East Dallas Christian Church Scholarships Help Make Woodrow Grads First College-bound Generation in Their Families

DALLAS, TX May 17, 2004--Woodrow Wilson High School's senior class of 2004 will walk across a stage later this week to receive their diplomas, and many of the graduates will begin packing to attend college this fall. For some of Woodrow's 292 seniors, it could easily be a lunchbox they'd be packing before heading off to a low-paying job. That is a reality for many urban, minority students.
Thanks to an innovative regional scholarship program at East Dallas Christian Church, five Woodrow Wilson graduates have become first-generation, college bound students.

Luis Perea, Maria Chavez, Juan Carlos Cabrera, and brother and sister Erick and Jessica Zarate each earned $500 grants and are the first recipients of the 100-year-old church's W.A. and Billie Ruth Welsh Scholarship.

The funding is renewable as long as the winners remain enrolled and make satisfactory academic progress at a North Texas-area postsecondary institution. To qualify, students are asked to write a letter telling their background, present situation and future plans.

They must also receive a recommendation from a school counselor, a teacher or a minister. Membership or participation in East Dallas Christian Church is not a requirement. In fact, one of the students is studying to become a Baptist minister. The Disciples of Christ congregation routinely reaches across religious and cultural boundaries and has broad goals for its scholarships.

"The purpose of this scholarship is to encourage first-generation college students from Dallas and surrounding suburbs to pursue higher education for the benefit of the Dallas community. According to many studies, students making that first-generation leap to college lift not only themselves, but their families and communities as well," said Senior Minister, the Rev. Dr. John Cunyus.

The scholarships are named in honor of the late Rev. W.A. Welsh, a prominent Christian Church leader, and his wife who serves on the scholarship selection panel. Rev. Welsh had a distinguished career as a seminary president, pastor and educator. From 1950-1965 he was pastor of East Dallas Christian Church, which had a membership of 4,000, making it the largest Disciples congregation in the United States at that time. Two sons have followed in his footsteps as Disciples ministers.

The five scholarship winners had no family role models when it came to their education plans. These students have relied on school counselors, teachers and others in the community to help them break a cycle familiar to many inner city young people who are often compelled to earn a paycheck instead of a diploma. EDCC's scholarship students have compelling stories and a hopeful future.

·    Luis Perea, born in Mexico City, has resisted the temptations of drugs and gangs to stay on course in school. Through the church's help, he will enroll in an auto mechanics course in the Dallas County Community College system.
·    Maria Chavez, born in Iowa, is an honor student at Woodrow and is the first in her family to graduate from high school and to attend college. She plans to attend Texas Women's University in Dallas to become a physician.
·    Juan Carlos Cabrera, a native of Mexico, will be the first in his family to attend college. A Woodrow Wilson graduate, he is studying computers, training for a Microsoft accreditation and is enrolled at the Dallas Baptist Association Hispanic seminary. In addition to his studies, Juan is caring for his younger siblings while his parents are in Mexico straightening out their immigration status.
·    Erick Zarate came to Texas with his family at age 14. On his first day of school here he did not know a single word of English. In the past four years, he worked hard and has become an honor student at Woodrow.
·    Jessica Zarate, Erick's twin sister, has faced similar challenges. She too has become an honor student, with the ambition of becoming a teacher. Erick and Jessica, like Juan Carlos, are here by themselves, their parents having returned to Mexico.

"Imagine the impact these young people will have on those they touch in the future," Rev. Cunyus said. "Many of us take it for granted that education matters. Yet for the majority of students in DISD, college doesn't even rate as a possibility. Luis, Maria, Juan Carlos, Erick and Jessica will demonstrate, simply by being who they are, that it is possible."

A study by the Hispanic Scholarship Fund Institute says, "Latinos receive the lowest average amount of financial aid awarded — by type and source of aid — of any ethnic group. Given that the cost of postsecondary education is continually increasing and attaining a postsecondary education is more important than ever, Latino student participation in financial aid is critical."

Students and their families have had to assume a larger share of the cost of obtaining a higher education.

"Since the early 1970s, the cost of paying for public college, as a percentage of family income, has risen for low-income families from 42 percent to 71 percent, as opposed to a constant 19 percent and 5 percent for middle- and upper-income families, respectively," says Florida's Miami Dade College President Eduardo Padrón in a recent study. "Up to 25 percent of academically qualified low-income students no longer even apply to college."

Average cost per year, including living expenses, at a Texas public university is $13,709 and at a Texas community college it is $10,008, state agency data show.

"These kids know the opportunity that they have, they are driven toward it, and they are extremely appreciative for any help they receive. Without scholarship money, most of our students could not and would not pursue college educations," Kristin Noble Denver, senior counselor at Woodrow Wilson High School wrote to the church.

"The money awarded to those who receive the W.A. and Billie Ruth Welsh Scholarship will change these kids' lives," she added.

"This program builds ties between East Dallas Christian Church and our rapidly changing neighborhood. It puts us back at the center of things here, as we have been historically. And, best of all, it improves the lives of everyone it touches in the most practical of ways," Rev. Cunyus said.

Anyone interested in attending college or returning to a university to complete a degree should contact the church at 214-824-8185 for scholarship information. More about the church is available at www.edcc.org.



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