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"People have low expectations when you come from Fremont," said Luz Elena, 18. " 'Inner-city school. Low-income kid. Immigrant family.' They don't expect us to succeed. But look at me, where I am now. So anything is possible." Possible, maybe. But hardly easy.
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<p>Just felt like posting it since she goes to my school.</p>
<p>haha. When it said Fremont, I thought it meant my Fremont High because our school has low expectations as well.</p>
<p>Hmm, my buddy from Fremont went to a school that sends a lot of kids to Berkeley (enough that there is regularly a friendly group of them in larger classes). Mission High School is the name, I believe.</p>
<p>This isn't about FREMONT, CA, but rather Fremont High School in LA.</p>
<p>Oh, crap, my bad. Shoulda read the damn thing I guess.</p>
<p>Yeah, this one's in South Los Angeles. And the complete name is John C. Fremont HS, so that may have thrown some people off.</p>
<p>Considering that 15% of Berkeley students dropout and that nearly half fail to gradute in 4 years, a thread named "A Path From a 'Dropout Factory' to UC Berkeley" is highly ironic.</p>
<p>A very remarkable story. She definitely deserves the full scholarship.</p>
<p>lol oh i also thought it was about Fremont, CA.</p>
<p>It's a great story. So impressive, and so sad, how her parents are so poor. And you get this feeling that, wow, of COURSE this girl is going to help out her parents.</p>
<p>lol i find it funny you said that shiboing...</p>
<p>"4.5 grade point average"</p>
<p>""At Fremont, you're just a number," Luz Elena said. "You have to be really, really persistent . Just to see a counselor, you have to fill out all this paperwork. It could take weeks to get an appointment.""</p>
<p>"When she saw friends struggling in math, she started a tutoring club to help them keep up. When she grew frustrated with her school's weak academics, she joined protests at Los Angeles Unified School District board meetings, pleading for more demanding courses. "</p>
<p>"She didn't have much of a social life. No parties, no boyfriends and no regrets. "That wasn't on my agenda," she said, blushing slightly and casting her wide eyes down. "I knew from eighth grade what I wanted: to graduate at the top of my class." </p>
<p>Yeah, she totally got the scholarship because of her skin color....she is just a total slacker who takes advantage of the fact that she's hispanic. NOT.</p>
<p>did you start a club? protest against something you saw as unfair? were you top in your class?</p>
<p>News articles often can and do exaggerate. I have seen students who have started clubs (including, yes, a tutoring club) that rarely meet and exist to pad resumes. </p>
<p>And most valedictorians don't go out and have a lot of fun. Big whopdie do. She did about as much work as normal middle-class kids do, and probably had a much easier time in certain areas because her competition was so weak.</p>
<p>Let me see a white kid who got valedictorian get a full ride for similar work and activities. You won't see it because there are too many of them to give scholarships to all of them.</p>
<p>The deciding factor in her scholarship was her skin color, pure and simple.</p>
<p>haha naw, i still don't think it has to do with skin color. it has to do with how gosh darn poor her environment was. i mean, her parents don't even speak english and they do menial jobs...she didn't exactly have a nurturing childhood but she still suceeded. i think all kids who excel despite serious socioeconomic hurdles ought to be praised, whether they're white, black, or whatever. i know a really poor asian girl who's parents refuse to support her for college...she ought to get $ even though asians arent considered "poor" or "minorities." there are many sides to every story.</p>
<p>so yeah, i agree it seems unfair that a white kid who does the same stuff doesn't get into UCB with all that $, But i know that a poor-ass white kid who went to a crappy public school and did the same would definitely have an advantage over his richer white counterparts</p>
<p>Wow, Shiboing Boing, I hereby name you official forum troll. You just can't believe a mexican kid could be better than you, do you? You make such compelling arguments that she's unqualified, too. I mean, wow, you've known slackers in your life that made clubs to pad their resumes. That MUST mean she did the exact same thing!</p>
<p>And because you've never known a poor, white valedictorian from south-central LA that got a full ride, that means none ever have. I hope you realize, Shiboing Boing, that minorities are extremely underrepresented on UC campuses. Berkeley is no exception. You'd think that if we were selectively choosing Latinos to accept and offer scholarships to, we would have more than 11% of our undergraduate class comprised of them.</p>
<p>"She did about as much work as normal middle-class kids do,"</p>
<p>Yeah, you're completely clueless.</p>
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She did about as much work as normal middle-class kids do, and probably had a much easier time in certain areas because her competition was so weak.
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Obviously you've never attended a low-income school. For those of us who have, we know that it's absolutely not the case that "it's easier because the competition is so weak." It's a very big misconception. In fact, it's much more of a difficult journey compared to a school where you are surrounded with overachievers set on going to top colleges.</p>
<p>yea take it from me....i'd rather be at the bottom of my class at a great hs than at the top at a ghetto one....</p>
<p>you (the idiot who said it was because of her skin color) dont know the first thing about low income schools and the environment..i mean obviously i can agree that academically, her competition is extremely weak but the point is she went above and beyond her low achieving high school and neighborhood..</p>
<p>and we if we were placed in her position, we could do the same because we weren't raised in such an impoverished environment so we have this HUGE advantage over her. we have a huge headstart academically and she had to work her way up. </p>
<p>so even now, shes probably still not anywhere near as strong as the valedictorian of a high achieving high school, she still deserves credit for working hard while surrounded by such an unmotivated group of people..</p>
<p>just because she had to overcome more and go through things we don't understand, doesn't give us the right to take away her credibility based on our own ignorance of her situation. </p>
<p>she still worked extremely hard to ignore the horrible distractions and lifestyles around her...and just for her ability to ignore the bad around her, she deserves a lot more than any lazy middle class white guy like you could say...just because you're lazy and rich, doesn't give you the right to question a hardworking and poor student's right to a full ride to Berkeley. You're either extremely ignorant or just jealous. maybe both = ) either way, it sucks that you have to share your ignorant statements with the rest of us..</p>
<p>I can't say I know anything about being in a low-income school and what not, but I do believe that jumping up the social caste is VERY DIFFICULT to do, and Luz achieved that.</p>
<p>98% of the people who live in poverty STAY in poverty after generations and generations. She broke out of her social status by working hard, and it's very, very impressive.</p>
<p><em>yawn</em> I have attended public school my entire life. Don't assume that I'm white or rich just because I don't think its fair that she seems to be getting extra attention because of her skin color. I know many people who have broke class ranks of different skin color and her achievement doesn't seem all that special compared to theirs. Many of them did not have the right skin color to win full scholarships to prestigious schools despite similar backgrounds.</p>
<p>I have a serious problem with the mentality that everyone needs to succeed or is somehow capable of competing at a high level. I've met many people like this in school; who have done ok, maybe even a little better than ok, and are admitted to top schools. These people tend to not contribute much in terms of "diversity" and are generally among the worst students because their standardized test scores are weak.</p>
<p>Colleges are meant to train the best of us, not be a part of some social program to elevate the mediocre in order to maintain some facade of cultural and racial equivalance.</p>
<p>Shiboing Boing, I think you are factually mistaken. </p>
<p>Although I do not know just which "full scholarship" this promising young woman received, I'm pretty darn sure that's it was the Regents and Chancellor's Scholarship. Being an Regents Scholar myself, let me tell you that race is simply not considered. The vast majority of us are white or asian. She had a high high school GPA, higher than mine in fact. She had good ECs. And she was poor (which helps lots of asians get Regents.)</p>
<p>So, if she got Regents, that's great. She deserved it just like the rest of the Regent kids. </p>
<p>If she got some outside scholarship, like Gates Millenium, then that's fine too. Private organizations are perfectly free to give away their money as they see fit. </p>
<p>I might also point out that there are plently of full rides available out there for non-URMs based on the color of their skin.</p>
<p>greatestyen, you're saying that race is not even a factor in the Regents selection process? I'd be very surprised if that's so. I would expect each applicant to be viewed in context, as in the admissions decision. The admissions people seem to think that often, race is a factor, so I don't believe that the Regents people would disagree. Maybe they would, but I don't think they would.</p>