There’s a unique opportunity at Scottsdale Community College for students who are interested in help for college.

The ‘Achieving a College Education’ program is a scholarship for high school sophomores who come from under an underrepresented student population or first-generation college students.

The scholarship allows students to get 24 college credits while still in high school.

The information for the program was found on the SCC website.

The goal of the program is to provide students with the skill sets and confidence to navigate higher education.

Antonio Bracamonte started working at Scottsdale Community College in November of 2012 and has been the director of the early outreach programs and the ACE program for the past five years. He expresses his love for what he does and through the work in this program.

“I love every day being able to help students, students who are like me, students who come from a first generation household,” Bracamonte said.

Bracamonte admits that he sees a bit of himself through the students he works on behalf of.

“I love to impact student’s life’s positively and really help them become independent college students as well,” Bracamonte said.

The ACE program prepares students to become successful college students and to understand the process of a college application. The students who are in the ACE program have to be fully and know how to manage time.

“One of the single biggest benefits would be that students can walk away with knowledge that they didn’t have before, know how to apply for financial aid and to really start navigating adulthood,” Bracamonte said.”

Beidhy Reyes is a former ACE alumni who is currently attending Scottsdale Community College and studying biomedical science.

“ACE gave me a lot of self-confidence and it helped me become more social and get out of my comfort zone. It gave me the opportunity to be the first person in my family to go to college, I was able to become a role model for my siblings and I feel that I am going to be that great help that they will need in the future,” Reyes said.

Reyes stated that she is also thankful for this scholarship because she is a DACA student and that ACE has opened many doors for her since she doesn’t qualify for financial aid.

“I was able to meet many people that had different backgrounds and similar to mine that were trying to get their American dream, through the help of DACA of course which allowed us to be part of this program. ACE was my first scholarship and that mean a lot to me,” said Reyes.