LiveWire 68 - LaGuardia Community College - CUNY

Kaplan scholars Luis Feliz, Anastasia Morton & son Brendon, Don Patterson and Cristina Rodriguez
Kaplan Scholars...
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limited resources, support and guidance. To
ensure the students’ academic success, the
scholarship will not only provide them with
financial support throughout their college
experience, but also with academic assistance
in the form of individual and group
tutoring through the completion of their
bachelor’s degrees, leadership development
training and cultural enrichment.
S T U D E N T P R O F I L E S
Luis Feliz
A native of the Dominican Republic, Luis
immigrated to the United States with his
mother and sister when he was seven
years-old. His mother was looking for
steady employment and a better life for her
children, but life proved to be difficult.
Although she was working two jobs, his
mother could not adequately care for Luis;
she sent him to live with his grandmother in
the Dominican Republic. Luis’s education
was sorely affected as a result of the constant
moves. “The comings and goings held
me back academically,” he says.
He returned to the United States in 2000,
but his schooling was still off track. Through
eighth grade, he worked forty hours a week
at a bakery and in the tenth grade he was
working in an airport in lieu of attending
classes. At the age of 20 he was still in
high school when a guidance counselor
suggested he drop out and enroll in a GED
program. Her suggestion motivated him to
reverse his academic fate, and by the end
of his senior year he was taking honors
classes.
His goal was now to attend college, but
his improved grades were not high enough
for him to gain acceptance to a four-year
college so he decided to enroll at
LaGuardia. “I was shooting for a four-year
school,” he says, “but I realized that the
only chance for a better life was to begin
my college experience at a community
college.”
The 22 year-old enrolled in the spring of
2007 as a liberal arts major and says he
soon realized he made the right college
choice. “What I discovered is that community
colleges are truly communities. Here at
LaGuardia I met faculty who motivated me
and students who reached out to me. Without
the professors and friends who believed
in me and encouraged me, the Kaplan
scholarship would not have been possible.”
In this community, Luis is an honor student
who has been maintaining a 3.77 G.P.A.
Luis also established himself as a student
leader. He joined the Phi Theta Kappa
Honor Society where he serves as publications
officer. His love for literature prompted
him to found the Renaissance Reading
Circle where he and other students meet
once a week to discuss such works as Franz
Kafka’s Metamorphosis and Jose Saramago’s
Blindness.
Off campus he volunteers his services at
the New Immigrant Community Empowerment
organization where he teaches ESL
classes to working class immigrants.
With Kaplan’s academic and financial
support, Luis hopes that he will be better
prepared to succeed at a senior college. “I
am excited about the scholarship and I
know I will have to work harder than I have
ever worked before. I’m looking forward to
the tutoring and other assistance the
program provides,” he says. “I want to work
with them to become a better student.”
With the help of the Kaplan scholarship,
Luis envisions pursuing a baccalaureate in
the classics at Cornell, Swarthmore or the
University of Pennsylvania. “My dream is to
go to an Ivy League school,” he says. “I
hope the Kaplan Leadership Program will
help put that within my grasp.”
Ultimately, he would like to obtain a Ph.D.
in English and teach at the college level.
“I would like to bring the enriching experience
I have found in books to community
college students,” he explains.
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Our next issue will be in June 2008.
The deadline for submissions is May 15.
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