Student Stories

People who have received scholarships while attending Houston Community College know firsthand how much a scholarship can help students complete their higher education.

Here are just a few of their stories:

"The scholarships were really what kept me in school when I had exhausted all my own funds. Thankfully they always came at the right moment."

Jesus Guardiola, Teacher
HCC Scholarship Recipient
Home: Houston

Jesus Guardiola was nine hours shy of a college degree when he found himself in a bad place: broke. With no money to pay for tuition, he feared that his only choice was to drop out. Then suddenly a small scholarship came through for him.

“I passed my courses that semester, and I was able to walk across the stage,” he says. “I don’t know if I’d even be a teacher today if I hadn’t.”

A first-generation college student, Jesus came from a hard-working family who had little money to spare. As a student at MacArthur High School, he had hoped to play baseball after graduation. That didn’t work out, but a Houston Community College scholarship allowed him to start college right out of high school.

“The scholarships were really what kept me in school when I had exhausted all my own funds,” he says. “Thankfully they always came at the right moment.”

After completing his core courses at HCC, Jesus transferred to a university and earned a bachelor of arts in biology. Today he’s a high school biology teacher with a master of arts in education. A die-hard Astros fan, he still calls Houston home.

Return to Student Stories