By Melanie Slone
The Bill de la Fuente Scholarship Foundation handed out awards to 12 recent North County Latino high school graduates who participated in Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) or Migrant Education, meeting rigorous standards and now moving on to college or trade school.
The award money comes from local small business owners, mostly Latinos. “We’re very proud to be representative of our community and to do our part” says Bill de la Fuente, founder of the scholarship foundation. “Most of our scholarships come from small Latino businesses, and we want to make sure that we are represented and do our part in building community.”
The scholarships are a helping hand up for students who have difficulty accessing social and economic structures. “The community needs to come together and support our students, especially our Latino students,” says Erika Glennon, representing AVID. “Students need extra support when they don’t come from families with those structures in place.”
Although times are hard, perseverance doesn’t die. “They tried to bury us. They didn’t know that we were seeds,” says Elisa Ayala, senior director of Migrant Education, region IX. She later told students, “You will push through you will grow and you will thrive with sunshine and water through Migrant Education and AVID.”
