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First Gen Feats: From their first summer to the end of their freshman year, following two first-generation college students
Denver Scholarship Foundation scholars Jocelyn Gonzalez and Victor Sandoval share their freshman year experiences and challenges through a pandemic. Author: Byron Reed Updated: 7:17 PM MDT May 11, 2021
DENVER — The Denver Scholarship Foundation (DSF) has been turning college dreams into reality for thousands of Denver Public Schools (DPS) students the past 14 years – the group serves about 7,500 students through future centers which serve 22 DPS high schools.
The goal is to provide tools, knowledge and financial resources necessary for education after high school to DSF scholars like Jocelyn Gonzalez and Victor Sandoval. They’re finishing up their first year of college and sharing their experiences along the way.
“I feel like the workload has definitely picked up getting towards the middle end of the semester,” he said. “It’s all in my routine, so I feel like I have pretty good control over it.”
DSF is made up of business and community leaders who believe that college is possible for all when the right tools and resources are available to help scholars like Victor.
Credit: Byron Reed
“We partner with 31 institutions of higher education programs across the state,” said DSF CEO Lorii Rabinowitz. “So that we can not only have a dedicated resource on campus for students to meet with on a regular basis, but we can continue to work together to gauge that progress.”
“I’ve learned a lot about myself as a student,” Sandoval said. “I feel like it’s gotten easier outside of school which has allowed me to control my stress and be more productive as a student in class.”
Sandoval is a first-generation college student who graduated last year from North High School where he was the senior class president. Now, he’s a freshman at the Denver campus and recently changed his major from public service to communications.
He said he’s taking 15 hours of classes remotely, working 20 hours a week as a barista and helping his girlfriend babysit. Sandoval said his biggest battle was time management his first semester but was dedicated to getting his degree. It was a journey that was partly motivated by his older brother, Eric.