Aranza Sanchez: Our 2024 Young Hispanic Leader Scholarship

Barrios Virgüez wants the next generation of Hispanic leaders to make their mark in and out of academic spheres. That desire prompted the firm to open its 2023 Young Hispanic Leader Scholarship to incoming and current students across the United States. This year, the firm’s scholarship selection committee proudly awards its support to Aranza Sanchez.

Sanchez stood out from the crowd of applicants by telling a story of consistent and determined perseverance. Her essay speaks to a consistent desire to help the people who need her most. Barrios Virgüez is proud to award Sanchez $2,500 to pursue her education at Georgia State University.

A Long Road to Leadership

Sanchez’s experience with hardship started early. Her essay describes the challenges of not only getting into a white-dominated school system but standing out alongside her peers. She speaks of limited access to translators as well as her parents’ problems balancing their need to prioritize their daughter’s success with their other responsibilities.

Sanchez stepped up in the face of her parents’ challenges. “I was first introduced to leadership roles in elementary school,” she says. I noticed that I enjoyed being a leader when I was awarded a 4-H pin in second grade, which is a youth organization that provides kids with community, mentors, and learning opportunities to develop skills.”

She would continue to provide oversight and assistance to the students who needed her as she graduated from class to class. Even after leaving the school her parents fought for her to attend, she made a point to forge new relationships with her peers and teachers.

Learning to Rely on the People Around Her

Sanchez’s introduction to a new school also served as her introduction to Hispanic Organization Promoting Education (HoPe). Her experience meeting with HoPe’s president would inspire her to become an apprentice for the organization once she started high school. 

Sanchez describes her time as a HoPe apprentice as one full of opportunities. She spent her days “volunteering in dog shelters, packing sack lunches, and cleaning up parks.” When the president who introduced her to the program graduated, Sanchez had the opportunity to step up. She became president of her HoPe chapter in her sophomore year of high school.

Shortly after, Sanchez found herself balancing the responsibilities of the HoPe president with those of the Senior Class President at Lakeside High School. It was in the process of balancing these positions, however, that Sanchez learned that even the brightest among us have limits. She was not, as she says, “able to help or satisfy everyone.”

Contending With and Overcoming Doubt

The judgment Sanchez faced in her role as Senior Class President did not impact her desire to help her community. It did, however, throw her faith into question. Gradually, though, she says she “learned that everyone gets judged at some point, but that [she had] to continue doing what [she] loved.

Upon rededicating herself to the service of others, the Lakeside High School principal elevated Sanchez to a position on the Superintendent Student Advisory Committee. As part of this team, Sanchez collaborated with students in DeKalb County to improve educational outreach. 

Sanchez reports using her position to help other Spanish-speaking families overcome the barriers standing between their children and the education they deserve. Her dedication eventually led her to receive the Saint Michael’s College Book Award for Academic Achievement & Social Conscience.

Looking Toward the Future

Sanchez is now a first-generation college student intent on pursuing a Business Administration and Management degree at Georgia State University. She intends to balance her dedication to her studies with the creation of an organization designed to help Hispanic students in need of support.

About Barrios Virgüez’s Young Hispanic Leader Scholarship

Barrios Virgüez’s Young Hispanic Leader Scholarship promises $2,500 to an outstanding Hispanic student with ambitions of furthering their education. The team reserves the right to offer this scholarship to a student with an exceptional academic history as well as a record of consistent and remarkable leadership.

The team encourages current and incoming college students to think about a leadership role that has shaped their approach to life. Students can then compose a 1,000 to 1,500-word essay going into detail about the lessons they’ve learned from their leadership positions. The firm encourages students to address questions like the following:

• What were some of the main challenges you faced in your leadership journey, and how did you overcome them?
• What are the most valuable lessons you learned from this leadership position?
• How has your leadership experience influenced your educational and/or professional aspirations?

To qualify for the firm’s support, students must submit their completed essays and all other scholarship materials to Barrios Virgüez by the scholarship’s submission deadline. 

The scholarship selection committee will not consider applications submitted without all essential materials or after the scholarship’s deadline passes.

Congratulations, Aranza Sanchez!

Barrios Virgüez once again congratulates Aranza Sanchez on her remarkable and storied academic career. The firm hopes that the $2,500 2023 Young Hispanic Leader Scholarship will help Sanchez achieve her long-term goals at Georgia State University.

Our experienced lawyers encourage current and incoming college students to follow Sanchez’s example and apply for the Young Hispanic Leader Scholarship ahead of the next academic year. Students and their families can read through the scholarship’s terms and conditions to learn more about the criteria they need to apply.