti mismo,” he said: “Love others just as you love yourself.”

“It’s how I have respect for myself and try to motivate myself,” he said. “Just as my parents have taught that mindset to me, I want to teach that mindset to my friends.”

His faith commitments, he said, have translated into his other commitments, as well: to his studies, his community league soccer teammates, his sense of purpose even when things get tough.

“My parents have always taught me to never give up,” he said. “Every time I’m on a car ride with my dad, he always gives me tips or advice, to always make sure to do well in school. If you ever fall down, make sure to always pick yourself back up and always keep pushing forward, because all that hard work will eventually pay off in the end.”

Today, it’d be different. But then, back in November, the Richmond Times-Dispatch headline quoted her as saying, “I didn’t know that I could make a difference.”

Because now Fernanda knows she can. 

A Scholars Latino Initiative (SLI) scholar and the senior class president at Huguenot High School in Richmond, Fernanda had written a letter to the Richmond mayor and schools superintendent and the Virginia secretary of education honoring her AP government teacher, a “personal mentor.” 

She had also included in the letter a request for tickets to see the musical “Hamilton” – but she never expected that 118 tickets would be donated to her class and teacher and “dozens of other Richmond students and teachers,” the article said.

“I can change things,” Fernanda now says. “I can make a difference.”

FROM ‘BORING’ TO ‘THE DREAM’

The “Hamilton” tickets experience has only strengthened Fernanda’s resolve to be a changemaker. She had already discovered her interest in political science, which she said began with SLI assignments. A nonprofit that creates college opportunities for Latino high school students, SLI offers its scholars rigorous academic challenge, leadership development, supportive mentorships and scholarship awards. 

Fernanda used to think that learning about other countries and history was “so boring,” she said – but in SLI she began learning at a new level about such topics as the Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court case or the systematic suppression of indigenous Central American cultures.

“I want to be very involved with the community,” she said. “That’s something that can impact a lot of people. I can start locally, and then – the dream would be to one day help in policymaking or the US government, and change systems.”

She has already begun, serving on the superintendent’s student advisory committee, where she learned that “you can complain all day long, but if you can’t find a solution or an alternative way to solve it, then you’re basically complaining for no reason,” she said.

‘WE HAVE TO GO’

SLI “feels like a family,” Fernanda said, a supportive place with other college-minded Latino students. But SLI has impacted her family of origin, too.

Fernanda was born in North Carolina and raised in Virginia. Her parents, from Mexico and Guatemala, have worked in housekeeping, restaurants and sock and poultry factories; her dad now pastors and works in construction. Neither holds a college degree, although before immigrating her dad had begun medical training. 

They are faithful attenders of Saturday SLI, when guest speakers educate scholars’ families about accessing college: The FAFSA application, for example, or the difference between public and private colleges – “things that I wouldn’t know how to explain to my parents or wouldn’t even know,” Fernanda said. 

That programming has led them to be “more involved with my academics,” she said. “When it’s a Saturday SLI, they’re like, ‘Okay, we have to go.’ It’s not ‘Do we have time to go?’”

‘THE OPPORTUNITY TO FAIL’

SLI has given Fernanda a “perspective of what college is going to be like,” she said, thanks to the college-level reading and writing projects assigned by SLI founder and director Peter Iver Kaufman, a professor of leadership studies at the University of Richmond.

“Sometimes when we write papers for Dr. Kaufman, our papers come back scratched up with so many comments and notes, and we have to check this, and grammar check that,” she said. “I get the opportunity to fail, and I get the opportunity to learn and grow from that, rather than going to college fresh off the boat, getting out of high school and hitting reality.”

The hard work has immediate payoffs, too.

“I apply the skills I learned with SLI to my school here,” she said. “Before SLI, if I had to write a one-page essay I would think that was the worst thing ever. And then I came to SLI and we have to write seven-to-ten-page essays, and we have to learn how to articulate a thought and make sure we have evidence to back it up. So now when I get school work, it’s easier, because I’ve gotten practice from SLI.”

‘HAMILTON’

While getting to see “Hamilton” was “a dream come true,” Fernanda said, what most excited her about the whole experience was having helped 117 others see it, too. 

“All of this was done with the power of advocating,” she said. “It shows me that I have potential.”