Students Inspiring Students scholarship recipients give back.
By Sara Riley
Blanca Santillan gazes around her office, her eyes fresh with tears of gratitude. The Grand Canyon University grad points to a photo from high school and smiles.
“That’s the picture of when I first got the scholarship…. so I always have a constant reminder that I don’t forget where everything started.”
The road to Santillan’s current position as an assistant research analyst at the Arizona House of Representatives began with her Students Inspiring Students scholarship, a GCU program that helps students facing financial difficulties. The SIS scholarship provides them the opportunity for a private college education and allows them to give back to other students through tutoring.
But GCU and the SIS program go far beyond helping with finances. They equip driven students with the skills needed to thrive in their careers and set them on a path to success that lasts long after graduation.
According to the Arizona Center for Economic Progress, no state has made more cuts in higher education funding than Arizona. The issue of rising tuition costs most significantly affects low income students and students of color due to long time discrimination in wages.
The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators calls it a problem of inequity, explaining that at least 70% of colleges are simply unaffordable for low-income students.
SIS grad Estephanie Torres says that if she had not received the scholarship, she might not have been able to attend a university at all, with community college her only option. But through GCU and hard work, she and many others received a higher education despite the inequities and financial burdens they faced.
Beyond that, the SIS program gave her the opportunity to give back to other students by tutoring at the GCU Learning Lounge.
“I noticed that a lot of these students that come into the Lounge, they’re first-generation students…. So, I kind of like took them in as if they were like my siblings and I was their older sister…” Torres says. “I’m grateful that I was able to give back to them by giving them advice and resources and also helping them with other scholarship things that were helpful for me.”
She now works as a project specialist for Uber, where she sees the impact of GCU in her everyday life.
“A lot of those classes really did help to what I do today…. all those personal workshops, I am able to translate into my current career right now.”
Santillan shares a similar view, describing how GCU made her a better writer through both her classes and her experience as a tutor. She says her time at the Learning Lounge also pushed her to practice public speaking, which benefits her in her current job.
Miranda Cain, another SIS grad, discusses how GCU helped her on the journey to her current position as a recruiter at Actalent.
Cain is no stranger to hard work, having worked full-time since she was 16 years old. She followed in the footsteps of her mother, who set an example of what it looks like to work hard as a single mother on a teacher’s salary. However, even the most driven people often struggle in their attempts to support their families because of the never-ending demands of rent, food, utilities and unexpected emergencies.
Cain explains that young people are often slammed with student debt and living expenses the moment they enter adulthood, and she says that she was determined to not burden her mother financially when she started college. The SIS scholarship gave her the extra help she needed and relieved her from the weight of these financial burdens. She describes the scholarship as both a surprise and an honor.
“I don’t think I would be anywhere near where I am professionally, personally and independence wise without GCU, the SIS scholarship and the people that I surrounded myself with during school,” Cain says.
She used the scholarship and the opportunities it provided to pursue her passion of helping others, and she plans to continue being of service wherever she goes.
Cain explains, “Even if this job is not my forever, that’s just a passion of mine, just helping people.”
By applying everything they learned from their time at GCU and taking advantage of the opportunities that their scholarships provide, these three grads continue to excel at their careers. They continue the pattern of giving back and devote their efforts to enriching their communities, embracing the SIS spirit wherever their careers take them.