When Maricel Gatica Molina enrolled in the Analyst Programmer program at Santo Tomás Professional Institute in San Joaquín, her 16-year-old daughter accompanied her. ‘She told me, ‘Mom, sign and study whatever you want.’ She took pictures of me, recorded, we cried, and then we went to celebrate with a coffee. For me, it was something important,’ recalls the 48-year-old woman. ‘I’ve always liked computers, whether it’s assembling them, disassembling them, or programming. In high school, I studied programming, but it was very basic; then, for various reasons, I couldn’t continue studying,’ she explains. Only when she received free tuition did she consider fulfilling her dream. Her plan now is to obtain the technical degree and then engineering. ‘It’s hard for me, but I’ll achieve it,’ she affirms. She combines classes with her job at the San Joaquín Sports Corporation, where she is a monitor, and also with her karate school, called Chil Sung Kwan Chile, where she teaches about 30 students. ‘I’ve practiced martial arts all my life; my dad and uncle trained.’ Her day is quite hectic. ‘I have to make time because karate provides me with an income. In the morning, I go to classes, in the afternoon, I do all the work stuff, and I study between ten-thirty and twelve at night. Then I sleep to wake up at six-thirty,’ she details.
‘I would like to have much more time to study, but when you’re a mom and you have to work, that’s lacking; you have to be on top of them, their tasks, lunch, go to work, and fulfill everything,’ acknowledges Maricel, who lives with her two children (the youngest is 12 years old). ‘But that’s not going to diminish my desire to reach my goal,’ she assures. One contribution to achieving it is the Luksic Foundation’s More Women in STEM scholarship, which Maricel has just obtained. The benefit consists of $150,000 monthly for her discretionary use for the duration of her career. ‘It was like a gift from heaven,’ she admits. ‘The economic aspect is always important for a family, and we’ll use it for essential things, like my lunch or the children’s, and a few other things that might be lacking at home,’ she points out.
Profile of the winners
The scholarship was awarded for the first time to 100 outstanding female students in higher-level technical careers belonging to the STEM field (an acronym in English for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), who were selected based on grades and socioeconomic backgrounds. More than 2,000 students from Inacap, Santo Tomás, Duoc UC, and AIEP applied. ‘We firmly believe that we have to support people’s education to boost their careers, and with this scholarship, we can contribute,’ says Nancy Pizarro, Education Director of the Luksic Foundation. ‘Furthermore, STEM careers are the ones that will have better salaries in the future, as well as good employability,’ she emphasizes.
The regions with the highest number of winners were the Metropolitan Region (25%), Valparaíso (14%), Biobío (9%), and Coquimbo (9%). The age range is from 18 to 59 years old, with the majority being between 20 and 22 years old. An interesting fact is that 41% of the winners are mothers, 67% declare themselves as the main household breadwinners, and 68% work and study. The scholarship consists of monetary aid for discretionary use, which is provided monthly from March to December each year until they complete their degree. ‘We have had a very good experience so far, and we believe that the application process will continue for the next year,’ anticipates the director.
Mechanic and stylist
Melany Peña (22) is another recipient of the scholarship. She studies Automotive Mechanics and Autotronics at Duoc UC in Valparaíso, and also works in a completely different field from gears and bolts: she has a position in a beauty salon, where she does eyelashes and nails.
‘It’s something totally different; they don’t see me fixing cars in the beauty salon,’ she confesses, laughing. Since she was a child, she wanted to be a mechanic. ‘I didn’t study before because they told me it was a man’s career; I had that complex,’ she points out. Today she is one of four women in her class and is excited about the courses. ‘Right now, I changed the engine of my car and I’m putting it back together,’ she says.
Plans for the future? ‘To have my own workshop and work in the area of autotronics, the electronic part of vehicles, that’s what I want to specialize in,’ she projects. The scholarship has been especially useful for transportation. ‘I study in Valparaíso but I come from Laguna Verde, and transportation there is not very good. I practically worked just to pay for transportation,’ she concludes.
