Make a difference. Make it here.

As a Latina first-generation college student, Wendy Deras navigated the process of applying to college, filling out the FAFSA, finding an apartment to live in, and more, on her own. When applying for schools, she knew there would be a chance that she got accepted and wouldn’t be able to attend due to finances—until she received the Eugene O. & William Higgins Scholarship from the Community Foundation of Boone County. “The scholarship gave me hope. My fear slowly faded knowing that I didn’t have to do it alone.”

Wendy was named a Eugene O. & William Higgins Scholarship recipient in 2020. She credits this scholarship as the reason she was able to get a four-year degree, as opposed to going to community college until she could save enough money to go to a four-year school. “Thanks to the Eugene O. & Williams Higgins Scholarship, I’m able to invest my time on activities that fill my soul and help me pursue my passion for helping others by volunteering, pursuing research, and helping at clinics. Every semester, this scholarship pays my tuition and, coming from a big family with two parents who work so hard to provide a fruitful life for my sisters and me, we are appreciative of the financial burden it relieves.”

Being a scholarship recipient has made Wendy value the importance of her work more, and she is dedicated to making Boone County proud of her as the chosen recipient. She has pride knowing she’s representing the Boone County community with her leadership and efforts to pursue a higher education. She appreciates knowing the community views her education as an investment.

“I will be the first in my family to pursue a higher education, the first in my family to show women that they belong in science, and the first in my family who will have a white collar job. And I am proud of that! Latinos are meant to exist in higher education and I want to be a testament to the fact that we can not only exist in these spaces, but we can thrive in them.”

Wendy will graduate May 2024 with a B.S. in Biology and a minor in Social Science and Medicine. She plans to take a gap year to do biomedical research and will begin applying to M.D./Ph.D programs this upcoming May, in hopes of studying to be an OB/GYN with a Ph.D. in HPV or HIV biomedical research. Wendy’s advice to future applicants and recipients is to take every opportunity given to you, because you will never know if you are ready for something until you are experiencing it.

“If you are in a situation where you feel like you are unworthy of your education and like you don’t belong, remember that if you did not deserve to be there, you wouldn’t have been given the opportunity.”