Aminata Dieng left her home country of Mauritania in 2009 at the age of 6 to seek asylum in the United States.
She eventually settled in Las Vegas, attended Western High School and hoped to join the military after graduation. But those plans were put on hold when she learned she couldn’t enlist because of her immigration status, Dieng said.
The plans really changed one day when she was relaxing at home and got a call from officials at Western telling her to come to the school immediately.
“I thought, I didn’t do anything. Why am I in trouble?” Dieng recalled.
As it turned out, Dieng wasn’t in trouble. At the school, she learned that she had been awarded the Charles and Phyllis Frias Legacy Scholarship worth $100,000 – enough to cover her college expenses.
It was a life-changing event.
A first-generation college student, Dieng is a sophomore at UNLV working towards a degree in criminal justice.
“When I found out they had done it, I was shocked. For two weeks I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “I would look at the cheque and see if my name was spelt right because it could have been a mistake. I could not believe it. So, yeah, it was really life-changing for me.
Beverly Mathis, vice president for academic and community initiatives at UNLV, mentors the 24 Frias Scholars, many of whom are first-generation college students.
“It means that I have the opportunity to help students be successful in their four years of college,” Mathis said. “And you know, that’s what we want to do every day.”
The 24 Frias Scholars were given the freedom to choose where they would attend college. Ten are at UNLV, six at UNR, four at Nevada State University, three at the College of Southern Nevada and one at the University of Portland in Oregon.
Applicants to the scholarship programme must write a 350-word essay about adversity they have experienced. In doing so, they have demonstrated what Mathis calls “grit”.
“I am reminded that nothing can stop you. That we’re going to keep moving forward every day, no matter what the adversity is,” Mathis said. “And you know what else? The fact that people care.”
The Charles and Phyllis Frias Legacy Scholarship program, now in its second year, is made possible by the Public Education Foundation, a nonprofit that works with 350 donors. The scholarship programme is named after the philanthropic founders of Frias Transportation Management, which for years operated taxi fleets in the Las Vegas Valley. Charles Frias passed away in 2006 and Phyllis in 2016.
Riley Caspersen, senior director of marketing, grants and community engagement at the Public Education Foundation, said the Charles and Phyllis Frias Legacy Scholarship program also emphasises degree completion.
“We’re just really excited,” Caspersen says, “that we’re able to really encourage them to not only enrol in college, but to persist and graduate one day.”
The Public Education Foundation is accepting applications for the scholarships from Nevada high school seniors, Caspersen said. The deadline is 31 January, but she stresses starting the process early to gather the necessary transcripts and letters of recommendation.
The goal is to find more students like Dieng, who wants to be an FBI agent – a field she says is male-dominated and lacks diversity.
“I think it would be really cool for someone like me, who’s from a different part of the world, to see what I can do,” she said.
