DENVER — Victor Sandoval started his college career four years ago and now he’s ready for graduation.
He’s a first-generation student that we met during his freshman year at the University of Colorado in Denver when he started his college career online during the pandemic.
Sandoval graduated from North High School where he was the class president and a scholar for the Denver Scholarship Foundation. The foundation has been turning college dreams into reality for thousands of Denver Public Schools students for nearly two decades.
The group serves about 7,500 students through Future Centers, which serve 22 DPS high schools. The goal is to provide the tools, knowledge, and financial resources necessary for education after high school.
“DSF has allowed me to graduate college debt free,” Sandoval said. “I’m still just feeling like I’m in disbelief that graduating college is a reality, and it happens tomorrow and I’m so excited for just the future beyond that.”
Michele Lopez is a Denver Scholarship Foundation college advisor who was just starting her job at North High School and when she met Sandoval.
She said seeing him and her other students getting ready to graduate from college is exciting.
“He was the first student to help me transition into my role,” Lopez said. “I get the privilege to see students grow up over four years and in his case, go ahead and graduate and then another four years on.”
Sandoval started his second semester of college taking 15 hours of classes remotely, working 30 hours a week as a barista and helping his then-girlfriend babysit.
He said his biggest battle was time management, but he was dedicated to getting his degree because of his family.
“For me and my family, it was always getting into school,” Sandoval said. “And not only getting into school but sticking through it and finishing through and getting that degree.”
Sandoval said he knew he wanted to stay closer to home so he could continue to help with his family. He said he realized what it meant to get a job and support himself financially.
It was another challenge some first-generation students faced going into their freshman year.
“When I started college, it was super rough introduction…COVID was no help,” Sandoval said. “Being a first-generation scholar, you don’t have too many people in your corner to look to, to ask questions.”
Now, Sandoval is set to graduate from CU Denver with a degree in communications and a minor in business entrepreneurship. He’s engaged to his longtime girlfriend and has a job already lined up as a sales consultant for a marketing team.
He said he believes none of this would be possible without the help of his family and his Denver Scholarship Foundation advisor. Both will be at his commencement.
“I will definitely be attending his graduation,” Lopez said. “It’s so exciting and it gives me butterflies because him being one of my first students at North and being so meaningful and helping me with that transition.”
“Graduating is like something that I really didn’t think was going to happen,” Sandoval added. “Goals are just limitless now; I feel like I’m reaching for the stars and I’m going to get there for sure.”
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