Latest news with #NicholasAcademicCenters
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Nicholas Academic Centers Celebrates Class of 2025 With Stories of Grit, Growth, and Giving Back
SANTA ANA, Calif., June 09, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--One of the four featured Nicholas Academic Centers (NAC) scholars was not expected to survive childbirth. "Before I opened my eyes to this world, I shared my first eight months of life alongside cancer," stated Tanesha Bravo. Injecting her grandmother with insulin, caring for her mother's medical issues, losing her best friend to leukemia, and surviving her own surgeries to remove a hemangioma fueled Bravo's goal of becoming a surgical oncologist. This fall, she heads to Chapman University on a full scholarship as a biochemistry and molecular biology major. Her path has been shaped by the fragility and power of life, inspired by her mother's unwavering strength as she battled illness while working long hours to support her children. An immigrant at age 12, Bravo helped her mom deliver groceries and food while maintaining top grades. The NAC, which provides highly qualified staff, academic assistance and tutoring, social services, cultural enrichment programs, college access and support services, and need-based scholarship opportunities for students, became her second home, providing the guidance and resources she needed to turn a once-distant dream into reality. "I was given a second chance at life," Bravo said. "I couldn't have achieved everything without the NAC, and now I want to be that support for others." On June 6, 2025, Broadcom cofounder Dr. Henry T. Nicholas III hosted the NAC, elected officials, and community members at the 17th annual NAC graduation ceremony to honor the Class of 2025, 198 graduates who collectively earned 1,736 college acceptances, as they advance to prestigious colleges. NAC Alumni Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD) Board Clerk Valerie Magdaleno (Class of 2016) and law student Lisbeth Rosales (Class of 2018) gave encouraging words to the NAC Class of 2025 and the community at the graduation ceremony. The NAC is generously funded by the Henry T. Nicholas III Education Foundation and was founded by Dr. Nicholas and Retired Superior Court Judge Jack Mandel in 2007. Dr. Nicholas has donated $57.7 million to support the three NAC locations in downtown Santa Ana, Valley High School, and Century High School. "Seventeen years later, we are a community that has changed for the better, with more and more students not just getting their bachelor's degrees, but also going on to get their master's, and some even their PhD," said Rodolfo Duarte, Executive Director of the NAC and a fellow NAC alumnus, who jokes about having spent half of his life at the NAC. During long nights studying at the NAC which served as her anchor, Stephania Salvador, the daughter of Mexican immigrants, her father a restaurant server, her mother a catering worker, often thought about her parents' sacrifices, including her father leaving college to provide for the family. A natural leader, Salvador served as senior class president. She also founded a volunteer club and used a $5,000 grant to run a sports camp for special needs children. She is University of Pennsylvania bound on a full scholarship to become a real estate lawyer. "I want to help solve the housing crisis, especially for low-income communities like mine," she explained. Salvador hopes to support her parents and uplift her community through her legal career. Adrian Ramirez discovered early on that reading and analyzing history helped him make sense of the present and imagine a better future. He started at the NAC with a goal to simply get into any college to honor his Mexican-born parents' sacrifices and wishes; NAC expanded his horizon to Harvard University on a full scholarship, where he will major in government, with plans to become an attorney. Ramirez served as president of the National Honor Society, led book drives for local libraries, and promoted civic engagement through Santa Ana Youth Votes. He also spread joy through Origami for Good, creating origami art to donate to children at hospitals, the elderly, and soldiers. Ramirez thanks Dr. Nicholas for "creating a program that showed me that I'm capable of doing so much more than I can even imagine." UC Berkeley-bound Bryan Figueroa dreams of returning to Santa Ana to help his community the way "Dr. Nick has," who "believed in the NAC scholars when they didn't always believe in themselves." The son of a carpenter and a house cleaner, one of Figueroa's first memories was being pushed in a stroller by his mother and collecting cans and bottles to make a few extra dollars. Fueled by these moments, he made a quiet promise to carry their dreams forward. In a full-circle moment, he joined his high school's recycling club. Figueroa has also mentored younger generations through Big Brothers Big Sisters and volunteered for other nonprofits. He plans to major in mathematics to build a career that can support both his family and the community. "The NAC flipped a switch that college was possible," he reflected. "I realized this wasn't just about me. It was about honoring my family's sacrifices." NAC Class of 2025 Highlights: 100% high school graduation (national average of 87%) 100% enrolled directly into college 88% enrolled directly into four-year institutions 96% first-generation college students 95% Latino students NAC Alumni Highlights: A total of 2,498 NAC graduates have earned over $154.2 million in scholarships and grants 95% Latino, 3% Asian American, 2% Other 96% are first-generation college students 75% have enrolled directly into four-year institutions 93% who enrolled in four-year universities have graduated or currently remain enrolled (national average retention rate of 78%) 55% who attended four-year universities graduated in four years (California average of 50%; national Latino average of 32%) 86% who attended four-year universities graduated in six years (national average of 64%; national Latino average of 54%) 13% who completed a bachelor's degree also completed/enrolled in a graduate degree program (national Latino average of 7%) 17th Annual NAC Booklet Press Packet View source version on Contacts MEDIA INQUIRIES: Susan Kang GroupSusan@ (714) 299-0322 Sign in to access your portfolio
Business Wire
8 hours ago
- Health
- Business Wire
Nicholas Academic Centers Celebrates Class of 2025 With Stories of Grit, Growth, and Giving Back
SANTA ANA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--One of the four featured Nicholas Academic Centers (NAC) scholars was not expected to survive childbirth. 'Before I opened my eyes to this world, I shared my first eight months of life alongside cancer,' stated Tanesha Bravo. Injecting her grandmother with insulin, caring for her mother's medical issues, losing her best friend to leukemia, and surviving her own surgeries to remove a hemangioma fueled Bravo's goal of becoming a surgical oncologist. This fall, she heads to Chapman University on a full scholarship as a biochemistry and molecular biology major. Her path has been shaped by the fragility and power of life, inspired by her mother's unwavering strength as she battled illness while working long hours to support her children. An immigrant at age 12, Bravo helped her mom deliver groceries and food while maintaining top grades. The NAC, which provides highly qualified staff, academic assistance and tutoring, social services, cultural enrichment programs, college access and support services, and need-based scholarship opportunities for students, became her second home, providing the guidance and resources she needed to turn a once-distant dream into reality. 'I was given a second chance at life,' Bravo said. 'I couldn't have achieved everything without the NAC, and now I want to be that support for others.' On June 6, 2025, Broadcom cofounder Dr. Henry T. Nicholas III hosted the NAC, elected officials, and community members at the 17 th annual NAC graduation ceremony to honor the Class of 2025, 198 graduates who collectively earned 1,736 college acceptances, as they advance to prestigious colleges. NAC Alumni Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD) Board Clerk Valerie Magdaleno (Class of 2016) and law student Lisbeth Rosales (Class of 2018) gave encouraging words to the NAC Class of 2025 and the community at the graduation ceremony. The NAC is generously funded by the Henry T. Nicholas III Education Foundation and was founded by Dr. Nicholas and Retired Superior Court Judge Jack Mandel in 2007. Dr. Nicholas has donated $57.7 million to support the three NAC locations in downtown Santa Ana, Valley High School, and Century High School. 'Seventeen years later, we are a community that has changed for the better, with more and more students not just getting their bachelor's degrees, but also going on to get their master's, and some even their PhD,' said Rodolfo Duarte, Executive Director of the NAC and a fellow NAC alumnus, who jokes about having spent half of his life at the NAC. During long nights studying at the NAC which served as her anchor, Stephania Salvador, the daughter of Mexican immigrants, her father a restaurant server, her mother a catering worker, often thought about her parents' sacrifices, including her father leaving college to provide for the family. A natural leader, Salvador served as senior class president. She also founded a volunteer club and used a $5,000 grant to run a sports camp for special needs children. She is University of Pennsylvania bound on a full scholarship to become a real estate lawyer. 'I want to help solve the housing crisis, especially for low-income communities like mine,' she explained. Salvador hopes to support her parents and uplift her community through her legal career. Adrian Ramirez discovered early on that reading and analyzing history helped him make sense of the present and imagine a better future. He started at the NAC with a goal to simply get into any college to honor his Mexican-born parents' sacrifices and wishes; NAC expanded his horizon to Harvard University on a full scholarship, where he will major in government, with plans to become an attorney. Ramirez served as president of the National Honor Society, led book drives for local libraries, and promoted civic engagement through Santa Ana Youth Votes. He also spread joy through Origami for Good, creating origami art to donate to children at hospitals, the elderly, and soldiers. Ramirez thanks Dr. Nicholas for 'creating a program that showed me that I'm capable of doing so much more than I can even imagine.' UC Berkeley-bound Bryan Figueroa dreams of returning to Santa Ana to help his community the way 'Dr. Nick has,' who 'believed in the NAC scholars when they didn't always believe in themselves.' The son of a carpenter and a house cleaner, one of Figueroa's first memories was being pushed in a stroller by his mother and collecting cans and bottles to make a few extra dollars. Fueled by these moments, he made a quiet promise to carry their dreams forward. In a full-circle moment, he joined his high school's recycling club. Figueroa has also mentored younger generations through Big Brothers Big Sisters and volunteered for other nonprofits. He plans to major in mathematics to build a career that can support both his family and the community. 'The NAC flipped a switch that college was possible,' he reflected. 'I realized this wasn't just about me. It was about honoring my family's sacrifices.' NAC Class of 2025 Highlights: 100% high school graduation (national average of 87%) 100% enrolled directly into college 88% enrolled directly into four-year institutions 96% first-generation college students 95% Latino students NAC Alumni Highlights: 17th Annual NAC Booklet
