Maria Cielito Robles, Schoolcraft College

Maria Cielito Robles is a second year honor student; she will graduate this year with an Associate in Science and plans on transferring to John Hopkins or Cornell to study pre-med. Maria and her family moved to the Unites States when she was in fourth grade; with a large family and only one working parent, she knows the struggle of poverty. Maria is an active leader on-and off-campus, tutoring/mentoring impoverished children in elementary schools in Wayne County, and collecting, organizing, and distributing food donations through the College Food Pantry. Inspired by her own life struggles, Maria believes that change comes from within. For this reason, she affirms the power of education and supports our literacy program with Fisher and Hicks Elementary Schools. Each semester Maria spends a few hours weekly tutoring and mentoring children at schools in low income areas. Her passion stems from the belief that each and every one of us deserves an education, no matter where we live. Through first-hand experiences, she recognizes that education provides the tools to rise from poverty and to change one’s life-and in the process change the lives of others as well.