The Fatted Calf Scholarship

The Fatted Calf Scholarship is designed to help current and former residents of Casa Vida y Esperanza as well as those affiliated with CVE with post-secondary education expenses. The scholarship is set up to provide funds (65% grant and 35% a no-interest loan) and mentoring to the eligible students. The loan portion, to be paid back within 10 years of graduation, provides sustainability to the program as well as a method for TFC Scholars to support future Fatted Calf Scholarship recipients. As an alternative to making a monetary payment to the loan, the scholarship offers a service option to “give back” to the mission.

The First recipient

Eunice Anaya was working full time as a school teacher at Colegio de Verdad y Vida (CVV). With her desire to become better qualified for a different position at the school, she applied for The Fatted Calf Scholarship to help her with her education expenses.

Eunice states “Undoubtedly the scholarship was a fundamental piece for the success of my career. It would not have been possible to reach term without that support. I had the desire and the strength to have professional training, however, being the mother of 4 children, with no other economic support than my job, the scholarship made it possible to fulfill this desire. The benefit has gone far beyond economics!” 

After the completion of Eunice’s degree in 2018, she secured a principal position at CVV in the highschool program. In 2021, Eunice was promoted and is currently serving as the director of the elementary school and on the leadership team at CVV .

Todd Stoller, the chair of the scholarship committee said, “Since its inception, the scholarship program has undergone a slow, steady process of adaptation and development.  Each candidate has helped us refine our program structure to better serve the needs of future recipients navigating the Mexican undergraduate system.  It’s been a pleasure to see the project take shape and bear fruit, particularly in the case of Eunice Anaya, our first recipient.” Todd, also the General Director of Education at the school says, “Our school has benefited many times over the value of her scholarship as a result of Eunice’s abilities being made available through her degree and qualifications.”

Giving Back

As an alternative to making a monetary payment on the loan, The Fatted Calf Scholarship Committee identified that one way the scholars could give back to the program was to help with Expo Esperanza. “Expo” is a joint effort of The Fatted Calf and Casa Vida y Esperanza where a 2-day event held at the end of the summer allows students to showcase their animal, static and stage projects. For several weeks leading up to Expo Esperanza, classes are offered so that participants can learn more about a new project or refine their skills in one that they are already interested in.

Throughout the years, classes have been taught by CVE summer staff and Fatted Calf interns. As participation increased and interests diversified, there became a need to identify more Spanish-speaking teachers for the classes, and in particular those classes where writing was a big part of the project. As the committee considered what “service” possibility to offer Eunice, the option for her to teach summer project classes and help with Expo Esperanza opened up great opportunity to fulfill the needs of both programs.

When asked why Eunice elected the service option,  she states, “I chose it because I have been focused on meeting the expenses of my children's academic career. The option of being able to pay with service instead of using my salary has been a good support.”

Eunice has taught the Creative Writing Class several times and adds, “It is very gratifying to be able to start a project from scratch. Sometimes the participants do not have clear ideas about which project to do, and having the opportunity to guide and motivate them to later appreciate the finished project is an incentive.”

From the perspective of those working with the summer Expo program, it was an added blessing that Eunice was familiar with Expo Esperanza, the campus of CVE where Expo is held, and the existing relationships with the students that would be participating. In the 3 years that Eunice has helped with Expo, she has made great contributions to the success of the program.  In addition to teaching the Expo Creative Writing Classes, she has helped with the community service projects, tended to numerous administrative duties for the participants and judges, and organized the Tosti-Expos food booth.

Aside from Eunice’s scholarship responsibilities, her interest in the success of The Fatted Calf programs is manifested by serving as a volunteer judge and being invested in Expo with her children and their projects.

The extent of the committment and contributions that scholars like Eunice make defines the success of The Fatted Calf Scholarship program.

Click the following link(s) The Fatted Calf or HarvestCall to donate to the Scholarship program or other programs of The Fatted Calf