Students earn scholarships
CALEXICO — Ten exceptional students residing here received scholarship certificates to help defray expense of post-secondary education fees Tuesday.
The students are all from Mexicali except one from Sonora who have been living and attending school here. They received the IME BECAS scholarships established by the Mexican Consulate in 2005 and funded by the Consulate in partnership with the Calexico Education Foundation and other multiple partners. Students must plan to continue studies in a U.S. college or technical school, remarked Susana Mesa, a Consulate community affairs assistant.
Students attending the award ceremony at the Calexico Unified School District office included: Victoria Acuna- Aguilar, Melisa Fierro Nunez, Gabriela Nunez, Lilliana Osuna, Natalia Pacheco Zuno, Lizbeth Vasquez and Vanessa Villegas.
Also receiving awards but unable to attend were Gissel Cortes, Ivan Fernando Gonzalez and Christian Cazares.
Lilliana Osuna, 19, is a sophomore in the Imperial Valley University Partnership that enrolls her at Imperial Valley College and San Diego State University-Imperial Valley campus her first two years. She is majoring in psychology and hopes to transfer to the SDSU main campus where she wants to focus on forensic psychology to assist in the criminal justice system.
“It’s an honor and a great feeling to know that your hard work pays off,” said Osuna. “The scholarship definitely takes the weight off my shoulders.”
In addition she works part time for Imperial County Behavioral Health as a student assistant. “This job kind of helps me out with my curriculum,” she said. “It gives me a glimpse of my future career.”
Marisol Osuna, her mother, noted it was a big accomplishment for all the students to receive their awards. “My husband and I are very proud,” she said. “She is a very hard working and dedicated student. I feel great about her transferring to San Diego. We support her in all her decisions. We’ll help her as much as we can.”
Her mother feels San Diego offers a chance to explore other career fields. “She’s my pride and joy,” she added. “All my children are. We support them 110 percent.”
Consul of Mexico in Calexico, Carlos Flores Vizcarra, also expressed his joy to the students and families.
“We continue to support the students in Imperial County with BECAS matching funds who have a GPA of 3.0 or greater,” he said. “It’s our reward to them for their efforts.”
CUSD Superintendent Maria Ambriz remarked it was a true honor and pleasure to be a vehicle for the Consulate to help students.
“The Consulate works hand-in-hand with Calexico in different avenues,” she said. “The fact the Consulate makes education a priority in things they do is a blessing for our students.”
Michael Castillo, a member of the partnership organization, Calexico Education Foundation was pleased to be associated with the larger group to help finance the scholarships that totaled about $30,000 this year.
“It’s not just a one-time thing,” he said. “Students can apply for multiple scholarships. We want to see Calexico youth attain higher opportunities and possibly return to the area to give back to the community.”