Andrew Delgado

At EWU, Andrew Delgado discovered that he could pursue a degree in recreation management to follow his dream of helping young people lead fun, healthy, active lives. “Financing college has become a challenge for many, including myself,” he said. “Over and over, I saw friends walk away from our campus with unfinished goals and broken dreams. By funding scholarships, donors lightened my financial burden, which allowed me to volunteer, continue to work toward my education, and pursue a degree in a field that I am strongly passionate about.”

Some children need help to have fun. Sometimes it takes fundamentals or functionality or fundraising.

Just ask Andrew. He will tell you that a small town can be a boring place for high-energy middle school kids. When Andrew volunteered more than 350 hours at the Cheney Youth Center, he put those hours into providing teens with fun after-school activities that burned energy in a positive way.

At EWU, Andrew discovered that he could pursue a degree in recreation management to follow his dream of helping young people lead fun, healthy, active lives. He also found that he could rack up hundreds of hours at the campus H.O.M.E. Program; the acronym stands for Helping Ourselves Means Education.

H.O.M.E. is dedicated to helping nontraditional students work toward higher education. The focus is on EWU student parents and their children by programming a variety of events throughout the year: fun events for children of student parents, fundraisers for childcare scholarships and gifts for children during the holiday season, and events to provide student parents with additional resources on our campus and in our community.

Andrew would have had to give up volunteering and valuable study time if he had to work full time to cover all of his tuition, fees, books, and housing.

“Financing college has become a challenge for many, including myself,” he said. “Over and over, I saw friends walk away from our campus with unfinished goals and broken dreams. By funding scholarships, donors lightened my financial burden, which allowed me to continue to volunteer, work toward my education and pursue a degree in a field that I am strongly passionate about. I will continue giving back to our community, and one day I hope I can help students achieve their academic goals just as donors have helped me.”