Ruk’ux Scholarship: Dolores loves what she does!

Dolores has been the coordinator of the Ruk'ux scholarship program since the beginning, in 2007.

 When asked to describe herself, she said she's shy around people she doesn't know well, doesn't like being lied to, loves spending time with her mother and her cousin, and really doesn't like being photographed. 

Mentoring over one hundred students from families whose parents rarely studied past elementary school has given her an intimate insight into the many cultural and emotionally complex situations that the students must navigate.

The students are divided into age groups and meet once or twice a week for academic support and to work on entrepreneurial skills and community projects.

While she thoroughly enjoys planning and implementing activites with the students, experience has taught her the importance of cultivating a safe space for them to share their experiences and challenges as they occur.

Her greatest challenge was learning how to manage the intensity of their emotions and moods when students enter the program in their early teens. 

Her hard-learned lessons have taught her that the best approach is to create an atmosphere of family, where the younger students are welcomed as younger siblings into the adopted family of Ruk'ux.

She is grateful for her four semesters of psychology at the university since it gave her useful tools for her vocation of guiding exceptional youth to into adult roles of community leadership. She has temporarily paused her studies and looks forward to returning some day.