For many students at Palo Alto College, leaving the comfort of home and going north to Cedar Falls, Iowa, would be an unthinkable challenge. For some, it was a challenge worth accepting.

Cynthia Mendez, a 25-year-old Education major, attended Palo Alto College from 1997 to 2000 before transferring to the University of Northern Iowa.

“The program is great,” Mendez said. “It’s like an exchange program but aimed more towards transfer students.

The program Mendez is talking about helps not only students, but UNI, too. In an effort to diversify its largely Anglo student population, the school offers minorities free tuition, room and board, a value of $15,000, and leaves only personal expenses and books up to the students.

“At first, I was not too fond of being in Iowa, but everyone here did all they could to make it feel like home. Later, it did,” Mendez said

Students who want to apply for the scholarship have to meet certain requirements. They must complete their Associate of Arts Degree and have a minimum grade point average of 2.6. UNI representatives make a recruiting trip to Palo Alto at least once a year, usually in October.

“This program benefits both the students and the school,” said Education Support Specialist Charles Garcia.

Mendez credited Garcia, who works in the Transfer Advisement Center, for giving her the information she needed about the transfer program.

“I was talking with Charley Garcia about going to Our Lady of the Lake University when he asked what my major was,” Mendez said. “When I told him, he asked me if I thought of going to Iowa. I was like, no, I don’t even know where it is on the map.”

After receiving information from Garcia and the school and doing some research on her own, Mendez became a resident of Cedar Falls
Another former Palo Alto student who continued her educational journey at UNI is senior Leslie Prieto, who almost never gave herself

the chance to transfer.

“Out of the 80 applicants, I was the eightieth,” Prieto said.

Prieto signed up for the scholarship at the last minute, and once the summer came around, she didn’t know much about Iowa.

“A friend of mine told me about it, and I was skeptical,” Prieto said. “So I just blew it off until the week of deadlines.”

During the summer before leaving for Iowa, Prieto talked to students who were also going.

“They told me, ‘Leslie, there are only white people there,” Prieto said. “ I was like, whatever. I mean, I went to Holmes High School, where I was surrounded by Chinos, Gringos, Negros and Latinos, so white people don’t scare me.”

Prieto went home and told her dad about the information the students gave her about life in Iowa. Her dad felt the same way she did and told her that there would be all kinds of people there.

Once she got to Cedar Falls, Prieto met with the assistant director of admissions, Juanita Wright, who gave Prieto some tickets for her family to eat in the dining center on campus.

“It was free, so I dropped off my junk, and my parents and I took off to eat,” Prieto said.

They got their meals, walked into the dining area, stood in the middle, “And looked like some nerds looking for a table to eat at.”

“Nothing but white people were sitting there, and I leaned over to my dad and whispered, ‘Dad, see, I told you!”

Students who transfer to any school outside of Texas can expect some culture shock and are faced with having to get to know people who are different.

“At Iowa, it’s more like culture quake,” said Prieto, who will graduate in May.
Palo Alto has sent a total of 46 students to UNI. Two have already graduated, four will graduate in May and four more will graduate in December. Seven students have left Cedar Falls because of either academic or personal reasons.

Today, a new batch of students will make the trip to Cedar Falls. Thirty-eight students will be accompanied by 18 relatives and four staff supervisors to take a tour of the campus.

“This is the third time we will make a trip out there,” said Garcia. “And it is the biggest group of the three. I want them to see another place other than where they grew up.”

One of the students who will be making the trip is Stefanie Vasquez, a sophomore Communication Disorders major. Vasquez has had the luxury of knowing about the program since her first year at Palo Alto. She first heard about it from an intern, and then from another student.

Vasquez understands how her life may be changed by this transfer, including her passion for Mexican cuisine.

“Enchiladas are my favorite thing to eat; however, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I have to live without them,” she said.