By Kristin M. Kraemer, Herald staff writer
Stephanie Garcia was undecided about where she was going to study mathematics in the fall until Friday night, when the 18-year-old was awarded a $24,000 scholarship.
Despite a planned visit today to another campus, Garcia says Western Washington University in Bellingham has been her college of choice and now can become a reality thanks to the Hispanic Academic Achievers Program.
The Pasco High School senior was the biggest winner of the night with the 2007 Dan Frost Scholarship. The announcement caught her by surprise and brought tears to her eyes before a crowd of more than 2,700 at TRAC in Pasco.
“I felt like I was just going to break down. It was kind of insane …,” Garcia said a short time later, after taking a picture with 31 other high school seniors. The group received a total $88,000 in scholarships.
“It’s really going to help me out a lot.”
HAAP recognizes fourth- through 12th-grade Hispanic students who earn a 3.0 grade-point average or better. A total of 3,000 students were named Friday.
The program was started in 1990 in Pasco “to provide a springboard for all Hispanic students to strive for a better life through their education,” said Elizabeth Torres, mistress of ceremonies.
Garcia’s father, Adrian, never graduated from high school and the teen has watched her parents — both former farm laborers — struggle to care for the family. That helped her realize a long time ago the value of an education.
“She’s an example. She’s really focused on her education and helping her parents, too,” said mother Livier Garcia.
Stephanie Garcia has been in the Running Start program for two years and will graduate in June from Pasco High and from Columbia Basin College with an associate’s degree in math. She has a combined 3.8 GPA.
Garcia participated in Running Start to save her parents some money in the process and took on a part-time job at Hollywood Video to pay for her college books.
She will enter college in the fall as a junior and plans to pursue a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, then a master’s degree. She ultimately wants to become either a math teacher or an engineer.
Garcia said she’s been successful because she never allowed herself to slack off from her education.
She tries to motivate her younger siblings — two sisters and one brother — in school, while finding her own motivation in her mother, who also will graduate from CBC with a degree in business administration.
“I just want to encourage everyone out there to continue their studies,” she said. “Yeah, it’s possible. Anything is possible.”
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