Hard work pays off for Peñasco High student, LAESF scholar

Garcia plans to attend UNM this fall

May 10, 2010—Desiree Garcia is a young woman on the go. Literally. She’s up at 6 every morning and out the door by 7:15 a.m. to drive from Española to Peñasco High School where she is a senior.

Garcia’s parents are deceased. Her grandfather is her legal guardian, but she lives with an aunt in Española.

Class begins at 8 a.m. — Garcia is taking calculus, astronomy, English, and physical education — and she’s done by noon, at which time she hops in her car for the 53-mile trip from school to White Rock where she works at a local hotel. Seven or eight hours later when she gets off work, Garcia heads home to Española, another 17-mile trip. She does this five days a week. Sometimes, she works on weekends filling in for coworkers at the hotel.

So this fall when Garcia is attending college at the University of New Mexico, where she plans to study accounting, she’ll be used to driving long distances.

Garcia is one of 55 Northern New Mexico area students who received a Los Alamos Employees’ Scholarship Fund scholarship. While attending UNM, she plans to continue working. She’s been offered a job at the Laboratory this summer and would like to continue working once the fall semester begins.

“I work, but I don’t have money for college,” the 18-year-old Garcia said, recalling the scholarship application process. “At first I was a bit nervous. [The LANL Foundation] told us we were competing against students from many other schools, Los Alamos, Taos, Mesa Vista, Española.

“I worked hard. I’ve taken hard classes. So I really wanted it. I just didn’t know if I would qualify.”

When she was notified in March that she would be receiving the $11,000 in scholarship assistance, “I was in shock,” she said. “It’ll help with me my books and fees.”

Garcia learned she was a scholarship recipient from her boss, Nancy Chavez, and Ubaldo Gallegos of Industrial Hygiene and Safety (IHS) Division, a member of the LAESF advisory committee and selections subcommittee. Her boss called and asked Garcia to come to the office. “She said someone was coming in and to stay in her office,” Garcia recalled.

“Then Ubaldo walked in. I had never met him before. It was intimidating, kind of. That’s when I learned I had received two scholarships.”

Her advice to other Northern New Mexico students thinking about applying for a Los Alamos Employees’ Scholarship Fund scholarship? “When you are writing your essay, do not give up hope,” she said. “Just because you are going up against some of the top schools in the state doesn’t mean you don’t have a chance to get a scholarship,” adding that she plans to give back to those Lab employees who donate to the scholarship fund by helping other students with the scholarship application process.