We are currently doing an online fundraiser for the Se Vale Soñar Laptop Scholarship program through GoFundMe.

You can access the fundraiser by clicking here.

Se Vale Soñar Scholarship

Scholarship to be available soon...

For more information or details, contact Daisy Astorga at daisyyastorga27@gmail.com. 

Mission of Se Vale Soñar Scholarship

The mission of this scholarship is to help and encourage first generation, Latino/a, low-income high school students with academic success in pursuing a higher education. It will also ease the financial burden of buying a laptop during high school and college. This scholarship will enable high school students to search and apply for volunteering and internship opportunities. Later on, they will use their laptops to apply to college fly-ins, colleges, and scholarships. The Se Vale Soñar Scholarship will also allow students to do their homework, among other essential things, during college.

All high school students, grades 9-12, in New Mexico are eligible for this scholarship.

Background Story

My name is Daisy Astorga Gonzalez and I am the proud daughter of a wonderful single mother, who is a Mexican-immigrant. I grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico and attended public schools. I attended Alamosa Elementary School, Carlos Elementary School, Lavaland  Elementary School, Maryann Binford Elementary School, Truman Middle School, and Atrisco Heritage Academy High School. Once I began high school, I realized how hard my mother worked to pay all the bills and raise my two siblings and I. I dedicated myself to my academics, and I only had one goal in mind: pursuing a higher education. My mother was not able to pursue a higher education because she had to dedicate her life to her children. I realized that I was my mother’s American Dream.

After four years of hard work, struggles, and dedication, I was still determined to attend college. I had two goals when I began my senior year of high school: (1) get accepted to my dream college, and (2) get a full ride. I did not want my mom e to pay anything not could she. I have to admit that the college process was confusing and stressful. I did not know how to do the Common Application, a resume, and other important things. Although the college process was hard as a low-income and first generation college student, having access to a laptop at home was crucial for me. I did have access to computers at school, but with classes and my after school activities, I did not have the time to use them. I was able to go home and use my laptop to apply to colleges and scholarships after school and during the weekend. I applied to my dream college and to over fifty scholarships.. The laptop I had at home my mother bought for me for my birthday and Christmas present. It cost half of our mortgage;it was more than half of my mother’s paycheck. I do not know how we were able to afford it. It was a huge sacrifice for my family. I ended up receiving some of the scholarships I applied for like the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, Albuquerque de Mana, NCAAP’s Herbert Lehman Education Fund Scholarship Scholar, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Scholarship, Neil Isbin Scholarship, BeSTAFF INC, Scholarship, and the BEE Scholarship. The most important scholarship I received was the Bill and Melinda Gates Millennium Scholarship, which gave me a full ride to any college I wanted to attend. In truth, having a laptop at home helped me immensely to be able to apply and search for those scholarships. 

I am currently mentoring high school Latino/a students from my community and around the United States.  I give advice on finding and obtaining volunteering opportunities, internships, college fly-ins, applying to colleges, and finding scholarships. I know how important it is to have someone helping Latino/a students with the college process. I have mentees who are attending Atrisco Heritage Academy High School like I did. Last year, I  met up with two of my mentees. They are both hard working students and I am helping them with the college process. Aracely was a sophomore and now a junior, who is looking into internships and volunteering opportunities. She will soon be applying to scholarships, college fly-ins, and colleges. In addition, my other mentee, Yansi was a senior and now is attending UNM. She was is applying to scholarships. They will both be first generation college students, like I am, who need as much help as possible to obtain a higher education.

 After meeting up with them several times and having contact with them weekly, I realized that they did not have laptops at home. This is a problem because they could not search for college opportunities, do their homework that was online, or search for internships at home. They could use computers at school, but they did not have much time with their classes, clubs, and homework. I decided to fundraise money to buy them both a laptop. I knew how important it was to have a laptop at home to check grades, communicate with others, and look for opportunities. I reached out to some teachers, mentors, and friends for support. I was happy to receive an immense amount of support from so many individuals. People offered to donate money and laptops; they even reached out to other individuals. I was so happy to hear that the Modrall Sperling Law Firm agreed to donate the two laptops. I surprised Yansi and Aracely with the laptops; they were beyond happy because they could not afford to buy laptops themselves. I was happy as well to be able to contribute to their education and support them.

I received so much support that I thought of starting a program to help raise money and donated laptops for students at Atrisco Heritage Academy High School and Nuestros Valores Charter School. Our goal is to eventually extend this scholarship to students attending West Mesa, Rio Grande, Highland, South Valley Academy and other schools in Albuquerque. I know how important it is for Latino/a students from low-income households to be able to have a laptop to check their grades, emails, apply to volunteering opportunities and internships, and for the college process.  The Se Vale Soñar Scholarship will help first generation, Latino/a, low-income students pursue a higher education and ease the financial burden of buying a laptop during high school and college. It is an investment worth making.