The Latin American Educational Foundation (LAEF) celebrated its annual Gala on Saturday, March 11th. The Gala is the premier Latino event intended to provide support to worthy students.
LAEF, launched in 1949, is celebrating its 74th year of service to our community. Its growth and importance has come a long way since I first began attending its functions in 1975.
I had just arrived from New Mexico to take a position at Metro State that was still located in downtown rented buildings. One day during my first year, a member of the Board came by to invite me to the LAEF annual function.
As it turned out, I was honored with an award that I conserve as one of my prized possessions. The LAEF scholarship prize to students has been one of the hallmarks of a maturing community that has come to understand that the gift of education is priceless.
It is more than just about the monetary support. A healthy scholarship foundation sends a message about who we are and where our values lie regarding the future of our children.
Education is among the strongest elements in our culture. The higher education portion of this gigantic enter- prise continues to form a basic part of our aspirations as a national community.
That is why there are so many scholarship committees in so many non-profit as well as for profit organizations. Although the quantity of scholarships can never be enough, the awards make a powerful statement.
Many that work hard to promote scholarship funds find great satisfaction in the notion that they are making a dif- ference. While this is true, the fact tends to blur the significance of the educational challenge facing each individual recipient.
The drive from being a scholarship recipient to becom- ing a true scholar is one filled with difficulties and feelings of uncertainty even in light of the best educational planning. It is that test that will determine success in college, help make decisions about a program of study leading to a chosen profession or find a way to threat the needle into a deeper path of research that adds to the body of knowledge for a changing world.
Advocates for an intentional selection of a college or university see this as a way of addressing the issue. The tendency here is to go with institutions of higher learning known for a specialty or rigor or prestige.
That is a luxury that most Latinos do not have and can not afford. Besides, the big open secret is that most serious faculty at whatever college or university have done their graduate study at schools around the country with the same rigor and comparable standards.
After a scholarship is awarded, what counts is the indi- vidual journey through the maze of ideas and concepts that come to an exploring mind. This challenge is made more difficult by the fact that 60 percent of learning in American institutions of higher education occurs outside of the classroom.
Since the education journey is an individual one and more than half of learning is achieved outside the classroom, the choice of an institution to attend becomes less significant. For most, it is more important to segment their work beginning with a strong general studies curriculum that can be found at a community college or university close to home followed by engaging a specialty at the four-year institution before making any plans to leave home and study beyond that.
The scholarship offers a beginning. The rest is in the domain of the scholar.
The views expressed by David Conde are not necessarily the views of La Voz Bilingüe. Comments and responses may be directed to News@lavozcolorado.com.
