WATSONVILLE—Every year, the Watsonville Ivy League Project selects a handful of academically successful students for a weeklong trip to some of the nation’s top universities.
The trip is for some participants a first step away from their hometowns, but for all of them, it is a window into a world in which they have earned their way through academic rigor and involvement.
“I’m here because I really want to get a bigger sense of what’s out there,” says Watsonville High School junior Tajin Olivas-Heredia. “I want to broaden my sense of what there could be.”
Nearly all of the 15 students—sophomores and juniors from Watsonville and Pajaro Valley high schools—have a grade point average of 4.0 or higher, and all of them boast advanced placement and honors classes on their résumés.
Pajaro Valley High School junior Adamari Andres-Lobato says her hard work led to her success as a student, but she also says it’s important to be active in the school and community.
“Not only your grades matter, but getting out there and volunteering and searching for opportunities,” she says.
The students will visit the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the universities of Boston, Tufts, Harvard, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Yale and Pennsylvania.
“The Watsonville Ivy League Project tells highly qualified, underrepresented students that there’s a place for them at any prominent university in the nation,” said organizer Ron Sandidge.
Traveling students
Watsonville High
Tajin Olivas-Heredia, junior
- Dream School: UC Los Angeles
- Plans: Hopes to become a registered nurse.
Ana Ruiz, junior
- Dream School: Stanford or Brown
- Plans: To study forensic pathology, a career path she said was inspired by the death by cancer of a close family friend.
Danisha Nuñez, junior
- Dream school: No dream school currently, as her focus recently changed
- Plans: To study either mechanical or civil engineering, and eventually develop new technology for her family’s diesel company.
Morielle Mamaril, junior
- Dream schools: Johns Hopkins or Yale
- Plans: To study psychology, and someday form her own nonprofit organization.
Lizbeth Garcia, sophomore
- Dream schools: Harvard or Brown
- Plans: Wants to study medicine and specialize in pediatrics, which was inspired by her brother.
Eli Romero, sophomore
- Dream schools: UC Berkeley or UC San Diego
- Plans: Wants to study business to be a financial advisor, or go into marketing and communications. He says he chose these fields for the broad range of opportunities they provide.
Bella Umeki-Martinez, sophomore
- Dream schools: Cornell or CSU Monterey Bay
- Plans: To study either marine biology or fine arts.
Miguel Martinez, sophomore
- Dream school: No dream school for this aspiring filmmaker.
- Plans: “Filmmaking is one of those things that feeds the human spirit,” he said.
Mariana & Isabel Lobato-Vicencio, sophomores
- Dream schools: Mariana, UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz; Isabel, Stanford, Santa Clara University
- Plans: Both sisters plan to study education, math or history and hope to become teachers.
Pajaro Valley High
Adamari Andres-Lobato, junior
- Dream school: Stanford
- Plan: To study biology, and eventually become a dermatologist. She says she was inspired by the skin ailments that affect the farmworkers in her community.
Andrea Roman, sophomore
- Dream schools: Yale or Harvard
- Plan: She says her aunt inspired her to study economics, accounting or finance.
Ruby Romero-Maya, sophomore
- Dream school: Stanford
- Plan: Wants to study marine biology. “It’s something that has been my passion—learning about the environment and how to help it,” she said.
Consuelo Fabian, sophomore
- Dream school: Santa Clara University
- Plan: To study psychology or forensics.
Karla Leyva, junior
- Dream school: Boston University
- Plan: Hopes her biology major will lead to a career in endocrinology.
