Karen Vallejos Corrales:
We were in shock. There’s not going to be any legislative relief, and we need to figure out what we’re going to do next.
It was in that moment that we started really talking about what we could do. Eventually, we, with the support of our families, ended up starting The DREAM Project, which is the nonprofit I am now an executive director of.
We thought that we could start a program that would help offer scholarships. For students, that was the most immediate need. Our parents would do bake sales, dinners for fund-raisers. That first year, The DREAM Project was able to raise enough money and give out four scholarships to high school seniors.
Since my own graduation, the organization had grown a lot. It was giving out 100 scholarships. It had a formal mentoring program. We even have students now pursuing their Ph.D.s, their master’s programs, med school, law school, and you just see the value that giving them a chance when they’re young can really bring them.
Access to education is important because education is really a great equalizer. Young Americans are headed to college this fall, and thousands will be undocumented. The students we work with all have amazing academic backgrounds, are incredibly involved in their school communities. They’re an asset to the American community.
My name is Karen Vallejos Corrales, and this is my Brief But Spectacular take on dreamers pursuing higher education.
