JUNE 9, 2017, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A5
KeizerCommunity
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Keizer students turn
grades, behavior around
FEEL GOOD
STORY
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KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
McNary senior Maria Cervantes was awarded a $65,380 per
year scholarship to Occidental College in Los Angeles.
Cervantes follows
Obama’s footsteps
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
When applying for colleges
to study political science, Mc-
Nary senior Maria Cervantes
went big.
And that decision is paying
off.
Cervantes had never heard
of Occidental College, located
in Los Angeles, before fi nding
out one of her role models, for-
mer president Barack Obama,
had gone there before transfer-
ring to Columbia.
“I wasn’t going to get into
an Ivy League but I wanted a
good school so I fi gured if pres-
ident Obama went, it probably
is a good school for political
science,” Cervantes said.
Cervantes was leaning to-
wards staying close to home
and attending Reed College in
Portland until she got her ac-
ceptance from Occidental and
saw the amount of money they
were offering. Cervantes is re-
ceiving a $65,380 scholarship
per year. Tuition at Occidental
is $67,800.
Cervantes isn’t sure how she
received so much scholarship
money. The application was
just like all the other colleges.
For the essay, Cervantes wrote
about her parents moving to
America from Mexico when
she was just a baby.
“I think that’s (essay) what
probably helped me,” Cervantes
said. “My grades are good and
all and I did decently on the
SATs but I was really surprised
when I got the scholarship in-
formation.”
Cervantes’ interest in poli-
tics began in middle school
when she started paying more
attention to the news. She was
also infl uenced by her older
brother who graduated from
Willamette after McNary.
“I saw him going to debate
tournaments and meeting the
justices from the courts here
in Oregon and talking about
meeting the mayor,” Cer-
vantes said. “It sounded inter-
esting and like something that
I would want to do. I think
working in the cabinet would
be really cool someday.”
Cervantes has spoken to
Occidental administrators over
the phone and reached out to
current students through social
media. She’ll visit the campus
for the fi rst time this summer.
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
Elsa Chavez-Chavez’s face
lit up as she talked about grad-
uating from McNary High
School in front of her parents,
younger brother and sisters.
“Since I’m the oldest one, I
wanted to be the fi rst to gradu-
ate from high school and get a
diploma so my parents could
see me,” Chavez-Chavez said.
“I just wanted to prove ev-
eryone that doubted me that I
wasn’t going to graduate and I
am now. I’m so excited.”
Chavez-Chavez, one of
three Keizer students to receive
a 2017 Turnaround Achieve-
ment Award, wasn’t sure she
would graduate on time a year
ago.
“I was slacking and it was
hard to concentrate and then
all the family problems go-
ing on were super stressful,”
Chavez-Chavez said. “My
friends all supported me and
pushed me. I stayed after school
and met with teachers. I don’t
miss as much school. Now I
have good grades, As and Bs.”
Claggett Creek eighth grad-
er Betsy Serpas Quintanilla,
who went from making mostly
Cs to As and Bs, also wanted
Chavez-Chavez
Warner
Quintanilla
to be a good infl uence on her
younger siblings.
“I want to be a model to my
little sisters,” Quintanilla said.
“They say that the little siblings
always follow your footsteps so
I want to make sure they do
good as well.”
Quintanilla has roles models
of her own in her mom who
took care of the family when
her dad left and her older sister,
Sarai, who is fi nishing up nurs-
ing school in El Salvador.
Quintanilla wants to be a
lawyer and thought if she was
going to go through that much
school, she might as well be-
gin to enjoy it. Playing soccer
and volleyball and running
track and fi eld, Quintanilla also
needs good grades for athletics.
Whiteaker eighth grader
Matthew Warner had behavior-
al and academic issues, spend-
ing most of the seventh grade
in the principal’s offi ce while
failing many of his classes.
After going to counseling
during the summer, Warner de-
cided to make a change.
“I thought I should stop do-
ing what I was doing and start
actually acting like a grownup,”
Warner said. “I stopped fi ght-
ing with people and started lis-
tening to the teachers.”
Warner, who now makes
mostly As and Bs, has also
found classes he enjoys like
computers, shop and foods.
“I really didn’t like people
and I didn’t like teachers be-
cause I didn’t like school at all,”
Warner said. “Now I really like
school because I have all my
friends here and I get to hang
out with them more often.”
The 23rd Annual Turn-
around Achievement Awards
were sponsored by Town &
Country Lanes. The recipients
were honored at a banquet on
May 16 at Keizer Civic Center.
Submitted
Twenty students from each of the middle and high schools in
Salem-Keizer were honored at the 2017 Turnaround Achieve-
ment Awards on May 16 at the Keizer Civic Center.
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