EFS Meets with SHS Mtn Dreamers

Education Foundation of the Summit directors Flor Cruz and Sharon Koblinsky recently met with the founders and members of Summit High School Mountain Dreamers. EFS wanted to learn how to support their club. 

Last fall The Summit Foundation Philanthropy Award for Outstanding Youth went to Manuel Lopez, Emily Yaritza Lopez, Jessica Fernandez de la O, Maria Payan, & Crystal Martinez-Lopez, founders of SHS Mountain Dreamers. At a recent Summit School District Board of Education’s regular meeting January 16, these students were recognized for their advocacy for DACA students.  

SHS Mountain Dreamers help increase awareness about immigration issues and offer assistance to students. “I think we don’t feel represented sometimes,” said Crystal Martinez-Lopez. Emily Yaritza Lopez said, “We were talking about how we didn’t really have a group or a club in school that we could really say was for everybody — where everybody felt comfortable, and that would include DACA recipients as well. We decided it would be great to start a club before we graduated, and see where that took us.” [Summit Daily, Nov 2019]. Manuel, Emily, Jessica, Maria, and Crystal are also Pre-Collegiate students, which means they are preparing to be the first in their family to head to college.