BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — It’s graduation season, and while many are celebrating seniors, one local junior is about to embark on his own path. One student is about to travel across the world.
- Every morning Aniuas Sanchez takes the 6:30 a.m. bus across town– 40 minutes each way– to attend the Healthcare Academy CTEC program at Ridgeview High; all, before attending his regular courses at Foothill High.
- Junior student Sanchez is no longer about to hop on a bus; but now, a plane, traveling to Africa– all made possible by the community’s support.
- Sanchez will leave for Botswana on July 8 and return July 31.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Aniuas Sanchez, a high school junior at Foothill High, received the Global Navigator Sponsorship, to take his healthcare journey to Botswana, South Africa.
“... I thought of where’s the [best] place that I can make a difference and some place that needs additional support? And I was happy to choose South Africa,” said Sanchez.
He first shared his excitement with his grandmother. But there was a problem.
“Whenever I was informed that I was accepted into the program, I remember jumping in excitement, telling her that, ‘Hey, I’m traveling abroad!’ And she thought immediately like, oh… the finances,” said Sanchez.
The scholarship covered a big portion of the program’s tuition, but it wasn’t enough.
But Sanchez wasn’t about to give up.
He reached out to his school.
The Foothill High School’s alumni association, Trojan Nation, provided funds towards the remaining tuition.
Sydney Peterson, the principal at Foothill High School, said, “Aniuas really exemplifies what it means to be a Trojan. He is kind, he’s dedicated, he is invested in his future, he’s smart, and he really thinks about other people. And I think that that’s evident in the fact that he’s going to study public health for four weeks in Africa.”
But he still needed to cover airfare. So he also reached out to Dignity Health and came with a game plan.
“We learned that he had been trying for several months to raise the funds that were needed to travel to Africa for his global project,” said Robin Mangarin-Scott, the marketing director at Dignity Health. “And Aniuas himself came to our hospital and pitched a plan. He brought his transcripts, showed us what he needed.”
Now, thanks to the community’s support, Sanchez prepares to take flight in July.
“It’s more of a personal journey,” said Sanchez. “I’m hoping to become more gentle in a way that Gaborone is known as the land of freedom and I’m hoping that it can actually just touch my heart a little.”
Sanchez will leave for Botswana on July 8 and return July 31.
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