HSF Students
Daniel Varela
- Gender: Male
- High School: Harvard-Westlake School
- Hometown: Bellflower
- State: California
Daniel was born and raised in Bellflower, California, and now resides in nearby Lawndale, with his mother and stepfather. Each parent has a bachelor’s degree and works in a managerial role.
He says that part of his determination to pursue a higher education stems from the pride he has in his parents’ achievements, adding that he hopes to demonstrate to them “that they raised [him] well.” He also carries a deep awareness about the lack of opportunity afforded his grandparents and their ancestors, and the hardships they had to endure, as a result.
Financing his education has been a hurdle. But by excelling in middle school and advocating for himself, he was able to transfer to an honors track, join the Young Eisner Scholars organization, and attend a top-tier, private high school, Harvard-Westlake, in Los Angeles.
Currently a senior, he is involved in several activities geared towards “educational excellence,” as well as helping out his community. Co-leader of the Justin Carr’s Dare to Dream Workshop community service club, he also volunteers on behalf of the organization, as a tutor for middle school students in math and visual arts.
His additional activities include: founding and heading the Inclusivity, Diversity, and Equity Alliance, interning for media and communications at Gabriella Charter Schools, founding the Latin American Hispanic Student Organization affinity club on campus, and many more. His long-term goal is to pursue a degree in the Social Sciences and to become a United States ambassador.
In 2016, he attended the Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC) in Atlanta, and this summer, was accepted into the Yale Young Global Scholars program for Politics, Law and Economics at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. He has been an Honor Roll student, from his freshman year, on, and received Harvard-Westlake’s Cuscaden Blackwood Medal, awarded to a junior, in recognition of outstanding service to the school.
This June, he was one of 152 top students invited to attend the Hispanic Scholarship Fund’s 2017 Youth Leadership Institute (YLI) at the University of Southern California. YLI is a four-day, overnight conference that gives outstanding Latino high school juniors the practical tools they need to set a course for success in college and career.
He has some practical advice to aspiring college entrants: “The internet is your best friend…for learning about colleges and the college process,” and he adds that students can also “get free help from various websites.” He also encourages students to leverage “any source of encouragement,” such as academic advisors, who will “guide you mentally, during the whole process.” He admonishes students “not [to] worry about the price tag on a college or its demographics…there is one that’s perfect for you.” His philosophy is that the right guidance will go a long way toward getting you there.