East Bay College Fund Scholarship

On a normal day during AP English Literature class at the Oakland Military Institute, I sat listening to my teacher as Ms.Le, our school councilor, walked into the room. She was there to talk to us about a scholarship that she wanted my classmates and I to apply to, the East Bay College Fund Scholarship. As she began talking about the scholarship and stated the amount, $4,000 per year throughout four years for each scholar who receives the scholarship, I was instantly disappointed, believing that a scholarship of that amount could never be offered to an undocumented student. I was wrong. The scholarship did not require any type of proof of legal residence in the United States, and it provided and equal chance to minorities in the East Bay Area. At that moment, my heart began to race as I tried to fight off one idea "you can actually have a chance at paying for college if you get that scholarship!" with another more pessimistic one, "there is a good chance that you won't get it, so don't get your hopes up now."

As I sat in class, I silently wrote down the website for the East Bay College Fund application. When I got home, I went on the website to make sure, although my councilor had already told me I did qualify, that I met all the requirements set by the scholarship. I filled out the application, and emailed my English teacher and my soccer coach, asking for recommendations. They both said they would do it, so for the moment I relaxed and decided to leave the scholarship out of my mind in case I did not get it. However, close to the deadline of when the scholarship application was due, my soccer coach emailed me, saying he would be unable to write any recommendations until later that spring, when his schedule was not so tight. I was extremely disappointed, knowing that it would be very difficult for me to find another teacher to write a recommendation in such short notice. Although I did not want to bother him again since he had written recommendations for my college applications, I decided to email my previous English teacher and ask him for the second recommendation. To my relief, he happily agreed to recommend me.

Late in March, I was given notification of my acceptance to the interview stage of the selection process. I attended the interview formally dressed and mentally prepared for it, although I could not be prepared enough to reduce my nervousness. I sat in the waiting room as they interviewed other scholars, wrecking my brain with thoughts of the questions they would be asking, the type of students they were looking for, and the impression I would make on them. The more I waited, the more nervous I became, just by thinking about the importance the scholarship would have in helping me achieve my educational goals.

When I was called in for the interview, I took a deep breath and went in. The three volunteers that interviewed me turned out to be very nice people, and the interview became more of a pleasant conversation than an actual interview. We talked about my goals, how I planned to achieve them, and why I had set those goals for myself. They gave me a lot of advice concerning college, family, and friends and provided me with some of their experience so that I could learn from them as I began my years in college. They ended with one statement: "There are specific traits we look for in our scholars, and we believe you have those traits." I left the interview wondering whether that meant I would get the scholarship or whether it was what they told every scholar. I decided to stay on the safe side and not get my hopes up, telling myself they told those exact words to all the other applicants

Later that month, I received an email saying I had been awarded the scholarship. I read the email over and over to make sure my eyes had not deceived me and to make sure I had, in fact, won. The moment that I received the email was like receiving my acceptance letter to Berkeley all over again. It was as if the letter was saying, "yes, you do have a chance at attending Berkeley now." Although I knew I still needed a lot more money to cover tuition costs at Berkeley, I also knew that with the East Bay College Fund Scholarship, attending Cal might still a possibility for me.