Student Spotlight: "A Dream Come True"

At his graduation from the San Mateo Adult School, Mario (left) shakes hands with the former Director, the late and beloved Larry Teshara.

At seven years old, Mario’s life changed. On a trip back to Guatemala from the United States, his aunt — a student at Cañada College at the time — gave Mario a backpack. It was “just a backpack… but when I read the words ‘Cañada College’ on it, I imagined myself there.”

In 2009, at the age of twenty-four, Mario immigrated to the U.S. and enrolled at San Mateo Adult School to learn English. After seven years of hard work, Mario, with the support of his teachers, was able to both learn English and pass the California High School Exit Exam.

Passing the exam was the motivation Mario needed to realize his dream of enrolling at Cañada College. When he visited the campus for the placement exam, it was "a dream come true.”

When Mario started college, he joined Upward Scholars, benefitting from the book and food vouchers, parking permit reimbursement, and, since the pandemic, grocery gift cards as well. He also met regularly with his Upward Scholars tutor, Catherine Sanchez, who has been instrumental to his success at Cañada.

While a full-time student at Cañada, Mario also worked full-time at a restaurant. However, at the start of the pandemic, he was laid off, like many others. Determined to make ends meet, Mario applied the résumé and interview skills he learned in college to land an interview with local nonprofit LifeMoves. In November of 2020, he started as a residential service coordinator there. Working at LifeMoves has helped Mario “give back to the community” and pay forward all of the support he has received from communities like Upward Scholars.

Mario plans to graduate from Cañada in Spring 2021 with an AA in Business Administration. In the fall, he plans to start at San Francisco State University to pursue a BS in Business Administration with a concentration in Information Systems, another dream of his.

“The investment Upward Scholars made in my education is the best asset in this world, and this is going to allow me to have a better life and make a better world … I’ll always remember how they supported me in my life, in my educational journey. There are no words to express how appreciative I am.”