Grand Rapids Public Schools issued the following announcement on Feb. 25.
Karla Lopez listened intently as a school official gave her the news: She was fully qualified for a Grand Rapids Promise scholarship, paying for her tuition, books and fees at Grand Rapids Community College next fall.
“That’s such a big relief,” Karla said, speaking softly but with a warm smile. “It’s like, you know, money and then with my situation … That is such a big relief.”
For Karla, a senior at Grand Rapids University Preparatory Academy, it was not just a relief to confirm she would receive the Promise scholarship newly offered to all resident graduates of city high schools. It was also a reward for her many years of hard work and quiet determination as the child of a single mother. She will be the first in her family to attend college.
‘WE DON’T WANT YOU GUYS TO HAVE TO START OFF YOUR ADULT LIFE WITH DEBT.’
– Jessalynn Radden, assistant principal
After a difficult fall semester in which she was unable to complete her classes due to illness, Karla is wrapping up her credits online and expecting to graduate early, in March. The scholarship came as a light at the end of a long tunnel for her.
“It means a lot to me,” Karla said on a recent morning at UPrep, as it’s known. “Knowing that I’ll be able to go to college and continue to go to school, it made me really happy, really excited.”
She is equally excited for her mom, Maribel, who’s raising two daughters on two jobs, and who has always wanted Karla to have a better life than she’s had.
“I feel like I owe it to her, not just myself but for her, because she has been able to get us through so many things,” Karla said of herself and her sister, Cassandra, an eighth-grader at UPrep.
UPrep Assistant Principal Jessalynn Radden congratulates Karla Lopez on her Promise scholarship to GRCC
All Costs Covered
She’s among more than 1,000 students estimated to be eligible for Promise scholarships upon graduating this spring. They come from one of 24 high schools in Grand Rapids, including nearly a dozen GRPS schools and Catholic, Christian and charter schools. The Michigan Department of Education recently approved the development plan submitted by the Grand Rapids Promise Zone Authority Board.
As one of 15 designated Promise Zones in Michigan, the public-private partnership aims to help students surmount the barriers to college and job-training programs. For Karla and many others, the highest barrier has been the sheer cost of a college education. For a student taking a full course load of 30 credits at GRCC in the 2020-21 school year, that adds up to nearly $5,000 saved in tuition, books and fees, according to the Promise Zone Authority’s best estimate.
But besides getting that very tangible leg up, Karla also says she’s been boosted by attending UPrep, itself a public-private partnership designed to help students who might not otherwise find a ready path to higher education. More than 90 percent of its students graduate.
“The teachers here want every single one of their students to succeed and to do their best,” said Karla, who’s been a UPrep student since sixth grade. Personal attention from her teachers, flexible course work, business internships and visits from college reps have helped her overcome family financial challenges and health hardships, Karla said.
Read the full story on School News Network.
Original source can be found here.
Source: Grand Rapids Public Schools
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