Description
The Carmen M. García Bright Futures Scholarship was established in 2012, by ALIANZA - the Latin American Law Students Association, at Rutgers Camden School of Law, led by then President Kiomiery Csepes, in tribute to the Hon. Carmen M. García (Ret.), ALIANZA’s founder, a former Camden student and dedicated mentor to many law students. It was designed to help defray the spiraling costs of pursuing a collegiate education.
The scholarship, awarded each year by the ALIANZA students, provides a monetary award to rising high school seniors of Latino descent from the City of Camden who enroll full-time at one of Rutgers University’s three campuses. Since its inception, the scholarship has been awarded to top-performing, college-bound high school students from the Rutgers-Camden hometown city. Past awardees, mostly all first-generation, have successfully completed their collegiate studies and are well on their way to prosperous and meaningful careers.
This scholarship embodies ALIANZA’s commitment of service and civic engagement to the City of Camden and its often neglected local community, over 36% of which live in poverty. It celebrates a fervent hope in the extraordinary promise of Camden youth, the legacy of Carmen M. Garcia, deep loyalty to Rutgers University and a steadfast belief in the future of a City rising back to greatness!
ALIANZA kicked off its endowment campaign project, with the help of Jenise Rivera, a 3L law student and a committee of ALIANZA Alumni, at its annual banquet last year, to establish the perpetual “for all time” existence of the scholarship for the benefit of future rising high school seniors from the City of Camden.
Donations are applied to...
This campaign project seeks to raise a total of $25, 000 to formally endow the Carmen M. García Bright Futures Scholarship. All donations will be applied to the Scholarship Fund, administered by the Rutgers Foundation, to provide an annual financial award to two scholarship recipients to help defray the cost of pursuing an undergraduate degree. High school seniors meeting the eligibility criteria can apply for the non-renewable scholarship by completing an application during the open period. Each application plus a personal essay and transcript must be submitted to ALIANZA by the due date. Each year, the ALIANZA Executive Board reviews the submitted applications and selects the winners based on a combination of factors including academic achievement, community service and financial need. The scholarship award is presented to the winners at ALIANZA’s Annual Banquet held during Hispanic Heritage Month. By endowing the scholarship, ALIANZA will continue to fortify the educational pipeline to college for underrepresented youth from the City of Camden.
Personal Message
ALIANZA and the Carmen M. Garcia Bright Futures Scholarship is more than a student organization and scholarship to me; it’s family and hope. As a Camden native, Carmen’s mentorship and leadership guided me and spoke to my core. As a first-generation college and law student, I remember gaining acceptance to law school, and shortly after thinking to myself, what did I get myself into? Then I met Carmen. She has been one of my greatest mentors, a champion for not only me but my fellow law students. When I became ALIANZA’s president, she and I talked about endowing the scholarship. We spoke about what it meant to us. Beyond financial support, it was a mutual belief...belief in the students from Camden and their goals. It meant giving back to our community; it meant more diverse faces in professional fields; it meant change! This endowment is about changing lives in Camden...a goal we must make happen.
- Jenise M. Rivera, 3L former ALIANZA President (2019-2020)
“Equality is leaving the door open for anyone who has the means to approach it; equity is ensuring there is a pathway to that door for those who need it.” When I was a 1L in Law School, I struggled because I was trying to make ends meet. I did not have internet; and at times, my electricity was disconnected. Ultimately, it affected my studies. Later, I saw my own struggles in many of the high school students I had the privilege of teaching through the Street Law Program at Rutgers Camden Law School. They, the students living in the very neighborhoods surrounding our campus, spoke of big dreams and the financial obstacles attached to those dreams in the same breath. As a result, I made it my goal to create an Award with the aspiration that it would one day become a full-fledged endowed Scholarship. I wanted this Award to be presented by ALIANZA to college bound high school students from Camden to ease their financial burden of attending college. I named it after the incomparable Hon. Carmen M. Garcia (Ret.), as she was the founder of ALIANZA, a true trailblazing Latina, and an inspiration in my life. I invite you to please help us fulfill this Endowment goal and create a more secure pathway to higher education for a student in need from the City of Camden.
- Kiomiery Csepes, Esq., former ALIANZA President (2011-2012)
Why are donations necessary?
In December of 2020, a N.J. Advance Media article reported that over 60% of students from the City of Camden are considered economically disadvantaged, making Camden one of the lowest-income school districts in the State of New Jersey. Current demographic data estimates that 50.3% of the people living in Camden are of Hispanic/Latino descent. Moreover, research studies make clear that Hispanics/Latinos have been disproportionately harmed by the economic fallout of the COVID pandemic. Now, more than ever, high school students of Latino descent who aspire to attend college need help! Your donation can truly “be the change” in a Camden student’s life. Won’t you please help us reach our campaign goal? On behalf of ALIANZA, thank you for your kindness and generosity in advance.
*Important: If you have already made, or want to make, a monetary pledge to the scholarship fund, please contact: Anne Marie Feltus from the Rutgers Foundation at 732-718-6019.