Countywide : 42 Latino Students Win Scholarships

Forty-two top Latino high school graduates got $500 boosts toward their college educations this week from Serafines de Orange County, an organization sponsored by the California Angels.

“They have great potential, all of them,” said Serafines President Manuel E. Esqueda, who has been involved with scholarships for Latino students since 1951. He joined Serafines in 1984.

The winners were handed their certificates Tuesday night before a game between the Angels and the Kansas City Royals at Anaheim Stadium.

The 42 were chosen from 78 nominees on the basis of grades. Many had served in student government, taken advanced-placement classes, belonged to the National Honor Society and played on sports teams. They have been accepted at colleges and universities all over the country. They report career ambitions ranging from bioengineering to international business to theater.

One of the winners is Paola Ramirez of Laguna Hills High School, who has received $6,000 so far in scholarship money, she said. Ramirez will be attending Notre Dame University, where she plans to pursue pre-medical and international business studies. She said she hopes her college degree will lead to a career that will offer travel as well as a chance to work in a medical-related field because, she said with a laugh, “I like gory things.”

Ramirez credits her father for pushing her academically. “My dad always encouraged me to do my best,” she said. That has not always been easy, she said, because of prejudice she has experienced over the years.

“I get it at school, even from my closest friends. They say stuff like beaners, and I have to correct them,” she said.

Esqueda said prejudice, economic hardship and a lack of role models make the achievements of Ramirez and the other winners that much more notable.

“We just have to prove ourselves over and over again. It hits the minorities more than anyone else,” he told the students at the ceremony Tuesday.

Another winner, Erica Lubliner of Loara High School in Anaheim, has been accepted at UCLA. She said she will study psychology because “I have always been interested in how the mind works and how people react to things.”

Ivan Osuna of Magnolia High School will be at UCLA too, but he wants to study political science to prepare for a law degree.

“They are setting much higher goals than I ever dreamed of,” said Orange County Superior Court Judge David Velasquez, who also spoke at the presentation. He encouraged them to set examples for younger Latino students to continue their educations.