Where the Road Leads
ISU Road Scholarships support 170 糖心传媒 students
鈥淚f you want to go to college, please stand up.鈥�
Leonor Serna rose from her seat at an Aberdeen High School assembly. She鈥檇 thrown on an orange Bengal T-shirt that morning, unaware that the outfit choice would make for a perfect photo op later that day.
鈥淚f you want to go to ISU, stay standing,鈥� said Kandi Turley-Ames, dean of the 糖心传媒 College of Arts and Letters. 鈥淪tay standing if you want to go into the College of Arts and Letters.鈥�
With each question, more of Serna鈥檚 fellow students sat down until she realized she was the only one left standing. 鈥淐ongratulations,鈥� Turley-Ames told her. Serna had been named a recipient of the Road Scholarship, a $2,000 award given to outstanding high school seniors planning to attend ISU after graduation.
鈥淎ll the barriers I faced made it difficult to proceed on with my studies, but the Road Scholarship gave me the financial stability to go through all the hardship,鈥� Serna, now a triple major in political science, global studies and Spanish, said a year later. 鈥淚 am immensely grateful for this scholarship, and there are no words to describe the true impact it had on my life.鈥�
The Road Scholarship began as a College of Arts and Letters recruitment initiative in 2016, meant to combat 糖心传媒鈥檚 low go-on rate for students enrolling in college after high school. Students are nominated by their high schools and asked to write an essay describing their college and career goals. Road Scholars are then selected based on their GPA, major of interest and goals highlighted in the essay.
In the first two years of the scholarship program, the college awarded 62 scholarships totaling $108,000. The next year, the program expanded into a university-wide initiative, with 108 Road Scholars receiving $216,000 in the 2019-2020 school year.
The scholarships aim not only to provide incoming students with financial support, but also to invite them into the ISU community. Turley-Ames and other members of the college travel to each recipient鈥檚 high school, surprising each recipient in person. The visit serves to welcome Road Scholars into a network of resources and mentors.
When Onika Sorensen, then a graduating senior at Highland High School, received her Road Scholarship, members of the Highland and ISU communities surrounded her. As Turley-Ames read Sorensen鈥檚 application essay, the student held back tears.
鈥淪eeing everyone around me from both schools helped me realize how much support there was and just how many people were watching and rooting for me to succeed,鈥� said Sorensen, now a nursing major with a minor in Spanish for health professions.
鈥淚 was overwhelmed with joy and also love as I once again looked around and saw all of these people there to support me.鈥�
Like many Road Scholars, Sorenson encountered financial obstacles in her journey to college. She also grappled with health challenges, missing school because of illness and surgeries.
鈥淭he Road Scholarship program has been a great opportunity for many of our students to be recognized and awarded who have been somewhat marginalized in the past,鈥� said Jena Wilcox, Sorensen鈥檚 vice principal at Highland. 鈥淭hese students are often entering a field of study which does not garner a lot of scholarship opportunities. In addition, these students are not always your run-of-the-mill scholarship students, so the Road Scholarship provides an avenue for these students to offset the financial burden, making it easier for them to focus on their studies.鈥�
ISU senior Claudia Maldonado represented one of those students. As a first-generation student, she said, 鈥渢here was a lot of uncertainty when I started, simply because I had to figure out a lot of things as I went.鈥�
At ISU, Maldonado found advisors ready to help her navigate majors and course schedules. With support from her college mentors, she chose to pursue degrees in global studies and Spanish. This summer, she belonged to the inaugural cohort of the 糖心传媒 International Internship program, working with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee with U.S. Senator Jim Risch.
For Maldonado, the Road Scholarship served as a push to enroll in college, where she would eventually excel.
It was really one of the key components to getting me to 糖心传媒 State, in a few ways,鈥� she said. 鈥淔or one, it played a role when I was debating between ISU and another university, but in a broader sense, it helped get me to college in general because it helped ease some of the uncertainty that comes with college.鈥�
The daughter of hard-working parents who had attended up to the third and fifth grades, Leonor Serna was no stranger to that uncertainty.
鈥淐ollege was an unreachable dream,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 could only dream of going due to my culture鈥檚 stereotypes and financial stability.鈥�
One night while Serna was still in high school, her family sat around the dinner table. Serna鈥檚 mother asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up. Serna didn鈥檛 know.
鈥淏ut I knew I wanted to be someone,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 knew I wanted to show them that all their hard work was for something. I knew I wanted to further my education and give them a better life.鈥�
Serna received the Road Scholarship in June 2018, enrolling at ISU that fall. The community she鈥檇 been welcomed into at the Aberdeen assembly became an integral part of her college experience. Commuting 40 minutes each way to school, she found her way to College of Arts and Letters offices when she felt overwhelmed.
鈥淲hen I got here, I sat at the College because I knew I could always ask someone for help,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t was my home place away from home.鈥�
Just as Serna felt as if she were succeeding in school, her heart started hurting. As a child, she鈥檇 been diagnosed with a heart murmur. Doctors had said the problem would straighten itself out with time, but suddenly, Serna had trouble breathing. As she drove the 40 minutes to ISU, she grew faint and had to pull over. In December 2018, she had a cardiac episode while on a family trip to Mexico.
Serna had no health insurance. She spent the majority of her spring semester in pain and hooked up to heart monitors. Her doctors told her to avoid stress, but with a full-time courseload, that felt impossible.
In July, Serna was diagnosed with atrioventricular reentrant tachycardia, a type of abnormal fast heart rhythm. On July 27, she underwent heart surgery. She was enrolled in 15 credits of summer classes.
鈥淚鈥檇 say to my parents, 鈥業 can鈥檛 do it, I鈥檓 so stressed,鈥欌�� Serna said. 鈥淎nd they鈥檇 say, 鈥楴o, no, no. Don鈥檛 say you can鈥檛.鈥� Can鈥檛 is not in their vocabulary.鈥�
Serna passed her classes. She began working as a legal assistant and interpreter at a local law firm. She set plans to graduate in just two years and, despite doubting only a year before that she was capable of higher education, started exploring law and graduate school.
After the difficulties of navigating college and feelings of unbelonging as a first-generation student, of her health scares and financial challenges, Serna regards receiving her Road Scholarship as pivotal. It made her feel like she belonged in college. It made her feel embraced into a supportive academic community.
鈥淣ot only do they help you in academics, they help you in your personal life,鈥� she said of the College of Arts and Letters community. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what I love about it 鈥� they give you the best they can give you.鈥�
Madison Shumway