Back in March, we asked our very first graduating class to update their original application essays so we could get a snapshot of how far they had come during the past three years. The response was not exactly what we had expected but, nonetheless, allows a peek into the teenaged psyche. What follows is the English translation of some of the essays that were submitted:

Kathia (sponsored by Tim & Nancy Muzyka)

“Here is wishing you success in everything you do and blessings you and your family”

My name is Kathia Berenice G. I. This year I will finish my studies at the prep school Ruben Jaramillo and like most good students my age I want to continue studying and pursuing my dreams. The economic factor is the principle obstacle that I see in my dream to become a professional. With this letter, I would like to solicit from you a continuing scholarship so I can pursue higher education in the Universidad Autonomia de Sinaloa. I would like to pursue a professional degree in nutrition and chef school. I would like to become a high level professional chef and contribute to the development of food services using the latest technology in culinary science. I am very interested in understanding the food service industry on a regional, national and international level. Unfortunately, to pursue studies for this career is very expensive unless I can get in to some government school. My parents don’t have the economic resources necessary to help me pursue this dream. I have a sister who is already studying at the university and a brother who is in secondary school.

In truth, I really want to thank you for the help you have already given me for prep school but I would be forever thankful if you could help me with my university studies. I promise you that I will discharge my responsibilities favorably if you agree to help me. Its my feeling that intelligence does not only consist of knowledge but one’s ability to apply that knowledge in a practical way.

I will await your favorable response to this humble petition. Before I say goodbye I want to thank you again for the help you have given to me and the help that you have given to so many young people with this program.

Now that I have gotten to this point in life and I am about to finish prep school, it is with a lot of emotion and gratitude that I want to tell you how important my economic help has been and how it helped me continue my studies without interruption. For me and for my parents, if it wasn’t for this help that you have given me, I probably would not have been able to continue my studies.

Bianca (sponsored by Jim & Frances Barnes)

The reason I am contacting you now is that I hope you will continue to help me with this scholarship because I need it now more than ever because I want to continue studying for a career and it’s even more expensive. I want to continue my studies because I want to be somebody in life. Once I have graduated and have my career, I want to help my community with the knowledge that I have gained during my studies. I know my community needs a lot and seems to be stuck. There is no progress in this community and it seems to me that young people with new ideas can make things better here.

I believe that education is the best basis for life. It seems to me that a person that is not educated does not have much of a future, especially here, where the only thing you can do is work on a farm and the employers treat you very badly. On the other hand, the person who has an education and has a career has a much better future and better opportunities for work. My vision has always been to graduate with a career and not get diverted halfway through my education.

I want to study a business administration and graduate with a career in that subject. My biggest fear is that I get started on my career and my studies and I will not be able to finish because my parents don’t have the economic resources necessary to see me through my college education. For this reason, I hope you will continue your help with the scholarship so I can go forward with my studies. With nothing else to say, I want to thank you again for all the help you have given me and I hope that you will consider my petition for continued help with my studies.

With much love and respect. Thank you very, very much.

Bianca Sarahi C. A.

Guadalupe Cortez (sponsored by Bob & Julie Wallace)

Hello and thank you again for reading this petition. But in reality I want to start by saying that I don’t have sufficient words to thank you for all the help you have given me; not only with economic resources, but also with your friendship, your tolerance, your comprehension of my circumstances and I am thanking you this day for helping me progress with my studies in prep school because now I am ready to start my career at the university.

My name is Guadalupe Cortez A. and I am finishing my third and last year of prep school. I plan to study to become a professional biologist with emphasis in ecology and environment and biological resources and experimental biology. In order to pursue this course of study, I’ll have to leave Mazatlan. I would like to study at the Universidad Automonia de Sinaloa in Culiacan because they are well established in this field. In my first essay three years ago, I said that I wanted to study business administration. But after three years in prep school, I changed my mind 360 degrees, and this new turn has given me new perspectives.

I am sending you this petition because I don’t have the economic resources necessary to pursue this career because my parents are not in a good economic situation. My parents work in the fields and for them it is very hard to educate my brothers and me because there is more than one in school. Nevertheless, my parents give the best that they have because they don’t want the same future for us as they have for themselves. They go to work in the fields every day and each time there’s less and less work because the climate is changing and agriculture is not that productive in this area.

I am asking you for this opportunity because I really want to continue with my studies. I will be forever thankful to you if you give me this opportunity. Thank you for helping me and my friends.

Guadalupe Cortez A.

Alejandra Salazar O. (sponsored by Dale & Lynda Lyster)

Hello. I am Alejandra S. O. I am 17 yrs old and I study at the prep school COBAES 38 and I am in my third year. With this letter, I want t thank you very much for all the help you have given me with my studies. I know that as a student I will never be able to repay you for all you have done for me and my family. You have helped me with my future because I want to continue studying and pursue a career in nutrition. I hope to become a professional so I can help my family because they have given me so much support in my studies. It is my hope that I can continue to count on your support to help me pursue my dreams to enter the university and become a good nutritionist.

Thank you again so much for all you have done for us. You have been so good to care enough to help us. It’s a pleasure to write to you an a thank you for all you have done. Thank you for everything.

Sincerely,

Alejandra.

Aaron – (sponsored by Sonny Wong)

First of all, I want to thank you from my heart for the great help that you have given me during these past three years. Thank you for the scholarship, but better said, thanks to all you who are admirable people. I am about to finish my high school and for that I am very happy,

Once I graduate from high school, I would like to go onto the university and I need to ask you to continue to help me pursue my university studies. My parents do not have sufficient financial resources to send me to university and for that reason I hope you will be able to help me with another scholarship. And if you do, my promise to you will be that I will study hard and try to master all the subjects as I did in high school. If for some reason you cannot continue to help me I will be very content to have completed my high school education with the help that you have given me so far.

Finally, I want to reiterate my sincere thanks for the great help you have given me and I want to ask for your help to continue my studies in the future.

Aaron

Irelda- (sponsored by Keith Prosser)

Dear Mr Prosser,

First of all, I hope all is well with you. With this letter, I want to thank you for all the help you have given me during these three years. Without your help I never would have been able to finish prep school and now I am almost done with this phase of my education. These past three years, I have been enthusiastically pursuing my high school studies with the idea of entering the university to pursue a career in nursing. I wanted to become a nurse so I could help my community because here there’s not even a medical clinic and there is a lot of need.

But today I have the priority that blocks my pursuit of my dreams and I will not be able to continue my studies. So I will finish my studies with prep school and I will try to find a way to survive, looking for some kind of work because my mother is very difficult for her to continue to help me and my grades have been disappointing.

Nonetheless, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for the help that you have given me and I want you to know that very soon I will reach my goal to graduate from prep school.

Thank you very much,

Irelda

The remaining essays are still being translated. Please check back soon to read them.