Gallery: 8 Testimonials from PACE Beneficiaries
PACE was designed to support and prepare high school students who are working towards admission to one of the five universities that established affiliations with the project when it began in 2014: Universidad de Antofagasta, Universidad Católica del Norte, Universidad Federico Santa María, Universidad Santiago de Chile, and Universidad Católica de Temuco.
The program helps students identify vocations, reinforce knowledge, strengthen aptitudes, and generate the socio-emotional tools that will allow them to access and succeed in higher education.
During a breakfast with a few participants from the first PACE cohort, President Bachelet noted that, “In higher education, we have launched an equitable system that does not exclude talented young people based on where they live in Chile, their origins or their family’s ability to pay.”
In 2015, PACE expanded its coverage to include 356 schools in 292 districts, 95.5% of them public schools. In addition, the number of institutes of higher education affiliated with the program increased to 27 universities, one technical training center, and one professional institute.
These are the testimonies of eight of the 651 students who have benefitted from the PACE program:
“I enrolled in a Basic General Education program yesterday. I have wanted to be a teacher since I was a little girl. I am motivated by thinking that we need to encourage young people to go to college because they don’t see that their future can be better. I think that there must be others like me who want more, who want to move forward and be more than their parents, more than what they are now. When they called me, I thought about all of my hard work and everything my parents had done, and all of the support that I had been given from everywhere and how it had paid off.”
“They called my house and said, ‘Good afternoon. I am calling from the Ministry of Education.’ That’s when I knew it was important. They were calling to tell me that I had been accepted to my first choice: the Civil Engineering program at Universidad Federico Santa María in Valparaíso. It was so exciting. I told my mom right away, and my friends and my elementary school teachers. I am the first in my family to be admitted to university, and I am very proud of that. My favorite thing about PACE is that it is an inclusive program. For example, the meetings were attended by parents, guardians, and the school, which made me feel like they were taking me seriously. This is making one of my dreams come true: to be able to go to college.”
“They offered excellent support in those classes. They taught me language, math. They taught me how to speak without being embarrassed, how to accept negative things and turn them into positives, how to make several different plans the future. When they called, I started screaming. My parents hugged me and said that they were very proud of me and that they knew that I would achieve something. No one else in my family finished high school, and the fact that I was accepted also gave my cousins hope. They thought, ‘If she can do it, why can’t I?’ Now they also want to go to university and learn more.”
“When they told me that I was accepted to college, I was really happy. I chose Civil Engineering in Computing. When I heard, I couldn’t believe it. I was in shock. My mom only completed eighth grade, and I am the first one of my siblings to be admitted to university. My father’s sister went to college in Colombia. She is my inspiration for reaching higher.”
“When they called me, I was surprised. I had always dreamed about this, and now I have this opportunity to make the most of it. My entire family congratulated me. My mom cried. She never thought that there would be a college student in the family because we didn’t have the resources. I am so happy to be Chilean because I don’t think that this opportunity exists in other countries.”
“My PACE experience was very tough. I came to Santiago from Rancagua every Saturday. I am the first person in my family to go to university. My older brother didn’t have the opportunity to go because my family didn’t have the resources. When I graduated from eighth grade, my parents told me that I had to go to an industrial high school. That was a disappointment to me, but that turned into happiness when I heard about this program. I was accepted to the Universidad de Santiago de Chile’s Mechanical Implementation Engineering program, which is what I wanted to study. I am going to enroll and make my dream come true.”
“I went to the Universidad de Santiago de Chile yesterday to enroll in an Auditing program. I can’t say that the PACE process has been an easy one. There were a lot of sacrifices, but it is a fantastic opportunity. We don’t have to pay anything and I am infinitely grateful to the people who made this project possible. I live with my grandmother. She has raised me since I was little, and she really hoped that I could go to college. I am the first in my family to go, and plus I get to go for free. Who would have imagined that was possible?!”
“I am going to pursue an undergraduate degree in Chemistry at Universidad de Santiago de Chile. I didn’t think that I would get this far, but I feel that all of this happened thanks to my mom. I think this is a gift for her, too, in exchange for everything she has done for me over the years. Personally, I thought that PACE was wonderful because they support you all the way. They don’t just give you a chance to go to university. They also give you the tools that will allow you to succeed.”