Each year, College Visions welcomes a new group of 12th graders who have a vision of walking across that stage with a college degree in hand. Luis M. is one member of CV’s diverse class of 2017. . Luis was born in Charallave, a small city in Venezuela, and is currently a senior at Cranston West. Luis likes to play the piano and loves all things electronic; he even built his own machine. He is ready to take on the new challenges of the college application process.
It’s been fantastic so far. There have been so many activities that have been engaging and CV has made the college process less overwhelming. Through that summer workshop that I did for the week, I was able to learn so much during that time. From just the financial aid to the resume building workshops; that was so helpful to me. That’s what I love about CV, they make it engaging.
Thanks to your support, Luis is on the path to a college degree. Young people like Luis who join College Visions are entering and graduating from college at extraordinary rates. 97% of College Visions enroll in college and 65% graduate within 6 years!
Read his interview below to find out more.
What are some of your hobbies?
I like playing the piano; that’s one of my hobbies. I also like doing a lot of things with electronics. I have a lot of things to do with my CNC, which is a machine that I built. Also, I want to major in something in the medical field. I’m still debating on whether it’s nursing or maybe something in the technical field, like sonogram or MRI.
You said you build a CNC, can you tell me a little more about that?
A CNC is a computer numerical control. It’s pretty much like a milling machine. What is does is that it engraves into pieces, so it could be like wood, plastic, a lot of things. I make engravings and I could also make molds for certain products, like a bell.
After attending the summer workshops, can you tell me something that you’ve learned specifically and is the most helpful?
The financial aid workshop was very very helpful because the terminology was just overwhelming. I just kind of looked at it and I’m like, “whoa, what is this!? All these words. What is this student aid report?” The workshop, the fact that we dedicated pretty much a whole day on it and in a way where we were actually able to do the math to subtract financial aid money from the total tuition and all that stuff. That really did help me a lot and I was able to say, “oh, you know, that’s not as bad as I thought it would be.”
Describe your most memorable CV moment so far?
I think the creative writing part in the CV workshop was fun because I was able to write a story where I was on a trampoline and we got into an accident. In the story, my friend and I both ended up injured, but the way I was describing it, I had fun with it and everybody else had fun with it as well when they were listening to the story.
What would you say to donors who are consistently giving to CV and are making this resource possible?
Please, please don’t stop because this program is excellent and from the statistics and the numbers, you guys have helped so many people. You have changed so many lives and you’ve helped so many people, so please keep on doing what you’re doing. We gladly appreciate it and we’re happy that you do it.
Is there anything you would like to say to any CV staff members?
You’ve all been kind and helpful so far and I know you will help me for the rest of the college application process and even after when I get into college. I know you will help me. You take your time and put in a lot of effort so that you could help each one of us individually as a person. Everybody is different, but you guys adapt to every single person, which I appreciate.
