Audrey Vivar, a graduate from New Tech Manor High School, started something that was not only personal but revolutionary. New Tech Manor High School, in the city of Manor, Texas, is just a short ways from Austin and is part of the Greater Austin metropolitan area. The population was just over 1,000 people during the time of the last U.S. Census, but since then the number of residents has increased more than 500% with most of the growth coming in the last 5 years. The city is predominantly white with more than half of its residents being of Hispanic descent.
While brainstorming her final senior project, Vivar came up with an idea that involved her own life, her home town and those of the people around her. Audrey was born of a Mexican mother and has always had an interest in immigration. “And I was always friends with undocumented students. I’ve done a lot of (school) projects on the DREAM Act to the point that I’m addicted to the issue and I realized that where I was born (El Paso), just a few miles north of the US-Mexico border, was the only difference between me and my friends who are undocumented.”
Texas is one of only 13 states that allow undocumented students the chance to attend state college. But, those students are unable to receive any federal financial aid or receive scholarships and grants that require a social security number. So the teen took it on herself to start the Make DREAMs Reality need-based scholarship. Working with her school teachers and the Latinas Leading Tomorrow and College Forward organization, Vivar would award $500 dollars to an undocumented senior of Manor school district to use towards the cost of higher education.
To fund the scholarship, Vivar ordered 300 wrist bands with the name of the scholarship that she would sell for $3 dollars each. She sold wrist bands to students, teachers and families of the 3 high schools in the district as well as starting a Facebook page and a website for scholarship applications. In all, 200 wrist bands were sold and a committee was formed to choose the first recipient of the Make DREAMs Reality need-based scholarship. Vivar hopes to raise twice as much money next year and hopes to keep making DREAMs a reality.