Victor López Ruiz (Guadix, 2007) has to give up futsal for a while and learn to play ice hockey. The Accitano joins the list of young people from Granada who have been selected for an academic year in the United States or Canada thanks to the Amancio Ortega Foundation’s Student Assistance Program, an ambitious program that has already enabled 4,000 students to participate in the chosen ones unique experience.
Victor, who has just finished secondary school at IES Acci, started moving a year ago, last summer, when some of his friends told him that they were leaving Spain for a year with the Amancio Ortega scholarships. The idea popped into my head. He asked for information and approached it with his parents, who were initially a little hesitant about the idea of their son leaving for another continent when he was just 16 years old. “The first thing my mother told me was where you were going,” recalls this young man from Accitano with a smile. He had to insist until his parents gave in. “My father was convinced that they would catch me if I showed up, and that gave me courage,” he recalls of the difficult negotiation.
As a guarantee of his candidacy, Victor carried his C2 in English under his arm and was very excited. “I guess I speak good English,” he estimates, recalling that as a kid he loved playing the console and all the games were in that language, which encouraged him to learn. Reaching the final stage of selection was a source of “pride” for this student, despite being aware that he could be disfellowshipped, a situation he asserted he had been preparing for. Finally, everything went well, and he is preparing his suitcase for North Bay, in the Canadian city of Ontario. You already know the family you will live with and the center where you will study. “There’s a soccer field bigger than my high school.”
On August 29, he will travel to Madrid, where he will meet the rest of the fellows destined for Canada. They fly to Toronto, from where they are distributed to families participating in the program.
“They informed us of the result at one o’clock in the afternoon on a school day. I was in high school, asking for permission to “go out” and see if he had been chosen to have this American adventure. “Looking at him, I fell to my knees. I was shaking all day,” Victor recalls of the moment he knew he was leaving. His parents also experienced this moment full of emotions.
Looking ahead to his future, Victor says he would like to continue learning and take advantage of his English skills. maybe a teacher training program or even a job outside of Spain. While that’s all still up in the air, Accitano is aware that “after this year” he may have new concerns and his perspective may change.
The scholarship covers all the necessary services to complete a school year abroad and live a unique experience: travel, tuition fees and enrollment in a public institution, board and lodging in a host family, health and accident insurance, academic year confirmation and continuation Support during the stay, the foundation says on its website.
Another IES Acci student, Ngela Mesa Rodrguez, has been studying in Canada for the past academic year, thanks in part to the Zara founder’s scholarship program. The director of the Granada Institute, Isaac Expósito, recalls that “the selected students go through a rigorous selection process in which they take English tests, their academic merits are taken into account, and they receive a personal interview.”
