Student wins scholarship
Only a decade ago, Skarlet Velasquez lived in one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, a country where running water wasn’t always available.
But in 1998, at age 8, she immigrated to Augusta from Honduras and was forced to learn a language she didn’t speak and assimilate into an equally foreign culture.
Raised by a single mother, Ms. Velasquez is now graduating from the Academy of Richmond County’s International Baccalaureate Program, the most rigorous curriculum the school system offers, Dean Charlie Tudor III said.
Not only that, the Gates Millennium Foundation awarded her a scholarship to attend the college of her choosing, all expenses paid. Thirteen thousand people applied for a Gates scholarship; only 1,000 received one.
“I think it’s possible for anybody,” Ms. Velasquez said about her accomplishments. “You just have to have that drive.”
Her drive came from her mother, Rosie Aplicano, who often works 12-hour days to give her daughter a chance of having a better life.
“She’s the kind of person who sees an obstacle and isn’t going to let it stop her,” Ms. Velasquez said about her mother. “Somebody might knock her down, but she’ll get right back up. She’s always been my example.”
Ms. Aplicano said sometimes she works seven days a week, but it’s a matter of survival to provide for her daughter.
That’s why the scholarship meant so much to Ms. Velasquez. Without it, she wouldn’t be attending college.
She began to worry the eight essays she wrote during the long scholarship process were fruitless. But on April 22, she found a large envelope in the mail.
“The only thing I read was ‘Congratulations,’ ” she said. “I didn’t read anything else. I just started crying.”
She will stay close to home at Augusta State University for her first year in college, but her aspirations are grander.
Ms. Velasquez wants to study economics and international affairs so she might one day work for the United Nations. There she hopes to improve the living conditions of countries such as her native Honduras.
Her accomplishments demonstrate that the American dream is still alive, Mr. Tudor said.
The International Baccalaureate Program instills a global perspective in its students, enabling them to understand other people and other cultures, Mr. Tudor said.
Ms. Velasquez’s contributions to classroom instruction enriched discussions because of her experiences, such as growing up in a Third World country.
“Poverty in America isn’t poverty in another part of the world,” Mr. Tudor said.
Reach Greg Gelpi at (706) 828-3851 or greg.gelpi@augustachronicle.com.
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