Sí se puede means ‘yes we can.' Aside from a famous campaign slogan, it is also the attitude of many of the 20 Latino Student Union members.
In that vein, in 2010, Yadira Murillo, former Peer Navigator with the Commencement Achievement Program (CAP) and active member of LSU, decided to change one student's life at a time by creating the Latinos Unidos Scholarship.
It started as an idea to use a club's frequent outreach programs with local high schools and businesses as a vehicle to launch a single student into success.
"I see five to 10 students every week. They come eager to be in college and get ahead, and then it breaks your heart to see them denied because there is no money to help them," says Jhon Valencia, director of the Diversity and Multicultural Affairs.
"[LSU is] a group of students in the Latino community who decided to be proactive, to reach out to Latino students who are dropping out of school."
Originally, the scholarship was anticipated to garner only $700, but donors within the college and from local businesses have already contributed a total of at least $1,000, and there is hope for more.
Under the general umbrella of Foundation scholarships, strong applicants that have a 2.0 GPA and a Latino background will be reviewed by LSU, a Spanish instructor, CAP and Diversity Services.
According to Valencia, the scholarship is still "low profile" since it wasn't announced to the public until this year's Green River Cinco de Mayo celebration, which had more than 150 people in attendance. He has already received three phone calls from community members interested in donating.
This year's LSU Vice President, Pedro Arelleno, was the one who took Murillo's idea and progressed it by setting up the account for donations.
"The best part for me is knowing that, at the end of the day, there's going to be someone who we impacted with this scholarship," Arellano said.
"We may not be getting to a thousand Latinos out there, but we are getting them one by one."
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Alexis Cormier contributed reporting
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