2007 - 2008 SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS

In Alphabetical Order:

Alvaro Arce
UCLA School of Law, Class of 2009
Alvaro Arce is from San Diego and attended Stanford University where he earned his B.A. degree in Public Policy in 2002. He spend the next year as a Fellow with the Congressional Democratic Steering and Coordination Committee. He later worked in the marketing field for a financial compnay in Irvine and in the paralegal department of Crowell & Moring in Washington D.C. before commencing his law studies in 2006. He is currently an associate editor the Chicano/Latino Law Review and a volunteer at the HIV/AIDS Legal Services Alliance, Inc.

Isela Barrios
Southwestern Law School, Class of 2009
Isela Barrios immigrated from Guatemala as a young child with her mother and two sisters. Like many of our recipients, it was through the support of many caring individuals that allowed her to succeed in the school. She commenced her college education at California State Los Angeles in 1997, about the same time that she became a mother of a lovely daughter. After graduating in 2001, she worked as a research specialist for Arthur Andersen, LLP and then as a research associate for Ernst & Young.

Robert Blanco
Southwestern Law School, Class of 2009
Robert Blanco had a very rough start. He was one of many in his Carson High School class that did not graduate by his senior year. This had more to do with boredom and peer pressure rather than a apathetic attitude toward learning. He eventually enrolled at El Camino College and spent the next few years attaining the basic skills he needed to compete at a university. Despite having to work five days a week, he eventually graduated in 2002 from UC Riverside. For the next four years he was employed as a claims adjuster for various insurance companies. In addition to his law studies, he and his wife, a student herself, are raising their three small children.

Andres Carrillo
USC Law School, Class of 2009
Andres will be a second year law student at USC. He graduated magna cum laude from Santa Clara University with impressive academic credentials, including the Phi Beta Kapa. At Santa Clara, Andres was the Director of the Youth Empowerment Program which seeks to increase the number of minority students pursuing higher education. At USC, Andres has continued his commitment to serve the community by volunteering at the Employment Rights Project of Bet Tzedek Legal Services. Andres hopes to pursue a career in general litigation with a major law firm.

Sirena Castillo
USC Law School, Class of 2008
Sirena was born on the island of Kauai while her Mexican father was in the midst of a ten-year battle to gain permanent legal status. She attended Georgetown University where she earned a BA and MA in Russian and East European Studies. After graduation Sirena worked three year with the U.S. Department of Commerce, Import Administration. At USC, she was a Hale Moot Court Finalist and received the Written Advocacy Award for Best Brief/Respondent (2007). Sirena's goal is to represent corporate and industrial clients in international trade.

Carlos Chiat
Loyola Law School, Class of 2008
Carlos' parents emigrated from Chile to provide him with the opportunity to experience the American dream. He was selected as a Regents Scholar at U.C. Berkeley and awarded a full academic scholarship. At Loyola, Carlos serves as President of the La Raza de Loyola, which is spearheading the Young Lawyers Advocacy Program that mentors underprivileged high school students regarding the legal profession. He has also worked with the National Association of Latino Elected Officials to educate the Latino community about the importance of voting rights.

Belen Gomez
Southwestern Law School, CLoass of 2008
Richard V. Cruz Memorial Scholarship
Belen came to law school for the purpose of becoming a public interest lawyer. She graduated from U.C. Riverside where her undergraduate thesis was on day-labor workers. Last summer, Belen worked with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles and also had an externship with a Labor Commmission from Mexico. This summer, Belen will work with the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking. Belen will serve as the Co-President of the Southwestern Law School Latino Law Student Association next year.

Emma Elizabeth Gonzales
USC Law School, Class of 2009
Emma attended USC where she was a member of the Trojan Marching Band and graduated with a double major in Philosophy and Humanities. She worked at theater companies in New York City and Los Angeles before she accepted a position as a Development Associate with the ACLU of Southern California. After three years, Emma decided to attend USC law School, and while there, volunteered at Neighborhood Legal Services, Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, Bet Tzedek Legal Services, and Public Counsel. Emma's goal is to be a public interest lawyer.

Eric Guerrero
USC Law School, Class of 2008
Eric is a former Golden Gloves Champion from New Mexico. Despite being diagnosed with cancer in college, Eric overcame adversity, graduated and dedicated his college degree to his mother and daughter who are the inspirations of his life. Eric gives back to his community by volunteering as a boxing coach/tutor/mentor to at-risk youth. During law school, Eric has been involved in volunteer work with the Public Interest Law Foundation, La Raza Law Students Association, Workers Rights Clinic, and the Post Conviction Justice Project. Eric's goal is to be a trial attorney while continuing his community service.

Vanessa Guzman
Pepperdine School of Law, Class of 2009
Vanessa half-jokingly states that she is going to law school "to save the world." She admits that such a goal may be overstated, but she is certainly going to try. Her wide range of community involvement shows her dedication. She has been actively involved with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, United Farm Workers, and Feeding the Homeless program, while also being actively involved on campus with the Latin American Law Student Association, Latinas Unidas and Advocates for Public Interest and earning a Dean's Merit Scholarship. Vanessa looks forward to working for the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles this summer.

Erubey Lopez
UCLA School of Law, Class of 2008
Hernandez Stern Family Fund Scholar
Erubey Lopez grew up in Vista, California, and completed his undergraduate education at UCLA in 2004. He has worked as a compliance officer for the U.S. Department of Labor, a research associate for the UCLA Downtown Labor Center and a judicial extern for Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John Wiley. In the fall he will commence his third year of studies in the Public Interest Law and Policy Program as well as the Critical Race Studies Program. This summer he will be a law clerk in teh San Diego Public Defender's office.

Jose Macias
UCLA School of Law, Class of 2009
Jose Macias split his childhood betwen Jalisco, Mexico and downtown San Jose, California, where his family worked in canneries as seasonal employees. He is a 2005 cum laude graduate of Santa Clara University where he majored in English and Political Science. Prior to and after his graduation, he worked as an intern at the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley on issues relating to housing for the poor. He will now be working as a summer associate in the employment and general business litigation department of the Devito Law Group in San Francisco.

Stacy Marquez
Southwestern Law School, Class of 2008
Stacy was an excellent student in high school but her college plans were derailed when she became pregnant. Stacy completed high school, attended college, and graduated from the University of La Verne magna cum laude. During law school, she served as an intern for the Teen L.A. project of the Los Angeles, Center for Law and Justice, as a teacher for the Dependency System for the National Street Law program, and as a volunteer for Alliance for Children's Rights. This summer, Stacy will serve as an intern at the Children's Law Center.

Rubenia Mejia
USC Law School, Class of 2008
Rubenia grew up in the immigrant community of the Pico-Union area and is very conscious that she was one of the fortunate students who had the opportunity to attend college. At USC Law School, Rubenia has been very active, serving as the Academic Chair of the La Raza Law Students Association, Community Action Coordinator for the National Latina/o Law Student Association and Community Service Chair of Law Students for Choice. This summer, she will work for the Children's Rights Project.

Vilma Palma
UCLA School of Law, Class of 2009
Vilma Palma was raised in the Coachella Valley where her single mother worked in an agricultural packing house. She attended the University of California at Irvine and devoted many hours to COSMOS, a math and science program for high school students. Prior to starting law school in 2006, she was an intern in the Orange County Public Defender's Office. She is the co-chairperson of the La Raza Law Students Association for the upcoming academic year and is a recipient of the Perkins Coie Diversity Fellowship. She is now working at that law firm's Los Angeles office during the summer break.

Claudia Pena
UCLA School of Law, Class of 2008
Hernandez Stern Family Fund Scholar
Claudia Pena was born in San Francisco and while growing up was taken back and forth to El Salvador at various times during that country's civil war. She attended California State University at Long Beach and then Mills College in Oakland where she received a B.A. in sociology in 2003. She is a second year law student who is interested in pursuing a career in international human rights and immigration. She spent last summer in Palestine with the Badil Center for Refugee Rights and this summer she will serve as an intern at a legal aid center in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Luis Perez Jimenez
UCLA School of Law, Class of 2010
Hernandez Stern Family Fund Scholar
Luis Perez Jimenez spend his formative years in the East San Fernando Valley and made his way to UCLA as an undergraduate via Los Angeles Mission College. He graduated in 2005 with a degree in Political Science and along the way devoted many hours to helping immigrants adjust to the rigors of university life. With the assistance of the UCLA Law Fellows program, he gained admittance to the law school. He will be a first year student in the fall. He is currently an administrative assistant to a Los Angeles City Councilman.

Angelica Ramos
Southwestern Law School, Classof 2008
Angelica Ramos was introduced to the field of law while an undergraduate at USC when she used her Spanish-speaking skills to land a job as legal assistant for a small firm in Pasadena. Well before starting her legal studies at the University of San Francisco and now Southwestern, she interviewed clients, wrote rough drafts of pleadings and learned the rules of discovery. She has served as an extern in the legal department at NBC Universal Studios and is a member of her school's Interscholastic Trial Advocacy Program.

Fabian Renteria
UCLA School of Law, Class of 2008
Hernandez Stern Family Fund Scholar
Fabian Renteria is a magna cum laude graduate of UCLA and will be a third year law student in the fall. For three and a half years, he worked as a Project Coordinator for the UCLA Mathematics Project. Last summer he was a judicial extern of Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Reinhardt and is now a research asssistant to Professor Gerald Lopez. He is finishing up his duties as the Editor-in-chief of the Chicano/Latino Law Review and will spend this summer as a law clerk at Public Advocates in San Francisco working on education issues.

China Rosas
Southwestern Law School, Class of 2008
China Rosas is a 2006 recipient of a MABF Scholarship and an O'Melveny & Myers Scholar. Based on her excellent performance at Southwestern, she deserves to be honored again. After receiving her B.A. in Business Administration from USC, she became a very successful sales representative for a metal distributor. In 2005 she left the business world to pursue her interest in the law. Last summer she was a law clerk at the LA County Public Defender's Office and this year she will be a summer associate at O'Melveny & Myers. She has received awards for her writing and oral advocacy, is a member of the Law Review and will volunteer for a "Teen Court" program benefiting high school students.

Bianca Soltero Sparks
UCLA School of Law, Class of 2008
Hernandez Stern Family Fund Scholar
Bianca Soltero Sparks traveled from the heat of California's Central Valley to the cold of the East Coast for her college education. She received a B.A. in Public Policy and Hispanic Studies form Brown University in 2000, and then spent the next several years working in various legal and political oranizations, including the Fresno City Council, UFW, Office of Lieutenant Governor, and Epstein Becker & Green, P.C. Her law school activities include being the clininc manager of the UCLA Worker's Justice Project. She is now a summer associate at Meyers Nave in Los Angeles. After she graduates next year, she plans to become active in politics and community affairs.

Jamie Whitelock
USC Law School, Class of 2008
MBA/MABF Edward R. Roybal Scholar
Jamie attended Claremont McKenna College where she majored in Government. During college, Jamie was accepted to the Washingotn D.C. Semester Program while also working as a full-time intern with the U.S. Department of Justice. After graduation, Jamie accepted a position with the Department of Justice as an Honors Paralegal in the crminimal division of the Antitrust Division. Jamie is recognized as a leader by her peers, and was selected a Co-Chair of the La Raza Law Students Association. Jamie's goal is to work for the government in a policy leadership role.

Carmen Yates
Southwestern Law School, Class of 2008
Carment Yates is a native of El Paso, Texas, and came West to attend college at a time when her parents were going through a tough time due to her father's job loss. As a consequence, she became financially independent as a teenager while attending College of the Canyons and then USC as a Business Administration major. She has worked as an administrative assistant for Checkmate Staffing, Inc., and as a legal secretary for Eisner & Associates in Beverly Hills. Since 2004, she has been a paralegal for the Siegler Law Group and plans to specialize in business litigation when she graduates next year.

Angeles Zaragoza
UCLA School of Law, Class of 2008
Angeles Zaragoza was raised in the Napa Valley by parents who worked as laborers supporting the tourist industry. Through the help of the Upward Bound Program, she found her way to UC Berkeley, where she excelled as a student and a volunteer in worker's rights projects. She commenced her studies at the UCLA School of Law in the fall of 2004, but due to the sudden death of her father later that year she was not able to continue the following semester. She is back on track now and just finished her second year. She is a law clerk at the Learning Rights Law Center and hopes to work in the field of juvenile law after she graduates.