National Honors for Desert Vista Upward Bound Student Video

December 15, 2010

Tucson, AZ - For the second straight year, the Upward Bound Program at Pima Community College’s Desert Vista Campus has received national recognition from the University of Washington in the TRiO Media Quest Competition.

This year, the student video “Dream Big” was named a finalist. The video uses fictional characters to explain the benefits of the proposed federal legislation called the DREAM Act, designed to help undocumented youth living in America become citizens either by earning a college degree or serving two years in the military.

“When I first saw the video, I was extremely impressed by the maturity of our students, not to mention their acting abilities,” said Daniel Pacheco, TRiO Upward Bound Program Manager at Desert Vista. “The most rewarding feeling of being a part of this program is watching these young first-generation high school students develop into the promising college freshmen of today.”

The three students most involved in the video, created during Upward Bound’s summer program, are Sergio Arenas (now at University of Arizona), Luis Chavira and Anaiz Zamorano (both now at PCC). All have been part of Upward Bound for more than three years. The three came up with the subject of the video, then shot, edited and produced it, under the guidance of instructor Matt Matera. Matera also received a Coach Award of Excellence medal.

“Each year we try to submit two or three entries, but we were only able to submit one this year,” Pacheco said.

See the list of winners, as well as finalists, and a link to the video at:

http://depts.washington.edu/trio/trioquest/awards/2010/mq_finalists.php 

Each student received a medal and certificate, and Upward Bound received a medal of recognition. All will be recognized at Upward Bound’s Spring Semester Parent Orientation on Jan. 5.