Now 17, Manuel Heredia Santoyo kept his head down and studied hard throughout grade school, middle school and at Sonoma high with one goal in mind — going away… far away… for college. Thanks to incredibly hard work and dedication on his part, and a $188,000 scholarship from Colgate University, he is living proof that dreams do come true.
Colgate University, where Heredia is headed later this week, is one of the most selective universities in the country. Located in Central New York State, Colgate’s 2,800 undergraduates choose between 51 majors and compete in the highest level of Division I sports.
Colgate boasts an average class size of 19 (versus 60+ at the University of California) guaranteeing personal attention for all students. Heredia was accepted by well-regarded colleges around the country including: Ithica, Northeastern, Suffolk, Drexel, Dominican, Lawrence and Knox. He chose Colgate in the end because it has the best reputation and offered the most generous financial aid package.
This summer, Heredia will acclimate to a whole new world at Colgate while living in the dorms and taking his first two courses: “Legacies of the Ancient World” and “Francophile Literature from Africa.”
When Heredia was choosing which college to attend, he called Colgate and asked if the school would pay for a trip out to see the campus. Officials readily agreed. He said he “was shocked by how friendly everyone was. And the campus was the most gorgeous place I think I’ve ever seen.”
Heredia is the first to point out that he wouldn’t be where he is today — packing his bags for the pre-freshman summer program at Colgate — without a great deal of help and support. He speaks fondly of Ms. Adair and Ms. Melendy at El Verano, and Ms. Rivara, his AVID teacher at SVHS.
“Ms. Rivara is the kind of teacher you see in the movies, the teacher who goes far beyond the duties of the job to help and inspire her students,” he said “She is an amazing person.”
And in the hand-off from schoolwork to college planning, the guidance provided by his Summer Search mentor may have made all the difference for him.
San Francisco-based non-profit Summer Search provides weekly mentoring, summer experiences and college advising to upwards of 700 selected high achieving, high-potential, low-income high school students across the country each year. Heredia’s mentor was Ryan Cooney, Director of Outreach for Summer Search’s North Bay office in Petaluma. According to Cooney, “In my experience it is rare to find a young man so committed and driven to change his future as Manuel. Not only is he intent on breaking the stereotypes of Latino males in Sonoma county, he has also played a big role in our efforts to form a strong cohort of first generation college bound students among his younger peers.”
Heredia pointed out that for students not enrolled in the Summer Search program, Sonoma has a wide array of resources to help college bound students – from Kathleen Hawing in SVHS’s College & Career Center and the counselors there, to the Sonoma Education Foundation’s Teacher Support Network’s College Support volunteers. There is also the new College Bound program at the Boy’s & Girls Club.
A student just must be willing, like Heredia, to ask for help.
The list of friends, family and educators who Manuel insists share credit for his success include his mother Margarita and his older brother Alejandro. The former for always believing in him and the latter, who graduated from Bard College in New York and now attends Northeastern University Law School in Boston, for proving it could be done.
“While my mom is really sad that her sons will be so far away,” Heredia said, “she is unbelievably proud that we are both pursuing higher education.”
After his junior year, Heredia took a life changing three-week Summer Search service trip working at a Boys and Girls Club in a poor area of Brazil. When he came back, he knew he wanted to tutor children at BGCVOM for his Senior Project.
He has high praise for the local Club. “I loved working with the younger children and interacting with everyone who works there, particularly James Connors, the Intel Clubhouse Director. But most of all, I appreciated that it was a safe place where I could tutor the children, do my homework, get help on projects and stay off the streets and out of trouble.”
Said Connors, “Manuel is someone the younger members look up to. Because of his positive, caring attitude, everyone is drawn to him. He was recently awarded Youth of the Year by the Club in recognition of his compassion, leadership and knack for persevering.”
Heredia is the perfect example of what the Club hopes to achieve with its new College Bound program, said Teen Director Robin Eurgubian. “The goal of our program is to help set our local students up for success, much like that of Manuel. Through small group workshops, one-on-one advising, and campus tours, we can help students navigate every aspect of academic, college, and career planning.”
Heredia is justifiably nervous, but undeniably excited, to be heading 3,000 miles away to start the next chapter of his life. “This has been a tough road to get to this point,” he shared. “I’ve worked so hard to get good grades and strong scores. Quite honestly, I sometimes was in danger of wandering off course, but traveling to Brazil, and seeing the world beyond this town really helped me focus and made me more determined than ever go away for college.”
His advice to his peers still in high school is to, “start as early as you can thinking about college and beginning the college application process. And don’t hesitate to ask for help. There are people here who truly want to help you succeed.”
Heredia’s story has a true happy ending – and is proof to all high schoolers that hard work and determination will pay off. Best of all, his real story is just beginning.
