February 23, 1995: Vol26n28: Lourdes Ventura delivered an address, excerpted below...

Lourdes Ventura delivered an address, excerpted below, to the
graduating EOP seniors at a commencement banquet last May:
It is indeed an honor to be speaking to you on this day. I did not
make it to this podium by luck or random chance and I am not a genius
or child prodigy. I am simply a Latino who is doing what she has to do
for herself, her family, and to prove others wrong. Others consisting
of people who never gave me a chance or did not believe in me. People
such as an aunt who told my mother that I could never make it because
we were on welfare, a high school counselor who told me that I should
work and postpone college, a teacher who told me that I couldn't get a
summer position in an architecture firm because I was a girl and
"Spanish," and the list goes on.
	Such people gave me the drive and determination to go against
everything they'd  ever told me. From all that I had seen and gone
through in my world, I knew I had to go to college. I wanted to go far
away and I wanted to be an architect. The University at Buffalo was
the only place that fit the description economically speaking. I
filled out the application and checked the EOP box, which my high
school counselor erased.
	She assumed that I did not qualify and never took into account
that I might have been academically and/or economically eligible.
Undergraduate admissions accepted me and, after speaking to several
people within the university, the Educational Opportunity Program
accepted me into their family late Summer of '89. After attending the
university for a semester I decided that architecture was not for me.
Instead I decided to pursue a double major in Health & Human Services
and Spanish. I would be able to help people in our society.
	I am very proud of all of us who are here today. We, the
graduating seniors, are paving the way for future EOP graduates. We
show that by hard work, courage, commitment, and determination one can
accomplish their goals. Every time we break a barrier we've shown
others that EOP gave us the opportunity to do so. EOP gave many of us
the opportunity to go to college, become active members in our
communities (on and off campus), even to become leaders and role
models within these communities, and to establish lifelong friendships
(within and outside of organizations).
	All of us here today must take pride in all of our
achievements and successes. The Educational Opportunity Program has
already given you the most needed tool in your survival -- the
strength of believing in yourself. Now that you have this, many other
strengths come easily and you must learn to use them effectively. EOP
does not end at the end of your college career. EOP goes with you so
you can achieve your own personal goals and at the same time help
those who need to be given a chance just as we once needed it. This is
how you can give back to EOP -- be there for someone else and use your
experiences in guiding them.
	May we all continue to prosper and succeed!