Luis Feliz
All-New York First Academic Team; Kaplan Educational Foundation Leadership Program Scholar; Amherst College.
Completed the Honors Concentration.
Read about Luis’s transfer experience HERE
Also explore the blog to see Luis’s articles on politics and art.
Luis, a native of the Dominican Republic, immigrated to the United States with his mother and sister when he was seven. His mother was looking for steady employment and a better life for her children but life proved to be difficult. Although she was working two jobs, she realized that she could not adequately care for Luis so she had him live with his grandmother in the Dominican Republic. As a result of the constant moves, Luis’s education was sorely affected. “The comings and goings had held me back academically,” he said.
He returned to the United States in 2000 but his schooling was still off track. Through eighth
grade he worked forty hours a week at a bakery and in the tenth grade he was working in the
airport in lieu of attending classes. At the age of 20 he was still in high school when a guidance
counselor suggested he drop out and enroll in a GED program. Her suggestion motivated him to
reverse his academic fate, and by the end of his senior year he was taking honor classes.
His goal was now to attend college, but despite his improved grades they were not high enough
for him to gain acceptance to a four year college so he decided to enroll at LaGuardia. “I was
shooting for a four-year school,” he said, “but I realized that the only chance for a better life was
to begin my college experience at a community college.”
The 22-year old enrolled in the spring of 2007 as liberal arts major and he said he soon realized
he made the right college choice. “What I discovered is that community colleges are truly
communities,” he said. “Here at LaGuardia I met faculty who motivated me and students who
reached out to me. If not for the professors and friends who believed in me and encouraged me,
the Kaplan scholarship would not have been possible.”
In this community, Luis is an honor student who has been maintaining a 3.77 G.P.A.
Luis has also established himself as a student leader. He joined the Phi Theta Kappa Honor
Society where he serves as publications officer. His love for literature prompted him to found the
Renaissance Reading Circle where he and other students meet once a week to discuss such
works as Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis and Jose Saramago’s Blindness.
Off campus he volunteers his services at the New Immigrant Community Empowerment
organization where he teaches ESL classes to working class immigrants.
With Kaplan’s academic and financial support, Luis said that he will be better prepared to
succeed at a senior college. “I am excited about the scholarship but I know I will have to work
harder than I ever worked before,” said Luis. “I am looking forward to the tutoring and the other
assistance the program provides. I want to work with them to become a better student.”
With the help of the Kaplan scholarship, Luis envisions pursuing a baccalaureate in the classics
at Cornell, Swarthmore or the University of Pennsylvania. “My dream is to go to an Ivy League
school,” he said. “I hope the Kaplan Leadership Program will help put that within my grasp.”
Ultimately, he would like to obtain a Ph.D. in English and teach the subject at the college level.
“I would like to bring the enriching experience I have found in books to community college
students,” he said.