Steven Velazquez

Rebekah Grado

RWS 1301
9-9-14
Above and Beyond

What is life without an education? The costs of attending a university has reached a point
where not everyone can afford to attain a higher level of education. When tuition keeps
increasing every year, sometimes we could need a helping hand to pay for college. That is the
purpose of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF). As the nations largest provider of college
financial aid to Latino students, this organization offers a wide range of scholarship programs to
assure that no Hispanic planning to attend college gets left behind. HSF requires potential
scholarship recipients to submit an essay as part of the application process along with additional
supporting documents. The essays are evaluated by a committee of scholarship evaluators which
make up the discourse community that I was a part of communicating to in the form of writing,
to achieve being selected for a scholarship.
These volunteers from diverse backgrounds and from different areas of the United States
assist in the review and evaluation of the scholarship applications. My goal was to impress the
evaluators by writing a strong essay and stand out from the other applicants to make sure I
secured a scholarship. Knowing well that I would not qualify for government financial
assistance to help pay my studies at the university level, I had to look for other means of
financial support. Therefore, I was determined to be a scholarship recipient and thus I became a
member of this discourse community. To become a member of this community the applicants
had to have some common characteristics such as being a graduating high school senior, be a
U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident, and have a minimum cumulative 3.00 GPA based on a
4.00 scale. Other commonalities were to have plans to enroll full time at a two or four year U.S.

accredited institution in the upcoming academic school year, and to have filed a Free Application
for Federal student Aid (FAFSA).
A prerequisite for eligibility was submitting a formal essay along with other supporting
documents, such as a high school transcript, letters of recommendation, a list of extracurricular
activities and community involvement, via e-mail. In an effort to try and give the evaluators an
idea of who I am, there were guidelines that needed to be adhered to. The essay had to be
between 400 to 600 words, typed double spaced with a font no smaller than 10 points. Although
the essay requirements did not specify the language we had to use in writing the essay, I think it
is understood that it had to be written in the English language. English is the standard language
used in the U.S. and it is also the official language of more countries in the world than any other
language. In addition, it is the language most understood and used by the scholarship evaluators.
There were various topics an applicant could select from for their essay. Some of the topic
choices were: Overcoming an Academic Challenge, My Hispanic Heritage, and Contributing to
my Community. I choose to write my essay on How my Hispanic Heritage Influences my
Future Goals. I have pride in my heritage and I know that I have the past of my people to
gather inspiration and strength to assist in building a common future for all and that I can only
achieve the aforementioned by investing in my education. Knowing the richness of my Hispanic
heritage and growing up in the El Paso/Juarez border region has played a huge role in defining
my roots, the person that I am today and who I will become in the future.
The expected outcome of my piece of writing was to be awarded a scholarship to help
finance my college education. The objective of my essay was to single myself out from the other
scholarship applicants. In a pool of numerous applicants, an individual is most likely to be one
of many with similar grades, goals, achievements, and aspirations. Uniqueness is the most

important element of a winning essay. Through my essay, the selection committee was able to
see the person behind the application and I was able to convince them that I was the well
rounded student they were looking for. My essay was sufficiently effective as I was selected as
one of the scholarship recipients. I was able to sell myself to the scholarship evaluators and set
myself apart from the other applicants. The scholarship I received from HSF supplemented the
Presidential Scholarship I was awarded by UTEP and a STEM scholarship I received from the
local Upper Rio Grande Workforce Solution to help fund my education, which will aid me in
becoming a productive member of society.