Hello! My name is Rolando Bonales Jr. I'm  a senior at Santa Monica High School. I was born and raised in the pico-union neighborhood; Mac Arthur park area to be exact,  As a child I have a vivid memory of living  with a single teenage mother who had just gotten out of an abusive relationship. I watched my mother struggle to provide for me. Life at 20 was hard for her, but somehow she managed to attend community college, hold a job at the local coffee shop and come home to give me the best  childhood she could. This gave me more motivation to accomplish my goals not just for me but for her as well. I remember catching the bus at the crack of dawn with my mother from the "hood" to sunny Santa Monica, solely because she believed in giving me a better education and keeping me close to her as she maneuvered her way through school/jobs.
  For as long as I can remember I always wanted to be the first high school graduate in my family. In early June this year I will have succeeded in this goal. In 7th grade I joined the  Avid program, and in my junior year Avid supported me with  applying to colleges.
My first acceptance letter was to  my top choice, Adelphi University! My family was ecstatic the day we found this out but also worried. When we first got the news the price was way too high to actually consider going but a week after we got a letter stating that I had also received a merit scholarship. With this scholarship the cost to attend ends up at about $28,000 a year and with your help this could be a possibility.
Coming from a latino family and entering the world of higher education at age 17 is very rewarding and brings such pride to my family. New York is a big city and I believe that it will give me great experiences, knowledge and adventures as I continue my education and it will support my life lessons that will stay with me for the rest of my life.