Diana OLMOS
BAFTX Junior Achiever 2018
I’m going to Brown University.
That’s how BAFTX Junior Achiever Diana Olmos closed her speech at the Wine, Women and Song luncheon. A celebratory afternoon filled with laughter, wine and dancing to the Fab 5 Beatles cover band, the most memorable part for me were those words:
I’m going to Brown University.
The benefits of BAFTX’s traditional scholarships that end with a college degree are tangible. After four years you see the success of these bright young minds as they move into jobs and start to make their mark on the world.
You have to look closer to appreciate the impact of the BAFTX Junior Achievers grant, which awards students with a two-week summer program in the UK. Some have never left the US, or even Houston. But as they get their first passports and get on their first plane, this experience is actually helping them take the first tentative step into a world of what’s possible.
As Diana began her trip last summer, she was homesick and filled with doubt -- reluctant to join in or speak up. But as she was exposed to history, politics, art and new friends, over the course of the two-week trip something happened. She began to join in and change her perspective on what her future could hold. She gained the confidence to speak up.
And months later in front of room full of 200 people at a celebratory lunch, as she thanked BAFTX supporters for her experience she did just that:
I’m going to Brown University.
Post written by Kathy Sauvé, BAFTX Board Member and Wine Women and Song 2019 Sponsor