Monica Resendiz Gudino has always paid for higher education with long hours at work. Not just schoolwork – side jobs at night and on weekends, earning a wage to pay for everything she can’t afford. Tuition. Books. Transportation. Rent. Food. It was the same for her sister Alejandra Ortega, Puente’s Youth Program Associate, who was the first in their family to go to college. And for her younger brother, Jose Resendiz, who is now studying to be an engineer at a college in upstate New York. All three siblings were raised on the South Coast. They grew up in Pescadero, after coming from Querétaro, Mexico, graduated from Pescadero High, and earned some of their first paychecks with Puente. It was always clear that they would need to work to afford their education. To help them with those goals, both Gudino and her brother Jose have college scholarships from Puente in partnership with the Institute for Mexicans Abroad, a Mexican government program several years in a row. (The Spanish-language name is El Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior, or IME.) The Puente program benefits both adult learners and college-age students of Mexican origin or Mexican descent, an IME requirement. The college students must have graduated from Pescadero High, must show financial need, and must have a GPA of 2.5 or higher, and must be enrolled in college full-time. … Continue reading Puente scholarships grow to meet college expenses