Photos by Ralph Freso
Brianna Castro was in sixth grade when she took the hand of little sister, Berlinda, to bring her to the first day of kindergarten.
Her mom was busy working to help the immigrant family survive, and her dad was ill.
In the years after, Brianna signed Berlinda’s school permission papers since she knew English. She was there for her sixth-grade graduation and went to her yearly parent school conferences.
“Even in kinder,” Berlinda said, “people would ask me, ‘Who is your role model?’
“My sister.”
Brianna will be at her sister’s side again in two weeks, when Berlinda moves into her residence hall during Welcome Week at Grand Canyon University.
“I was already preparing to pay for her, since kindergarten. You can’t guarantee you’re getting a scholarship, so we needed a backup plan,” said Brianna, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at GCU and today is a university admissions counselor.
“She had big shoes to fill. She wore them. She surpassed them. I’m really proud of her. She deserves it; she has worked so hard.”
Berlinda earned a GCU’s Canyon Rising scholarship, which for the first time includes room and board for 100 of the 300 recipients, in addition to tuition and fees. Brianna was a Students Inspiring Students scholar and earned free tuition and fees.
As we move from SIS to Canyon Rising, we are excited that we are continuing to offer scholarships to the best and brightest who will make a difference in our community.
Megan Serafini, director of donor stewardship
Their mother, Edith, moved to the U.S. from Guatemala to earn money for her grandfather’s cancer treatments and met her father, Boanerges, who had fled Nicaragua’s civil war. He worked construction until illnesses and five strokes made it impossible, and she worked jobs as a cook, nanny or in factories as they raised four daughters.
“Since my mom was working so much, I had a big role in raising them,” Brianna said.
They all still live together in a home just a couple of miles from GCU. But when Edith heard about GCU’s Learning Lounge, she urged – neh, demanded – Brianna go to it after classes at Washington High School. Edith was just short of earning her education to teach before leaving her own country and wanted better for her daughters.
Brianna found GCU and its students inviting, and the tutoring available there would put her on track for an SIS scholarship.
“Either I got that scholarship, or I wouldn’t be able to go to school,” Brianna said.
“The night before my birthday, I got the scholarship surprise. My parents were praying immediately, giving thanks to God.”
She excelled at college, becoming a key figure as she tutored others in the Learning Lounge, took courses toward her bachelor’s degree in English for secondary education and became a voice for the program, serving as a translator for events and representing the program at area schools.
All that time she was helping take care of her sister at home, the second oldest shepherded the youngest. Brianna and Berlinda think themselves alike, with curly hair and a dedication to school.
“But I am the quiet one and she is the loud one,” Berlinda said.
Berlinda also joined the Learning Lounge and began to take an interest in software development, getting help from Brianna’s boyfriend, who studied engineering at GCU.
She wanted to earn the same SIS scholarship as her sister, one that has gone to hundreds of high-achieving students in need from neighboring school districts. She was delighted to learn that the new Canyon Rising scholarship was even better, allowing her to live on campus.
“As we move from SIS to Canyon Rising, we are excited that we are continuing to offer scholarships to the best and brightest who will make a difference in our community. Brianna was an exceptional leader, and we know that her sister, Berlinda, will fill those footsteps,” said Megan Serafini, director of donor stewardship who worked closely with Brianna during her undergraduate years.
Brianna went on to work at GCU after her 2022 graduation and in June finished requirements for a master’s degree in higher education student affairs. She visits schools and talks to children who were once in her shoes and calls their parents with the good news of a scholarship.
They are so shocked at hearing they have free college that sometimes they think it’s a prank call.
“It feels like I am helping my family over and over,” she said.
Brianna knows the difference it will make for them, as it did for her family. “My parents are grateful to God that we have GCU.”
Even if one will be sleeping in a different bed now.
“It’s easier to get to classes, and the environment is so pretty here,” Berlinda said. “I didn’t think I was going to get to live here because it’s so expensive. But when I found out I could, now I have to. It’s scary.”
She will be the first to leave home.
“It’s not common in our culture for us to move out or even leave this early in life,” Brianna said. “It took some convincing for our parents, for sure.”
Berlinda is familiar with sister hand-me-downs – clothes, phones, laptops – but Brianna is busy helping her shop for her new room before the whole Castro family gathers on campus to say their goodbyes.
She takes solace that Brianna will be nearby in case she needs anything, like always.
Grand Canyon University senior writer Mike Kilen can be reached at [email protected].
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GCU News: Canyon Rising the next evolution of SIS scholarship program
GCU News: Two sisters' resiliency and a mom's promise highlight SIS Banquet
