Featured Student . . .

Willamette Academy student and South Salem High School freshman Rocio has big dreams for the future and can’t wait to get started! “I want to be someone in life,” she explained. She is both friendly and articulate as she speaks about her past and the events and circumstances that have made her who she is today. An engaging and outgoing young woman, she is full of hope and excitement about things to come.

Willamette Academy has been a fantastic experience for her - she loves coming in every day, meeting new people, getting help on her homework, and overall having a great time.

Her ultimate aim is to be a judge, which means being a lawyer first. She would like to attend Willamette University for both her undergraduate education and law school.

Although Rocio and her younger brother were both born here, her parents are from Mexico and some of her relatives still live there. Rocio hopes to return there someday soon - though she hasn’t visited in several years, she has fond memories of eating her grandmother’s good Mexican cooking.

Apart from her honors classes in high school, Rocio participates in Willamette Academy and plays volleyball. She recently began studying French and hopes one day to travel to France as well as China and the Bahamas.

Rocio works hard within school and without in order to be a good role model for her brother who, as she describes, “is always looking up to me!”

Willamette Academy has been a fantastic experience for her - she loves coming in every day, meeting new people, getting help on her homework, and overall having a great time.

When asked what she would do to make the world a better place, Rocio didn’t mince words. “I think everything should be equal for everyone,” she asserted. She would try to ensure equality for everyone, not just certain groups of people.

With hard work, Rocio will no doubt make her mark in the world.

Welcome

Willamette Academy at Willamette University is a college access program committed to empowering youth who have the desire and potential to advance to higher education, targeting those who are historically under-represented at colleges and universities in the United States. Willamette Academy is a supplemental education program in which ethnically diverse students are challenged and inspired to enhance their critical thinking skills, see themselves as leaders in their community, and develop a love of learning. Our hope is that through cooperative efforts with families and public schools, Willamette Academy students will develop a stronger foundation on which to build their future.

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