ANAHEIM : Scholarships Aid La Colonia Youths

Manuel Ontiveros’ dream of becoming a lawyer or policeman got a boost recently when he became one of three students to receive a $1,000 scholarship in recognition of his volunteer work at an Anaheim community center.

“It comes in pretty handy when you’re paying for school,” said Ontiveros, a Fullerton College sophomore who hopes to study criminology at UC Irvine next year.

Ontiveros and two other Anaheim youths, Francis Amaya, 22, and Sophia Andrea Garcia, 17, received checks Jan. 17 from the Dr. Cynthia Coad Scholarship Fund for their work at the Anaheim Independencia Community Center on Garza Avenue. The center provides recreation and education programs for residents in the low-income La Colonia neighborhood.

“The main purpose of the scholarship is to reward volunteerism,” said Cynthia Coad, who donated stocks to fund the scholarship and serves as chairwoman of the center’s board of directors.

“One good way to counteract gangs is to encourage education so someone will have a career,” Coad said. This is the third time she has awarded the scholarships.

Ontiveros was recognized for his two years of volunteer work as a fund-raiser and office clerk at the Independencia center, Coad said.

Francis Amaya, also a Fullerton College sophomore, was recognized for helping young people in the center’s summer program.

“During the summer, he really worked extra time with the recreation program for the youth,” Coad said.

“He’s really good with the young kids,” she said.

Amaya is a math major and hopes to become a math teacher, Coad said.

Sophia Andrea Garcia, a junior at Magnolia High School in Anaheim, also helped with the recreation program last summer and hopes to become a lawyer, Coad said.

Coad has lived near the La Colonia neighborhood for more than 23 years and said the Latino culture of the area has enriched her life.

“I’m from the Midwest, and so I was not really acquainted with Latino culture until I came here” 35 years ago, Coad said, adding that she found that the values of the Latino families in her neighborhood served as an example for her as she raised her own seven children. “It’s our way of saying thanks,” she said.