When Oppor Connections take Emely Lopez from El Salvador to the University of Illinois By Marla Todd Photo by Gregory Rothstein
E
mely Lopez, food science and human nutrition graduate student, believes that each person she meets may be a link to her future. The connections in her life have opened many of the doors through which she has found her current success. Lopez’s dreams and her interest in agriculture started early in her life. Growing up in an urban area of El Salvador, she started growing plantain, cilantro, and celery in her family’s garden. “I liked that special feeling that something that I had taken care of was being useful to my family.” As she began to consider higher education opportunities, Lopez knew she wanted to study outside of El Salvador, but it was not until her godmother mentioned Zamorano University in Honduras that she learned about the institution. Even after being accepted there, Lopez wasn’t sure attending Zamorano was an option due to cost. Just one week before reporting for classes, she learned that she would receive a full scholarship for three years from a foundation in El Salvador. “Without the right people to talk to, you might not have opportunities,” Lopez notes. “If I had not had the conversation with my godmother, attending Zamorano probably wouldn’t have happened.” The motto of Zamorano University is “learning by doing,” explains Jim Albrecht, an ACES alumnus familiar with the institution. “Students know what it takes to get something from a seed in the field to a grocery store in the marketplace.”
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