Local student wins big
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| Radford University’s Student Management Investment Portfolio Organization. Giancarla Rojas is in the bottom row on the right. |
graduate and “dreamer” Giancarla Rojas
Mendoza is the member of a Radford University team that won first place in a
national investment competition.
college, because as the child of undocumented parents, she would have had to
pay the much higher out-of-state tuition rate.
She had joined other “dreamers” – immigrant youths brought
to the United States as children who wanted to go to college and pursue the
American dream – in a lawsuit filed by the Legal Aid Justice Center. The suit sought to overturn Virginia’s policy that called
for students granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status by the federal government to
pay the out-of-state tuition rate at state colleges and universities.
That policy meant Rojas, who is from Bolivia, couldn’t afford to enroll in George Mason University, so she attended Northern Virginia
Community College, even though the higher out-of-state rate there was a burden. Then after Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring ruled that
students with DACA status qualify for the in-state rate, she transferred to
Radford, where she became the first dreamer accepted to the university and received
a full-tuition scholarship.
economics and is applying to graduate school. Wall Street might figure in her
future career plans, she says, but “for now I am going more toward policy-related
work.”
Quinnipiac Global Asset Management Education (G.A.M.E.) VI Forum April 2 in New
York City. SMIPO’s portfolio produced the highest risk-adjusted returns in that
category. Representatives from more than 140 colleges participated in the event, which was sponsored by Quinnipiac University.
opportunity to gain real-world experience in investing money on behalf of an
institutional client. The organization manages funds for the university foundation’s endowment. SMIPO started with an initial investment of $100,000; the
current total investment is $600,000. The group netted a 3 percent gain for the year, compared to a 2 percent loss by the S&P 500.
students gain access to resources with the goal of a debt-free college degree.
Congratulations! What a great example of what hard work and perseverance in this country can achieve. I applaud her and I hope other young people struggling with making ends meet take a lesson from this young lady. Wonderful!
Congratulations Giancarla, this is just the start of many more wonderful things to come! Giancarla is the perfect example of what our Dreamers can accomplish if only they are given a little room to spread their wings. There is so much human potential among our undocumented community.
so proud of this young woman's accomplishment thus far. you will do great things Giancarla.
Well done young woman!