scholarships

She was in third grade, and all her immigrant parents wanted for her someday was a job out of the heat. But after Erika Delgado Valadez and her 83 classmates at an Avondale elementary school were promised a full scholarship by the Rosztoczy Foundation, the dreams became bigger. Valadez and four others in that class 10 years ago are living out their dreams at GCU. After the foundation looked at the results of the scholarship on the class, it announced more promises to third graders in Phoenix and put Erika and the program in the national spotlight.

You could tell Thursday meant a lot to GCU. The Student Union was packed. The governor was here. The announcement of new Fostering Futures Scholarships to help foster children in Arizona get a GCU education unleashed emotions from speaker and GCU alumna Jacqueline Carter and from many in the crowd. “I’ve been in press conferences a lot, but hardly ever have I have seen people crying. This is a heartfelt, unifying effort,” said GCU Vice President of Operations Sarah Boeder.

David Salgado knew it was a tough road to take. The Grand Canyon University graduate and IT employee wanted to pass the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), be accepted into a law school and earn a scholarship to pay for it. There were a lot of twists and turns along the way. But he managed a rarity — a full scholarship to law school. His west Phoenix parents jumped for joy. None of the extended family had ever been to college, much less law school. They had canceled vacation to plan on helping to pay for it. Salgado will go to Gonzaga School of Law on the Thomas More Scholarship.