2021 Historical Essay Awards

Dear Signal Hill Daughters: Please see “Thank You” letter (below) we received from a student who is participating in the Harper College “Promise Scholarship” program. Our chapter made a donation to the Harper Education Foundation in 2020 in support of this program.

Hello Signal Hill Chapter, NSDAR,

My name is Diana, I am currently in my third semester at Harper studying accounting and I am a scholarship recipient. Having the Promise Scholarship truly means a lot to me. As a first generation student I was unsure of where to go for a college education. I assessed my options and the Promise was a tremendous motivator for choosing Harper. However, I have come to the realization that it was one of the best decisions I could have made. At Harper, I have had the opportunity to meet faculty members that genuinely care about students and want them to succeed. I’ve found a great support system at Harper and for this I will forever be thankful. 

The Promise Scholarship has really alleviated so much stress and burden that the cost of college was causing me and my parents. Earning a minimum wage and having to support my sister and I, they simply could not afford a college education. When the Promise Scholarship was introduced to me as a freshman in high school I knew that it was one of my biggest opportunities in life. Thanks to the Promise I will be able to continue on to a 4 year institution with so much personal, academic, and professional growth. 

Thanks to Harper and the Promise scholarship I am allowed to dream. In the future, I hope to become an accountant and become financially independent. I am passionate about accounting because one of things I value most is honesty. As an accountant I would have the opportunity to generate financial information about an entity to the highest degree of accuracy as possible. In addition, in the future I would love to learn to invest and therefore have the ability to create more financial stability for myself. I would also really like to help my parents, they have sacrificed so much for me and my sister and I would love to repay at least a fraction of everything they’ve done for us. 

To the donors who have helped in founding my education, you’ve really changed my life. I remember someone once told me how the phrase “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” is incredibly inaccurate, some people just can't pull themselves up using their “bootstraps” because they don't have “bootstraps” to begin with. Your donations provide many with an opportunity to work their way up and change their life. A college education provides me with the potential to change my life not only financially, but on a personal and emotional level as well. However, without your generosity I wouldn't have been able to do it. To you I will forever be grateful.

Sincerely,

Diana Lima