< Back To Archive Emil Lopez, Urban Partners Scholarship recipient.		PROFILES IN SCHOLARSHIP: URBAN PARTNERS Born in Puerto Rico, Emil Lopez ’05 grew up shuttling between his parents’ native Dominican Republic and the Bronx, where he attended Christopher Columbus High School (CCHS). A bright student who yearned one day to go into business for himself, Lopez looked at several large, urban schools before opting for the University of Vermont. “It seemed like a welcoming community, a real change of pace for me,” he says of UVM, offering “a better environment for academics, quieter, allowing me to concentrate more.” Lopez is one of a growing cadre of UVM students from CCHS. UVM established a partnership with the urban high school in 2001 designed to give inner-city youth a chance at higher education while adding to the diversity of the UVM student body. The program begins as early as ninth grade with advising on applying to college, financial aid and the academic and social challenges of college life. The partnership also includes strong support from JetBlue Airways, which has contributed hundreds of round-trip tickets between Burlington and JFK International Airport that enable students, faculty, and administrators from both schools to travel between Vermont and New York. The company has also committed to $50,000 annually to fund scholarships for CCHS students who enroll at UVM — a base of support the University wants to build on with contributions from other private donors, as well. The UVM/CCHS partnership was cited by the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights in its 2003 report on “Race-Neutral Alternatives in Postsecondary Education: Innovative Approaches to Diversity,” and earned UVM a 2004 New England Higher Education Excellence Award from the New England Board of Higher Education. Emil Lopez says he’s enjoyed his experience in the School of Business Administration. “It’s really competitive, with motivated, experienced professors who connect class material with the real world and current events. Also, the school is really up-to-date technologically, one of the best in terms of IT, computers and software.”