Third police scholarship awarded
Evergreen Valley student cites inspiration from immigrant rights’ work
SAN JOSE » With her senior year almost fully in the rear-view mirror, Evergreen Valley High School student Fatima Maciel has been looking to finish strong before she heads to UC San Diego in the fall.
Even with shelter-in-place orders increasing the likelihood of her having to graduate remotely, Maciel last week dutifully logged on to her nowonline leadership class. It was toward the end of the session when an unusual attendee popped up on her screen: San Jose police Chief Eddie Garcia.
“I was so surprised,” she said. But being the diligent student that she is, Maciel didn’t panic at the sight of police showing up, albeit virtually, in her class. She knew it had to be good news.
Indeed, she was told that she was the third annual recipient of the San Jose Police Chief’s Scholarship. Funded by the San Jose Police Foundation, the scholarship covers $5,000 for each of four years of college. Maciel is the second straight Evergreen Valley student to earn the award.
Just a few days before she learned about the scholarship, Maciel committed to attend UC San Diego. She aims to study political science and eventually return to her hometown of San Jose to work as an advocate for immigrant rights and social justice. They’re goals inspired by her volunteer work with the San Josebased Services, Immigrant Rights, and Education Network, known as SIREN.
“I want to be with my community, and support and help them through this political climate,” she said.
That passion, Garcia said, is what separated her from other applicants.
“Fatima is already making a huge difference in the San Jose community,” he said. “Her activism and advocacy is inspiring, and her voice is one we can expect to hear in the fight for social change for years to come.”
The 18-year-old began volunteer
ing with SIREN over a year ago, and helped lead a student walkout last fall supporting the preservation of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, known as the DACA program, that allows undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children to lawfully live and work in the country.
Maciel is a born U.S. citizen, but she said her parents came to the United States as undocumented immigrants before they eventually became legal residents. She remembers her parents taking her to local May Day demonstrations as a young child, and after staying away for several
years, they resumed the tradition.
“It was a really good experience, I felt empowered and supported, and saw a lot of my community there,” Maciel said. “The political climate has been weird, with all the stigmas going on around immigrants and refugees. It was a catalyst for what I want to do.”
Jeremy Barousse, SIREN’s director of civic engagement, described Maciel as a “fierce young lady” and natural leader of her peers.
“She has a natural passion for immigrant rights because of her family’s story,” Barousse said. “She brings that with her every day into the work that she does.”
While at Evergreen Valley, Maciel kept a lot of plates spinning. Besides being part of leadership class, she was in the marching band, served as an officer for the school’s Folklorico club — preserving her Mexican culture and heritage through folk dance — and helped support herself by working as lifeguard at Raging Waters.
Now she heads for the UC San Diego campus in La Jolla, and hopes that the school is ready for her in the fall.
She said she is looking forward to being near the coast, and that she is grateful the police foundation has lightened the financial burden on her family.
“It was more reassuring when I got awarded the scholarship,” Maciel said. “That’s where I really wanted to go.”