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TEEN: Volunteers and
works two part-time jobs
Continued from Al
"There's not always i
grants scholarships to top someone there who
Texas high school graduates d
who enroll at a public college can make you feel like
or university within the state. a priority. I've had r,
Students must be accepted fi
into and nominated by the that. I've been
university to be eligible. blessed." a
In early April, Ramirez, b
her mother and her niece c
made the two-hour trip to Edith Ramirez
Houston to interview for the Bryan High School graduate 1
scholarship.
"I was debating not going," classes through the c
she said. "No one knew what Hammond-Oliver High
it was, no one had heard of School for Human Sciences.
it.,, Half of her classes were tradi-
Then she spoke to Roy tional and half focused exclu-
Lopez, a financial aid adviser sively on learning about the
at A&M. field of medicine, from ethics
"He told me, `Oh my God, to anatomy.
girl. If you get that you're set She said she was excited
for life!,"' she said. about the classes before she
On the way there, Ramirez even started taking them,
said, she was excited but thanks to her older sister
calm - and still skeptical Elisa, who went through the
about her chances. Heading program and is now studying
back to Bryan, emotions nursing at Blinn.
were a little different. "It's one of the best choices
"I cried on the way home," I ever made," she said. "And
she said. "I told my mom I my sisters were there to help
totally blew it. That's when me through it."
she told me it didn't matter, But when her aunt died of
that even if I didn't get the ovarian cancer in January of
scholarship, she'd find a way 2008, she knew being a lab
to help me go to college." technician wasn't her true
Her mother, Severa Mata, calling.
has lived in Bryan for 21 years "I reconsidered everything,
and for the past 11 has been and I realized I wanted to be
employed as a waitress at an oncologist," she said.
Jose's Restaurant. She has During high school,
raised five children as a single Ramirez began volunteering
parent. at St. Joseph Regional Health
Ramirez has three older Center in the oncology
sisters and a younger brother department.
- Esther, 20, twins Elisa and "When my dad left, [my
Elizabeth, 19, and Eulalio, 16. aunt] was one of the few peo-
About a month passed and ple always here to support
Ramirez said she'd forgotten us," Ramirez said, through
about the scholarship for the tears. "When she left us, it
most part and busied herself was a big hit. She was one of
tying up loose ends in high our best friends."
school - finals, prom, Out of 779 graduates in the
Project Graduation. Not to Bryan High class of 2009,
mention her two part-time Ramirez was ranked 22nd.
jobs at HEB and Jose's. With additional local scholar-
"Then, about two weeks ships, including one she
before school was out, I got received at the Hispanic
my letter saying I got it," she Forum Scholarship Gala ear-
said. "I don't think my mom lier this month, she's secured
understood right away. I told more than $90,000 in college
her everything was paid for. scholarships.
She was shell-shocked." Ramirez gives credit to
Ramirez hopes to become a those who have helped her.
doctor after getting her "It's easy to find people
undergraduate degree in biol- who will encourage you, but
ogy. She's always had an not always people who care,"
interest in the medical field, she said. "There's not always
she said, and thought about someone there who can make
becoming a lab technician. you feel like a priority. I've
In high school, she took had that. I've been blessed."
L