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Student spotlight: Valeria Hurtado

Student spotlight: Valeria Hurtado

by Public Relations | August 02, 2024

LATROBE, PA – Alarmed by economic and political turmoil in their native Bolivia, Valeria Hurtado’s parents sent her to the United States to finish her high school education. Hurtado flew from Santa Cruz to Newark, NJ, and enrolled at St. Benedict’s Preparatory School—a rigorous, highly rated Catholic boarding school run by Benedictine monks.

“I was scared because I was going to a new country,” Hurtado recalled. “I didn’t know anyone. I didn’t even speak English. I didn’t know if was going to be able to make it. But I knew I had to try because it would be better for my future and my family’s future.”

Three years later, Hurtado is on a path toward success—excelling academically and socially at Saint Vincent College.

Hurtado, a rising sophomore who is majoring in finance and mathematics, has a 3.656 grade-point average and is a member of the Alpha Lambda Delta national honors society. She plays for the women’s volleyball and women’s lacrosse teams and has a part-time job in the campus cafeteria.

Last spring, Hurtado was named the first female recipient of the Benedict Prep Award, a scholarship awarded annually to a Saint Vincent College student who is a graduate of a Benedictine high school. The scholarship was founded in honor of Father Vernon Holtz, O.S.B., former assistant headmaster of the Saint Vincent Preparatory School and academic dean at the College.

When Hurtado arrived in the United States, her older brother, Jose, C’24, was a student at Saint Vincent College. After visiting him on campus, Hurtado decided she also wanted to go to Saint Vincent.

“I had other [college] options, but I wanted to come to Saint Vincent because they really wanted me here,” Hurtado said. “I like being on a small campus because it feels more like a family. The other day, we were in Mass with Father Paul [Taylor, O.S.B., president of Saint Vincent] and he knew everyone there by name. It’s nice to feel like you are part of this—you’re really part of Saint Vincent.”

At St. Benedict Prep, Hurtado’s tuition was covered by a scholarship. An investment fund set up by her parents— her father is a teacher, her mothermir a secretary—enabled Hurtado to enroll at Saint Vincent. Hurtado works 20 hours a week at the cafeteria, so she won’t have to ask her parents for more money.

A feud between President Luis Arce and former President Evo Morales has had a drag on Bolivia’s already sour economy. Political corruption, price gouging and currency hoarding have led to higher unemployment and inflation.

“Even working just three days a week, I make more money than my mom makes,” Hurtado said. “I don’t want to ask them for more because it’s so hard for them to get money.”

Receiving the Benedict Prep Award from Saint Vincent was a welcome surprise to Hurtado.

“When I got the email telling me I’d gotten the scholarship, I read it twice and was like, ‘What is this?’ I was confused,” Hurtado said. “When I realized it was for real, I was so happy. If you work hard, good things will happen to you. My parents were so excited, not just because of the scholarship, but because I am doing well here.”

Two months ago, President Arce survived an attempted coup that ratcheted tensions in Bolivia even higher. Hurtado has been thinking a lot lately about what she will do after she graduates from Saint Vincent. Finding a way to get her parents out of Bolivia will be a difficult task, but her experiences since coming to America have taught Hurtado valuable lessons about herself.

“I’ve learned a lot of the past couple of years,” Hurtado said. “I’m not a kid anymore, I’ve realized I can do anything. Nothing is impossible.”

 

Valeria Hurtado holding the Benedict Prep Award from Saint Vincent College.

Valeria Hurtado

 

 

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