Help us fund GCSA Scholarships in 2012

It’s been two years since we began this initiative to provide scholarships to undergraduate students at Georgetown University who are making significant contributions to their communities. In these last two years, the Georgetown Comunidad Scholarship Association has awarded 16 scholarships to exceptional young women and men. From its beginning, the GCSA has been an effort made possible by the donations of many friends of the GCSA. I’ve been humbled by how friends of the GCSA continue volunteer and fund these scholarships. Some of our friends have given a lot and we are incredibly grateful. Many alumni have given a little. The important thing is that we all give.

Just last month, we awarded our last four scholarships for the year 2011. Like previous recipients, Noel, Kalia, Johanny and Sakeenah are incredible young people deserving of this scholarship. As 2011 closes, it’s time to ask for your help to raise the scholarship dollars of the coming year. So today, I’m inviting all of the friends of the GCSA to consider making a small donation to the GCSA to fund scholarships for the coming year.

First, your donation to the GCSA Scholarship Program will go to assist undergraduate students who are leaders in their community and who are in need of a extra financial assistance to make their Georgetown University education possible. Speaking for myself, I remember how challenging it was to navigate my studies, activities, and side jobs to make ends meet at Georgetown. And while I had external scholarships that made this load easier, often these scholarships would only be made available once a year. The GCSA accepts applications for four scholarships every semester. That’s eight $500 scholarships that are awarded a year. And while the amount of the individual scholarship may not sound like much, it certainly means a lot to an undergraduate student struggling to make ends meet. If you haven’t done so yet, read about these extraordinary scholarship recipients here. Second, you should donate to the GCSA because your donation will keep this initiative alive. Without the support of friends, the GCSA could not exist. Each year, the GCSA is awarding eight scholarships to eight deserving young people. Each semester, dozens of students apply for the scholarship and it takes many people to volunteer to disseminate, receive, sort and review scholarship applications. This is no small feat and we are incredibly proud of the many people who have given their time and treasure to grow the GCSA. Having no paid staff means that dollars donated to the GCSA will go to benefit students. Finally, consider donating to the GCSA because of the students that benefit from your donation. Take a moment to look at the photos and short biographies of the student recipients. Each recipient is a student who is incredibly dedicated to his or her community at Georgetown and at home. And each student is deserving of our help. Let’s continue making these scholarships available for the coming year. I encourage you to join me in making a small donation to ensure that the GCSA continues making scholarship dollars available in the coming year.

Making your donation is easy. The preferred method is by check made payable to the Georgetown Comunidad Scholarship Association and sent to our address below. Or you can click here to make your donation with a debit or credit card through PayPal. Our goal is to raise a year’s worth of scholarship dollars before the end of 2011. I hope that you consider making your donation to the GCSA today.

Georgetown Comunidad Scholarship Association

P.O. Box 3531

Redwood City, CA 94063

On behalf of everyone at the GCSA, thanks for reading and please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Octavio González

Chair, Board of Directors

gonzalez.octavio@gmail.com

Announcing GCSA’s Fall 2011 Scholarship Recipients

We’re proud to announce our scholarship recipients for the fall 2011 semester, all of whom impressed us with their dedication to community. A big Hoya congrats to:

Sakeenah Shabazz (COL ’15)

Johanny Lopez (SNHS ’15)

Noel Mendoza (SFS ’12)

Kalia Vang (COL ’13)

Biographies of the recipients are below. Again, muchas gracias to the members of our Selection Committee for taking on the tough task of thoroughly reviewing all scholarship applications and selecting our recipients from a group of accomplished Hoyas.

Sakeenah Shabazz (COL ’15)

Sakeenah was born and raised in San Diego, California. She is the seventh child out of eight children and the first to attend a four-year university. Sakeenah chose to attend Georgetown University because it was far from home and would provide her with an experience that she could not get at any other institution. One of Sakeenah’s goals in life is to travel to every continent (except Antarctica)! After graduating from Georgetown, with a degree in human science, Sakeenah plans to attend medical school to become a doctor of obstetrics and gynecology.

Johanny Lopez (NHS ’15)

Johanny comes to Georgetown University by way of the Dominican Republic where she was born and raised. In 2005, Johanny moved to the United States with her family. Johanny has come a long way as an immigrant to this country. As an English Language Learner, Johanny excelled academically and was her high school valedictorian. Johanny’s determination comes from her desire to help underprivileged communities. As a high school student, Johanny mentored struggling middle school students, tutoring them and encouraging them to pursue their interests. Johanny currently studies international health at Georgetown University’s School of Nursing and Health Studies and hopes to pursue a career in medicine. Her goal is to work to end health inequalities in the Dominican Republic. International health, Johanny says, is the link between her passion for medicine and her desire to help underprivileged communities.

Noel Mendoza (SFS ’12)

Noel is a senior in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown and is pursuing a degree in culture and politics with an emphasis on U.S. Latino education, literature, and socioeconomic issues. Noel is originally from Los Angeles, California where he graduated from Verbum Dei High School. At Georgetown, Noel works for the Office of the President. He is also the founder and current coordinator of La Casita, Georgetown’s first recognized Latino-interest house. Noel also participates as a member of Ritmo y Sabor and has served as a tutor for DC Schools and Cristo Rey Tutoring, a student organization that tutors students from the Cristo Rey Network high school in Takoma Park, Maryland. In addition to all this, Noel is currently the President of Chi Chapter’s La Unidad Latina, Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity, Inc. While in Washington D.C., Noel has interned for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and has become involved with the Hispanic Heritage Foundation. After graduation, Noel plans to work before pursuing a graduate degree in public policy.

Kalia Vang (COL ‘13)

Kalia is a Junior in the College, pursuing a government major and minors in sociology and women and gender Studies. She was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As a first-generation Hmong-American and college student, Kalia seeks to empower underrepresented, vulnerable communities with her Georgetown education. Through political activism and community and campus involvement, Kalia demonstrates a passion for public service and coalition building. Her contributions to the immigrant community have been pivotal to her Georgetown experience; she educated the Georgetown community about the DREAM Act, tutored an immigrant child through the DC Schools Project, advocates for comprehensive immigration reform, and recently established a Georgetown mentoring branch for an Arlington-based non-profit, Educación Para Nuestro Futuro (Education for Our Future). She promotes diversity, inclusion, and social justice through her experience with Georgetown's Students of Color Alliance and the competitive Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Summer Internship Program. In addition, Kalia enjoys Bollywood dancing, exploring DC, and reading.

We are thankful for…

…our Selection Committee!

This semester the GCSA had another awesome Selection Committee at work reading scholarship applications and interviewing applicants. Our Selection Committee is charged with the difficult decision of selecting four scholarship recipients from numerous deserving applicants. These are committed alumni donors to the GCSA who volunteer their time to read applications, conduct interviews and come together to determine every semester’s scholarship recipients. As expected, the Selection Committee excelled at their task by thoroughly and thoughtfully reviewing every submission. Muchas gracias to the following Hoyas for sharing their precious time with us this semester (and next!):

• Berenice De La Parra ('98)
• Joe Saucedo ('00)
• Gloria Gasca ('03)
• Yadira Vieyra ('11)
• Indra Sen ('08)
• Nadia Marquez ('09)
• Arturo Preciado ('02)
• John Azpeitia ('99)

Cash for College!

If you feel strongly about serving your community and can use extra funds to offset the cost of being on the Hilltop, then apply for the Georgetown Comunidad Scholarship Association's scholarship by Sunday, OCTOBER 16. Allow Georgetown alumni to acknowledge your contributions beyond the classroom and become part of a growing base of Hoya scholars who continue to serve others. Email georgetown.comunidad@gmail.com for a copy of the application or for more information.

It’s been so long since last we met…time for Reunión y Despedida!

The GCSA is proud and excited to host the second annual Reunión y Despedida in Los Angeles on Saturday, August 20! Reunión y Despedida is an event geared towards bringing many of Georgetown's diverse comunidad members together. For alumni, this is an opportunity to reunite with old friends. For undergraduates, this is one last hoorah before the start of the fall semester. For incoming members of the Class of 2015, this is a chance for you and your family to meet other members of your class and for your parents/guardians to become acquainted with a diverse and dynamic Georgetown community. Those attending – incoming Hoyas, current undergraduates, alums, friends and family – are, were, and will be the support that makes an endeavor like Georgetown possible.

So what can you expect at Reunión y Despedida? Delicious food is one draw. This event is casual and will be in the backyard of Georgetown alumnus Alex Chacon's home in Los Angeles. Alumni are providing great, home-cooked food (vegetarian and otherwise) and we will have plenty of beverages on hand. And although we lure you in with delicious food, our objective is to connect and reconnect you to the Georgetown comunidad.

If you’re an incoming Hoya or current undergraduate, please RSVP to georgetown.comunidad@gmail.com with your name and the name(s) of your guest(s).

Alums: Your support makes this event possible. RSVP by make a small donation to the GCSA. We suggest $25.00, but any donation is welcome and no alumnus/a will be turned away for not donating. To make a donation, use the PayPal "Donate" button at the upper right hand corner of our blog homepage. Once you make the donation, email georgetown.comunidad@gmail.com to confirm your RSVP.

Finally: We hope any parents of students and alumni can attend! This is a family friendly event and parents are encouraged to attend and meet other Hoya parents from the neighborhood!

¡Felicidades Class of 2011!

It’s right around Commencement Weekend that I get nostalgic for Georgetown. Commencement weekend is a clash of feelings and a meeting of worlds: parents and siblings coming from out of town and, maybe for the first time, seeing the world you lived in for the last four years. And with family in town, you suddenly find your attention being split in multiple directions: Commencement Weekend events, celebrations with family who’ve traveled long distances to share in this joy with you, and an effort to squeeze last moments of quality time with friends whom you may not see for some time to come. It’s rough but beautiful at the same time. To the Class of 2011, on behalf of the Georgetown Comunidad Scholarship Association, we say felicidades and congratulations to you and your families! It’s been a long journey but you’ve made it. You are graduating and you are leaving Georgetown a much better place than when you found it. As you join us alumni in the world of Hoya Heaven (as Dr. Dan Porterfield likes to put it), know that there is a comunidad of incredible Hoyas ready and waiting for you. And one way to keep your connection back to Georgetown is through the Georgetown Comunidad Scholarship Association. Stay tuned for get-togethers, mentorship opportunities and opportunities to make your contribution to the GCSA.

I’d like to take a moment to highlight one of the GCSA Scholars who is graduating this year. Brenda Garcia('11) has made significant contributions to the Georgetown Community in her four years on the Hilltop. She is a bright and energetic leader who is giving back to the comunidad as a teacher through Teach For America. Brenda’s path at Georgetown was preceded by another inspiring Hoya, Sarah Audelo ('06), who taught Brenda when Sarah was a TFA teacher in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. A huge congratulations to the GU Class of 2011 and to our graduating GCSA Scholar, Brenda Garcia!

College costs are more than tuition, room and board...

Recently, fellow board member Vicente Garcia (COL ’05) passed along a Wall Street Journal article detailing the college student’s dilemma: the cost of attendance estimated by the financial aid office doesn’t meet certain and sometimes unexpected college expenses.

Reflecting on this, I realized that my experience at Georgetown was similar. Some of the following scenarios may sound familiar to you:

• Are you from Southern California, the land where a winter coat is a light Dickies jacket? Suddenly, that decision to go to school on the east coast means investing in a thicker (more expensive) coat. Time for a peacoat.
• When on campus, did you decide to take that awesome Latin American history class, but then realized that the required list of books numbered past a dozen? Suddenly, that intellectually stimulating class means being saddled with a large bill made payable to the university bookstore. Time to look for a part-time job.
• Did your family’s income decrease unexpectedly due to job loss or work hours reduction, but your expected family contribution on your award letter wasn't met with a proportional reduction? Now what?

As an alumna, I remember the struggle to make ends meet; this is precisely why the Georgetown Comunidad Scholarship Association is so important. We know there are more expenses to a college education than tuition, room and board.

If you’re an undergraduate student at Georgetown, I can say to you: you are not alone because we are here for you. “We” are a comunidad of alumni ready to pitch in because we know how hard you and your loved ones worked to get where you are. The GCSA’s scholarship cycle occurs twice during the academic year: fall and spring semesters. To be eligible, you must be a full time undergraduate student in any college at Georgetown University and not have been a past recipient of this scholarship. We award four $500 scholarships each semester.

If you’re an alumnus or alumna of Georgetown, I invite you to consider supporting the work of the GCSA or matching or exceeding your previous contribution to this worthy cause. With the support of friends like you, we can ensure that current and future Hoyas aren’t unnecessarily impeded with unexpected college costs.

Click on the PayPal link on the upper right-hand corner to make your contribution today or send a check payable to Georgetown Comunidad Scholarship Association to GCSA, P.O. Box 3531, Redwood City, CA 94064.