Escalera Spotlight-- Renee Casarin

Summary

Renee Casarin was among the 12 students who graduated with the first class of the NCLR Escalera Project at Garfield High School. While attending Garfield High, she was actively involved in numerous running events, including the Los Angeles Marathon, the Race for the Cure for Breast Cancer, Special Olympics and participated in the University Preparatory Program, the Talent Search Program and the school orchestra. Her academic excellence and commitment to community service and sports earned her the Diamond Scholar Award from PepsiCo in 2003. Renee is currently a freshman at Cal-State University, Long Beach where she is pursuing a B.S. in biological sciences and is involved in biomedical research.

Description

Renee Casarin, a former student at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles, always dreamed of going to college to become a scientist. But the young woman, whose troubled parents left her at a young age in the care of a grandmother, knew little about the complicated process she would need to follow to achieve her goal. No one in her family had ever graduated from high school. She was truly venturing into new territory.

“I didn’t know what a deadline was. I didn’t know what was involved in filling out financial aid forms or how to apply for student housing,” Casarin recalls. “I knew I wanted to continue my education, but I didn’t know how I was going to make that happen.”

Fortunately, in her junior year at Garfield, the dedicated student was selected to join the NCLR Escalera Project: Taking Steps for Success, a pilot program that would ensure she took every step necessary for graduation and preparation for college. Today, she is a freshman at California State University, Los Angeles and, as a PepsiCo Diamond Scholar, she has been granted a $2,500 annual scholarship to help pay for her tuition. Her dreams are just beginning to come true. “I know I don’t want to stop with a bachelor’s degree,” says the 18-year-old. “Most likely, I will earn a Ph.D. I want to be someone important in the field of medical research.”