12 Hays students among BBBS ‘graduating’ class

By Ashley Landis
Staff Reporter

June 26, 2009 10:58 am

— Twelve Hays County teens will receive the promise of higher education on Sunday.
Big Brother Big Sisters (BBBS) of Central Texas will promise college scholarships to a total of 230 area high school students at a ceremony in Austin.
Adriel Cunnion, Brittney Gonzales, Cayla Moore, Christopher Matthew Vasquez, Danielle Tovar, Dominique Tovar, Jessica Arredondo, Jonathan Mata, Karla Duran, Nathaniel Burbank, Stephen Dickeson and Talysa Espinoza, all of San Marcos CISD or Hays CISD will be among those students.
The “scholarship promise”— a higher education scholarship to all youth who graduate high school or receive a GED and enroll in a college or trade school - is given to students ages 12 or older who have been matched with their big brother or big sister for a year or more, BBBS officials said.
Each teen is promised $2,000 for college upon high school graduation, which is matched by at least 15 area colleges, universities and trade schools, should they choose to attend those schools, said Melanie Chasteen, BBBS VP of Marketing and Communications.
“It means a lot because it shows them that when they graduate from school, they have some money to go to college,” she said. “It opens up the options for them to think about higher education at an earlier age.”
This is the second year that BBBS has offered the opportunity to Hays County students, but about 1,800 teens have received the scholarship promise in Travis, Williamson, McLennan, Brazos and Burnet counties since 1986.
Of those, 83 percent have finished high school or earned their GED and 50 percent have used their scholarship to pursue higher education, officials said.
At Sunday’s ceremony, 100 high school graduates will receive their promised scholarships.
The event will be at 2:30 p.m. at St. Edward's University, 3001 S. Congress Ave., Mabee Ballroom, Ragsdale Center.
BBBS matches children ages six to 16 with supportive adult mentors who share everyday experiences with the child to increase their quality of life and decrease their chances of truancy, violence and drug or alcohol abuse.