Honorable Mention Winner
Eva Rosales
University of Florida
Senior in French/Political Science
3.57 GPA

When most people think of a girl who placed sixth in a world beauty pageant, they probably envision a sheltered beauty queen who preaches about world peace but never really acts on it. The University of Florida’s Eva Rosales, 21, disproves this stereotype with her dedication to leadership and service to those less fortunate.

When Rosales entered UF, she created an organization called Recurso to provide aid to children who endure poverty, cancer, malnutrition, and AIDS. “I recognized the desperate need to make a positive difference in the lives of impoverished children throughout the world because I too had been raised in several developing nations,” Rosales says. “Although UF had service-oriented organizations, I felt that there wasn’t a campus-affiliated organization that truly communicated to students the importance of being a universal citizen.”

Rosales has led Recurso members on a trip to impoverished areas of Nicaragua to provide aid for the poor. “Under Eva’s fearless leadership, the group managed to emerge successfully in our missions,” says Alvin Wong, Recurso secretary. “She showed me that nothing is impossible, a phrase that was not credible to me until I truly experienced it.”

The Nicaraguan government sponsored the trip, which sent about 24 UF students to Puerto Cabezas to visit children and give them items Recurso members had collected for months. “She has not only brought support to children in difficulty, but joy and hope as well,” says Sheila Dickison, honors program director. “I see a brilliant future for her in the field of humanitarian assistance.”

Rosales says that even though the service trip became the first international community-service exchange program in UF’s history, she doesn’t think that was the trip’s best accomplishment. “I personally consider that its greatest accomplishment was allowing 24 students and faculty to venture into an unknown world where their service crumbled walls of prejudice and built bridges of communication and peace,” Rosales says. “It’s clear that we opened our hearts to others who, although different by language and background, taught us to love without reservations.”

While enrolled at UF, Rosales has traveled to foreign countries for internships and graduate courses. She has studied abroad in France and Brazil, interned in Tanzania and Guatemala, and volunteered in Peru. “Fluent in four languages, she’s truly a citizen of the world and as such has created for herself a mission to make a real difference for children,” Dickison says.

The Institute of Latino and Hispanic Culture awarded Rosales its Best Community Service Organization Award because of the Recurso organization, and she was also a semi-finalist for UF’s Woman of the Year in 2004. “Eva’s commitment to public service is truly impressive and a significant model for others,” Dickison says. Rosales also is a member of the Golden Key International Honour Society, Pi Delta Phi, the French Club, and the Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society.

“In life, people often think that success is acquired through high economic status or social acceptance,” Rosales says. “I strongly believe that success has more to do with fighting prejudice and striving to become more open-minded.”

Rosales’ Florida Bright Futures and National Hispanic Finalist scholarships pay for most of her college expenses, and her parents help with the rest.—JT

Contact Rosales at chiqu46728@aol.com.