Scholarship Challenge: Support Latin America's Brightest Minds

A group of alumni leaders has issued a $500,000 challenge to endow a scholarship for students from Latin America and the Caribbean to support Dartmouth’s efforts to attract highly talented international students.

Members of the Latin America and Caribbean Regional Campaign Committee will match every dollar for the scholarship up to $500,000, with the goal of completing a $1 million endowed scholarship, which will fully fund a student’s total financial needs each year.

“What we want to do is make sure that any young person from any region, regardless of their socioeconomic background, can have a great liberal arts experience,” says Nestor Paz Galindo ’93, one of the scholarship’s creators. “It’s really important that we have a mix of students, which is why we’re passionate about this scholarship.”

Access and affordability are priorities of The Call to Lead campaign, and Dartmouth intends to offer need-blind admissions to all undergraduates, including international students. To realize this ambition, the campaign aims to raise $90 million in international scholarships. Generous alumni and parents have committed $40 million to date, and the newly established scholarship that gives preferences to undergraduates from Latin America and the Caribbean will support the endeavor.

The percentage of international undergraduates attending Dartmouth has nearly tripled during the past 30 years. That evolution enriches the learning experience for all Dartmouth students, says Joaquin Ribadeneira ’92, who sits on the Latin America and Caribbean Regional Campaign Committee with Paz Galindo.

“Bringing more international students to Dartmouth adds layers of perspective, which benefits everyone,” says Ribadeneira. “If you bring an international element to a class having a discussion about U.S. politics, you add a wealth of perspectives and a more detached understanding of what’s happening.”

Paz Galindo emphasizes that scholarships aren’t essential simply to compete against other Ivy League universities.

“We’re not just competing against Harvard, Princeton, and Yale,” he says. “We’re competing against the best universities worldwide—Oxford, Cambridge, and excellent universities in France, Germany, and Latin America.”

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