Imagine Fund Scholarship Allows Student to Finish MSU

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LANSING, Mich., May 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Imagine Fund, a private scholarship organization created to offset the impact of the 2006 Michigan ballot proposal that restricted affirmative action in the public sector, recently awarded a scholarship to a Michigan State University student who was in jeopardy of not being able to return to school for the 2011 spring semester.

Teresa Almanza of Fennville, Michigan is in her last semester at MSU. With a major in Interdisciplinary Studies and Community Relations, she plans to pursue a job with the federal government focusing on migrant worker issues.

"The Imagine Fund scholarship helped me tremendously," Almanza said.  "Without the scholarship, I wouldn't be able to graduate from MSU. The money was truly a lifesaver."

Noted Eric Foster, director of the Imagine Fund:

"Teresa is a wonderful example of the type of student that The Imagine Fund was created to help:  Students of color who are our future leaders that often find their success and promise in danger of being a dream deferred because of financial difficulties."

Almanza's parents were both migrant workers in Mexico before moving to Michigan. They constantly encouraged her to attend college.  Almanza applied those lessons of obtaining an education and leadership very early in high school and throughout her time at Michigan State University.  In Fennville, which is in Allegan County, she served as an ESL volunteer in the local high school.  As the first in her family to attend college, she wants to use her degree to assist other migrant families, specifically young people, to attend college and become a member of the "creative class."

At MSU, Almanza helped organize the university's first Cesar Chavez conference.  She also interned at the Library of Congress and the White House. Last month she was awarded the first Cesar Chavez Community Leadership Award from MSU's Cesar Chavez Planning Committee.  

The Imagine Fund is a Michigan nonprofit which provides scholarship awards primarily to students who are black and Latino, first generation in college and historically underserved in higher education.

For more information, contact The Imagine Fund at 517-316-1430 or go to www.theimaginefund.com.

SOURCE The Imagine Fund