Meet Our 2 New Scholarship Students!

As the word gets out about the San Nicolas Education Foundation scholarship, more and more students are applying. This year, we had more applications than ever before. From this impressive group of applicants, the SNEF board and local committee selected two students to receive scholarship support throughout their university studies.

Jennifer Guadalupe Avilez Castillo

Jennifer, or “Guadalupe” as she is known, started her first university classes last Monday. Since she was little, Guadalupe has always wanted to study law, and now she is living out her dream, studying law at the UNAN university in Leon.

Guadalupe is from the remote community of Limay, about 5 miles on dirt roads from San Nicolas. Her dad is a farmer and her mom is an “ama de casa,” caring for Guadalupe and her two siblings. Guadalupe enjoys reading and learning new things.

Guadalupe is an idealist with an altruistic vision for her future. She says she wants to study law because of all the social injustices she has witnessed in employment, and to help people in need. After finishing her studies, she hopes to one day find a job that will fulfill this dream.

Guadalupe will be studying at the same university as another SNEF student, Walkiria, who is now in her second year of medical school. Knowing how daunting it can be to move to a new city and find somewhere to live, Walkiria recently took Guadalupe under her wing and helped her find university housing. It’s amazing to see our scholarship students supporting each other!

Kenex Davila Martinez

Our second scholarship this year was awarded to Kenex Davila Martinez, who secured a spot to study banking and finance at the FAREM university in Esteli.

Growing up in a San Nicolas family that highly values education, Kenex has always known that he wanted to go to university. His mother works for the Ministry of Education in San Nicolas, and his father has been working on a university degree in recent years too. Kenex has a 6-year-old brother, Frander.

Kenex says that he first got interested in banking and finances in 10th grade. He wants to learn about accounting and keeping track of business income, and ultimately he hopes to work towards economic development in Nicaragua. He says that as he plans for a career in banking and finances, his values and knowledge will go hand in hand for him in finding his vocation.

In his free time, Kenex enjoys all kinds of sports – he plays soccer, basketball, and volleyball – and also enjoys reading, listening to music, and playing chess.

While he studies, Kenex will be living at home in San Nicolas and making the hour-long bus commute to Esteli for his classes. Because of Covid, for now he has classes in person 3 days per week and online 2 days per week.

The best universities in Nicaragua are the public ones, where tuition is free. One requirement of the SNEF scholarship is that students attend public universities to ensure that they are getting a quality education. Kenex and Guadalupe were both able to get into public universities, so the SNEF scholarship will buy these students a laptop and pay them a monthly stipend that will help cover transportation, food, textbooks, and other expenses over the course of their 4- or 5-year university educations.