A month ago we heard the great news that one of our Alma Alumni girls, Karina, was accepted on a full scholarship to study Environmental Engineering at the University of Medellin in Colombia! Her acceptance in the government sponsored Beca 18 program, which covers 100% of tuition, school supplies, travel, and room and board for all five years of study, was extra special because Karina had to overcome many doubters over the last year of preparation for the university and scholarship exams.
When Karina entered our program after graduating from the Colcha secondary school in January of 2015, her parents and older siblings all told her it would be a waste of a year to prepare for university instead of entering a two year technical institute right away. We sat down with Karina and her family to explain the benefits of dreaming big and trying to enter university. They accepted and Karina worked hard through all of 2015 in the pre-university academy to prep for the exams.
Her first round of exams went poorly, and again she was told to give up and accept a two year institute. We again told her that Alma was behind her and Karina continued studying and improving her practice exam scores. She spent long nights and early mornings pouring over her textbooks and workbooks and in the end it paid off in a big way!
Karina arrived in Medellin two weeks ago and has been in contact. Though she misses her family, she says she loves the university, her classes, and the city.
Congratulations Karina!
