“East Bay College Fund’s First University Graduate to Present 2007 Scholarship Awards”
For Immediate Release
May 16, 2007
Oakland, California
As she prepares for her own college graduation, Beatriz Torres will present the 2007 East Bay College Fund scholarships to 16 high school seniors at a May 23 ceremony at Mills College. Torres, who will graduate in June from UC Santa Cruz and plans to go to law school, is the first East Bay College Fund scholar to complete a four-year university degree.
“East Bay College Fund has played an important role in my college experience,” says Torres, a sociology major who received one of the organization’s first $16,000 scholarships in 2003. “They have supported me financially and have encouraged, guided and advised me academically and emotionally. They’re there with you for the entire four years.” A 2003 graduate of Oakland’s Life Academy high school, Torres came to the United States from El Salvador at age 11 and is the first member of her family to graduate from college.
In a warm spring day, a bunch of fresh-faced, smartly dressed young men and women wait nervously at the Alameda County Conference Center for college scholarship interviews. Appearances are important. These kids are among 48 Oakland and Emeryville high school seniors who already have made the first cut, down from 150. But only seventeen will walk away with assistance that could make many of them the first in their families to move beyond a high-school diploma.