Since I came back to school, I had been borrowing from Peter to pay Paul, and the scholarship gave me breathing room, not to mention money to purchase my books.

General Fund Scholarships

Vivian Chavez

For Vivian Chavez, scholarships were something one thought about in senior year in high school and not when one is a grandmother. That is, until the day she applied for the Dr. Nancy Matte Maricopa Colleges Foundation Scholarship with the encouragement of Dr. Matte. When she found out she was the recipient of the scholarship, she says it took the pressure off. "Since I came back to school, I had been borrowing from Peter to pay Paul, and the scholarship gave me breathing room, not to mention money to purchase my books."

Vivian's story is inspiring in that she has always managed to pull herself out of adverse life situations on her own. She was raised in Phoenix in a single-parent home by her father. She is the oldest child, with two younger brothers so her father relied on her to help raise her siblings. When her father turned to alcoholism and she became the primary caretaker of her family, she turned to food, and by the time she was 29, Vivian weighed 619 pounds. She knew it was morbid obesity, and, she knew she needed to make significant changes.

In 1999, Vivian underwent gastric bypass surgery. After losing 400 lbs, this single mother and grandmother used her physical change as a catalyst to return to higher education and start a new career. Since 2006, Vivian has been a student in the culinary studies program at Phoenix College. She is successfully bringing to fruition her father's dying wish for her to go to college. "At times I've become discouraged solely out of my own insecurities, but knowing that someone believes in me enough to award me a scholarship keeps me coming back," she says.

Vivian is making sacrifices as she works full-time managing a juice bar in a valley gym, tends to her family and goes to school full-time. "The lessons that I've learned during the course of my life have led me to become very focused and, for now, I've temporarily sacrificed my social life for an energizing school life that will eventually lead me to a fulfilling career and new life experiences."