Alliance for Hispanic Advancement honors Latino students

Jun. 14—The Alliance for Hispanic Advancement (AHA) held its annual scholarship awards banquet on Tuesday, honoring 10 Latino students who have chosen to continue their education.

Nine of these students were awarded with $500 scholarships from the organization's scholarship fund and one student was selected for the $1,000 David Gonzales Scholarship award, which was established in honor of the owner of El Zarape Restaurant who died in 2021.

Applications for each scholarship were distributed to all local high schools in the Yuba-Sutter area in January. AHA's scholarship committee awards students based on their academics, dedication to community service and demonstrated need for financial help, Scholarship Chair Diego Escutia said.

Jonathan Raya, a recent graduate of Yuba City High School, was awarded the David Gonzales Scholarship for his dedication to education and helping others in his community. Escutia said that Raya struggled with a lack of internet during the COVID-19 pandemic, which made attending online classes difficult.

"He still managed to attend class by driving to a relative's house every day. He demonstrated a fight to get what he wants and he knows exactly what he wants to do with his future," Escutia said.

Raya plans to attend the University of California, Berkeley in the fall to study psychology. During his time in high school, he also volunteered for a crisis hotline to help those struggling with mental illness in the area.

"I don't want to be the person putting food on other people's plates. I want to be a doctor. I want to help people who struggle with mental illness, disorders or crises. I want to be the one who helps people put food on their family's plates," Raya said while accepting his award.

This year, AHA partnered with the Yuba-Sutter County Bar Association to bring Chico-based attorney Sergio Garcia to serve as a guest speaker for the evening. Born in Michaocán, Mexico, Garcia's family moved to the United States several times during his childhood before settling in Durham at age 17. He graduated high school with a number of scholarship offers from Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley and University of California, Davis, but was unable to accept these offers due to his undocumented status.

Garcia applied for legal residency in 1994, but his application remained pending for nearly 19 years, he said.

Garcia continued his education at Butte College where he obtained two associate degrees in social and behavioral sciences and business administration. He later transferred to California State University, Chico where he successfully completed a paralegal certification program in 2005 and attended law school at Cal Northern School of Law.

While in school, Garcia worried about how his undocumented status could impact his chances at a legal career.

"I was told by a professor that the bar exam doesn't ask about your citizenship, so it shouldn't matter," he said.

In 2009, Garcia successfully passed the California bar exam, but following an extended investigation, he was denied a license to practice law solely on the basis of his immigration status.

Garcia would become the subject of a landmark California Supreme Court case which ruled that undocumented immigrants could obtain an attorney's license in the state. In 2014, he became the first ever undocumented person to be authorized to practice law in the United States.

"I'm very proud of these students. It's hard for someone with a modest background to excel and succeed in certain ways. Keep doing what you're doing to reach your dream and don't let anything stop you. By the end, when you reach your goal, things will have changed. If they didn't, it's up to you to change them," Garcia said.

At the end of the ceremony, Garcia announced that he and his wife will match all scholarship awards for each student.

The following students were recipients of scholarships provided by AHA: — Norberto Montero, Lindhurst High School — Esmeralda Zavala-Sigala, Live Oak High School — Harneet Gill, Live Oak High School — Alejandro Macias, River Valley High School — Natalee Gardner, Sutter Union High School — Alondra Hernandez Robles, Yuba City High School — Sonia Trejo Rodriguez, Yuba City High School — Krystal Medina, Yuba City High School — Julio Carreon-Guzman, Yuba City High School