Things That Matter

Latinos Need To Keep These 18 Scholarships In Mind When Applying To College And Grad School

By February 7, 2019 at 12:49 pm

You’ve probably heard about all of the rich and famous people facing serious legal consequences for bribing college officials to get their kids into top colleges. While most of us don’t have it like that, we need to fight even harder to take the spots we deserve in those universities. As you apply for colleges, don’t forget about these important scholarships to help you outdo anyone who paid for their place in college.

According to the Pew Research Center, there are fewer and fewer Latino students are going to college. In fact, despite how rapidly the Latino community is growing in the U.S., a widening education gap lands us at half as likely to hold a college degree as non-Latino white adults according to The Education Trust. Why?

Hechinger reports that immigration is the likely factor that’s limiting Latinos.

CREDIT: @scholdotcom / Twitter

While U.S.-born Latinos are on par with non-Latino black Americans’ college attainment (about 30 percent), that drops to just 17 percent when we look at Latino adults born abroad. That gap is likely explained by documentation, which prevents students from qualifying for in-state tuition.

Here are a few scholarships that can make higher education more possible for Latinos.

1. The Hispanic Scholarship Fund

CREDIT: @hsfphotos / Twitter

You don’t have to be a high school student to apply. This scholarship is for graduate students as well, with a focus on STEM majors.

GPA Requirement: 3.0 (high school) and 2.5 (college)

Award: This merit-based scholarship ranges from $500 to $5,000 based on relative need.

2. ¡Adelante! Fund

CREDIT: @smcadelanteclub / Instagram

If you go to scholarships.com, you’ll find a variety of ¡Adelante! scholarships with a range of eligibility requirements. Some require attendance to Leadership Institutes, banquets and all require community service commitments.

GPA Requirement: 2.75

Award: $1,000-$3,000

3. Ann Seki Memorial Scholarship

CREDIT: @coneval_mx / Twitter

With Chevron as a sponsor, you can expect a big chunk of change. Named after the original member of its Hispanic recruiting team, Ann Seki, who worked for three decades to hire Latinxs and diverse employees, this is for you if you’re into almost any kind of engineering.

GPA Requirement: 3.3

Award: $500 to $10,000

4. Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers Scholarships

CREDIT: @cxm1k / Twitter

The SHPE offers nine different scholarship opportunities for a variety of differently-aged students with an obvious focus in engineering.

GPA Requirement: 2.75

Award: $2,000-$5,000.

5. Anhelo Project Dream Scholarship Application

CREDIT: @bgcgreatersandiego / Instagram

The Anhelo Project is for Illinois students who are undocumented and don’t have to be registered under DACA. Since 2011, they’ve awarded over $100,000 to more than 50 recipients.

GPA Requirement: 2.50

6. AMS Minority Scholarships

CREDIT: @REMEZCLA / Twitter

This scholarship is for every underrepresented minority, with a specific interest in “atmospheric or related oceanic and hydrologic sciences.”

GPA Requirement: NONE

Award: $6,000 in two installments

7. The Randy Falco Scholarship

CREDIT: @TheEmmys / Twitter

Yep, this comes from the actual Academy, and this scholarship is meant for Latinos pursuing careers in journalism or television only.

Award: $10,000

8. ACS Scholars Program

CREDIT: @LULFOUNDATION / Twitter

This FAFSA-based scholarship is for any graduating high school senior or college student with a major in chemistry, biochemistry, chemical engineering, chemical technology, or another chemistry-related science.

GPA Requirement: 3.0

Award: $2,500-$5,000 depending on college grade level.

9. La Unidad Latina DREAM Scholarship

CREDIT: @LULFOUNDATION / Twitter

This scholarship es solamente por los Dreamers. That means you must be registered under DACA, and have already completed one year of undergrad.

GPA Requirement: 2.8

Grant: $500 to $3,000

10. Puerto Rican Relief Scholarship

CREDIT: @LULFoundation / Twitter

The LUL Foundation has also created a scholarship for those Boricuas enrolled on the island. It should help those who have been displaced or affected by Hurricane Maria.

Check out www.lulf.org for more info.

11. Haz La U Program

CREDIT: Untitled. Digital Image. Colgate Palm Olive. 21 January 2019.

The Hispanic Heritage Foundation partnered with monopoly Colgate-Palmolive to offer 31 scholarships ranging from $2,000 to $15,000 for Hispanic youth.

GPA Requirement: 3.0

12. National Association of Hispanic Journalists

CREDIT: officialnahj / Instagram

NAHJ describes its scholarship opportunities as “open to college-bound high school seniors, college undergraduates, and graduate students pursuing careers in English or Spanish-language print, broadcast, digital, or photojournalism.”

GPA Requirement:

Award: $1,500 to $5,000

13. Liberty Power Bright Horizons Scholarship

CREDIT: Untitled. Digital Image. Liberty Power Corp. 21 January 2019.

Did you know that Liberty Power is Latino-owned? That’s why it’s offering major scholarships to any student majoring in STEM programs, who are interested in energy and the environment.

GPA Requirement:

Awards: $4,000 to $10,000

14. Actuarial Diversity Scholarship

CREDIT: @ebalexan / Twitter

This scholarship isn’t just for Black, Latino, Pacific Islander and Indigenous Peoples’ who are into books. They want to become actuaries, one of the highest paying accounting professions.

GPA Requirement: 3.0

Award: $1,000-$4,000

15. NBC Universal/LNESC Scholarship

CREDIT: @NBC / Instagram

If you’re already a sophomore or junior college student with an interest in media and entertainment, then you might be eligible!

GPA Requirement: 3.0

Award: $5,000 for ten winners

16. The Carlos M. Casteñeda Journalism Scholarship

CREDIT: @alocuba / Instagram

This scholarship is for Spanish-speaking college graduates looking to get a Masters in journalism. We need you to apply and get out there.

GPA Requirement: 3.0

Award: $7,000

17. CUNY Becas Scholarship Program

CREDIT: @ieltscoach911 / Twitter

The City University of New York Jaime Lucero Mexican Studies Institute offers scholarships to its students who are registered DACA recipients. You have to be committed to serving the Mexican community. Facil, no?

GPA Requirement: NONE

Award: $6,730

18. MALDEF Law School Scholarship Program

CREDIT: @meformagrupo / Instagram

If you’re here for the long civil rights overhaul for Latino-Americans, keep your eyes on this prize. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund is offering 15 awards of $5,000 to Latinos in law school who are committed to advancing Latino civil rights as a career.

Plus, so many more!

CREDIT: @van_hyundai / Twitter

It’s easy to find the dozens of scholarships that are geared towards Latinos an other minorities, and every step you take toward closing the education gap for Latinos can only help other Latinos (namely, you to start with). Have you benefitted from one of these scholarships? Share this article and encourage your friends to dream big!


READ: College Is An Incredible Experience If You Do It Right. Here Are 21 Tips To Make The Most Of It

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The First Ever Tribally-Associated Medical School Opened On Cherokee Lands

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The First Ever Tribally-Associated Medical School Opened On Cherokee Lands

By December 10, 2020 at 10:00 am
BY  | December 10, 2020 AT 10:00 am
Credit: Getty Images

In this unprecedented year that has pushed the boundaries of the healthcare industry past its breaking point, a new kind of medical school is making history. A medical school that caters to Indigenous American medical students.

The school is called Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine at the Cherokee Nation (COMCN), and it will be the first tribally-associated medical school in the U.S.

Largely the brainchild of former principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, Bill John Baker, the project aims to combine the practices of traditional healing practice of the Cherokee people with Western medical teachings.

Bill John Baker’s original goal was to invest money into the Cherokee Nation medical system. His fundraising efforts drew the attention of Oklahoma State University, who approached the then-principal Chief with the idea of opening up a medical school on reservation lands. To him, the decision was a no-brainer.

“After we were removed from tribal lands and there were no teachers, we invested our treasury into teachers. This is a natural progression. Just as our ancestors grew their own teachers 150 years ago, we want to grow our own doctors,” Bill John Baker told Medscape.

As recent reports have detailed, Indigenous communities are being disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the CDC, Indigenous Americans are testing positive for COVID-19 at 3.5 times the rate of white Americans. This is largely due to lingering historical inequities and structural failings that negatively impact the overall health of Indigenous Americans.

One of the solutions to this institutional failing is to recruit and train more doctors of color–in this case, more Indigenous American doctors. As of now, 0.4% of doctors in the U.S. identify themselves as being American Indian or Alaska Native.

Since COMCN is a state school, non-Indigenous students are welcome to study at the school as well. According to the university’s states, 22% of its students identify as Native American, while they make up less than 1% of the U.S. population.

The devastation that COVID-19 has wrought globally has spurred an uptick in medical school applications.

In what has been dubbed the “Fauci Effect”, the number of potential students applying to medical school is up 18% this year from last year. It seems that this global health crisis has sparked a desire in certain people dedicate their lives to medicine.

So COMCN couldn’t come at a better time. America needs more Indigenous doctors and COMCN is here to teach them.

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CherokeeCollegeCOVID-19doctorshealthcareindigenousOklahoma

Rep. Ruben Gallego Broke Down Jared Kushner’s White Privilege In A Twitter Thread About Their Paths To Harvard

Things That Matter

Rep. Ruben Gallego Broke Down Jared Kushner’s White Privilege In A Twitter Thread About Their Paths To Harvard

By October 28, 2020 at 9:51 am
BY  | October 28, 2020 AT 9:51 am
Greg Nash / Pool / AFP via Getty Images

Jared Kushner recently made headlines for saying that Black Americans have to “want to be successful.” Kushner continued in the Fox & Friends interview saying that Trump policies are trying to help them with issues that “they’re complaining about.” Congressman Ruben Gallego of Arizona took to Twitter to call out Kushner and his easy, money-paved path in life after the interview aired.

Rep. Ruben Gallego has a few words about Jared Kushner’s claim that Black Americans don’t “want to be successful.”

Kushner, Ivanka Trump’s husband, was being interviewed by Fox & Friends when he suggested that Black Americans don’t want to successful. He added that the Trump administration has created policies to help Black Americans. Specifically, the Trump administration has created policies to help Black Americans overcome things that “they’re complaining about.”

The interview was immediately slammed by Democrats and activists as being tone deaf. Furthermore, the rhetoric is reminiscent of language used against the Black community for decades to justify policies that disenfranchised and injured the Black community.

Rep. Gallego was one of Kushner’s classmates at Harvard and the two had very different paths to the prestigious school.

Rep. Gallego created a Twitter thread to show the hoops he had to jump through in order to make it to Harvard. As a Latino from a middle class family, Rep. Gallego didn’t have a lot of the same luxuries afford to him like someone of Kushner’s background. The congressman’s story about his way to the Ivy League school is something a lot of people of color can relate to.

The story is an extension and deeper dive into the college admission scandal narrative.

Rep. Gallego detailed his four years in high school with the mission of making it to Harvard. For him, that meant studying for his exams for years with free and used test preps he could get his hands on. There was a community support to make it possible for him to get materials he needed.

According to Data USA, Harvard’s student body is heavily white. The data shows that 41 percent of students are white, 13.5 percent are Asian, 8.19 percent are Hispanic or Latino, and 5.35 percent Black or African-American.

Even the interviewing process was something so many other students didn’t have to contend with.

Some universities, especially ivy league schools, require prospective students to interview with alums and administrators. These interviews weigh heavily in the process and for Rep. Gallego, they were not easy to get to. He had to rely on public transportation to make it to his various interviews around Chicago.

Rep. Gallego spent four years getting ready to go to Harvard.

After four years of hard work and sacrifice, Rep. Gallego was accepted to Harvard. His path to Harvard was filled with friends and family helping him along the way, which is common in Latino communities. It is a story that many of us are familiar with but it isn’t a truly universal story, as Rep. Gallego points out about Kushner.

Kushner’s easy path to Harvard is why the congressman took issue with Kushner’s comments.

Documents show that Kushner got into Harvard after his father pledged a $2.5 million gift to be paid in annual installments of $250,000. Both of Kushner’s parents were also members of Harvard’s Committee of University Resources and donated to the school. In an interview with ProPublica, a former administrator at Kushner’s high school admitted that no one at the school believed that he got admitted on his own merit. The official said that neither his grades nor SAT scores warranted his admission into Harvard.

Rep. Gallego ended his thread asking people to donate to the Biden campaign and the United Negro College Fund.

Rep. Gallego is clearly not letting this story go by without weighing in. Kushner’s comments have set off a firestorm of frustration with people across the nation.

READ: College Admissions Scandal Mastermind Reportedly Told Parents To Lie About Ethnicity To Further Advantage Their White Children

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CollegeHarvardJared KushnerRuben GallegoTwitter