3 UIC students earn Obama Foundation scholarships

Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholarship winners (left to right): Jaretsy Espinosa, Rodrigo Vega and Dylan Tye Davis. (Photos: Jenny Fontaine/UIC) Listen to story summary

Three University of Illinois Chicago students have earned the prestigious Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholarship for Public Service. They'll embark on a "summer voyage" at the end of their junior year to advance their goals to serve others.

Juniors Jaretsy Espinosa, a biological sciences major, and Rodrigo Vega, a dual-degree student in history and Latin American and Latino studies, both represent the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the UIC Honors College. Junior Dylan Tye Davis is an urban studies major in the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs.

The UIC students are among 100 students from 39 states and territories and 69 colleges and universities nationally to earn the scholarship this year. The initiative, created by the Obama Foundation, is funded with $100 million by Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky.

The two-year program begins during the students' junior year and is designed to empower and connect with the next generation of leaders, giving them the tools and resources to launch their careers in public service.

Voyager students receive up to $25,000 per year in financial aid for their junior and senior years. The scholarship also provides a $10,000 stipend and free Airbnb housing for them to pursue work-travel experiences in their chosen field in the summer between their junior and senior years.

An annual summit and a speaker series provide them access to a network of leaders. After graduation, they will have access to resources and programs as part of the Obama Foundation's global community.

Rodrigo Vega plans to travel the U.S. during his summer voyage. (Photo: Jenny Fontaine/UIC)

Rodrigo Vega: A friendly face

At 5 years old, Vega immigrated from Mexico. He still remembers how onerous the federal immigration process was for him and his family.

The memory has fueled Vega's desire to focus on public service.

"It was a very difficult process, so now I find that I want to help others who are navigating these complex systems," Vega said. "I really want to be that friendly face for people when they go and gain assistance for their immigration cases."

Vega said his goal is to work in constituent services and to develop policy in government or advocacy organizations to streamline the immigration process.

Equally important, he said, is to ensure Spanish speakers have access to all available information. Often, immigration officials speak only English and cannot communicate with immigrants, most of whom are Spanish speakers, he said.

Over the past several years, he has worked in the offices of U.S. Congresswoman Delia Ramirez, Cook County Commissioner Jessica Vásquez and Chicago Alderman Matt Martin, and for Legally Lawtino, a national nonprofit.

His work has been to communicate with constituents and keep them informed in both English and Spanish.

"I see being a Voyager as a recognition of my work and that what I'm doing in my public service and my own journey matters," he said.

After graduating from UIC, he plans to attend law school, earn a master's degree in social work and become a civil rights attorney.

Vega thanked Issy Marquez, his academic advisor at the UIC Honors College, for her assistance, as well as the history department for its support.

For his summer voyage, Vega is planning a busy itinerary and aiming to crisscross the nation. The first stop will be California to work with immigration legal aid nonprofits, then New York City to work with a government agency or law practice focused on immigration issues, and finally, Washington, D.C., to work with a congressional office on immigration issues.

"A prime focus of the Voyager Scholarship is building bridges in new areas, and having been only in Chicago, I really wanted to explore how the issues that I care about are happening nationwide," Vega said.

Jaretsy Espinosa plans to learn about dental healthcare policies abroad for her summer voyage. (Photo: Jenny Fontaine/UIC)

Jaretsy Espinosa: Teaching and mentoring

The Voyager Scholarship's focus on public service aligns with Espinosa's desire to advocate for families to ensure all have equitable healthcare.

At the UIC College of Dentistry and Clinics, Espinosa is a research assistant at the pediatric clinic as part of an initiative to help children after dental surgery. She helps non-English-speaking families navigate the healthcare system. She works primarily with Spanish-speaking families as a translator and advocate, providing information about their child's dental care.

"Those experiences with being able to speak with families really inspired me to want to be an advocate for them as a dentist," Espinosa said.

The Voyager Scholarship will give the first-generation college student the resources to continue her education at UIC, setting her up to pursue her dream of becoming a dentist, she said.

Espinosa currently participates in several mentorship programs at UIC and with Chicago Public Schools students, where she provides guidance and encouragement to both high school and college students to help the students envision their success in college and post graduate schools. She hopes to gain more insight through the Obama Foundation network to enhance those skills.

"Being able to learn from my experiences will also help me teach and mentor my mentees in order for them to be able to benefit from my experience," said Espinosa.

She credited UIC's Las Ganas and the Hispanic Center of Excellence programs as well as the Honors College for their guidance during the Voyager Scholarship application process and for providing her with support throughout her time at UIC.

For her summer voyage, she is considering traveling to both Denmark and Costa Rica to learn about their dental healthcare policies. She picked Denmark because it has among the best overall dental health statistics globally. In Costa Rica, she can learn from dental health providers in smaller communities, she said.

She applauded the Obama Foundation for its efforts.

"Their vision of wanting to help other individuals become leaders in the future coincides with my passion with wanting to mentor youth and trying to help them," Espinosa said.

Dylan Tye Davis is considering Singapore for his summer voyage. (Photo: Jenny Fontaine/UIC)

Dylan Tye Davis: Respecting the Earth

Davis, originally from Bryant, Arkansas, is studying environmental and sustainable city design, especially the need for more green space in cities.

"Most of the infrastructure that we have built, such as our train systems and our bus systems, is built with a lot of impermeable surfaces, and they're just hard, gray infrastructure," he said.

The approach he is excited about is to incorporate nature into the current infrastructure through water management and environmentally sustainable systems. For example, building rain gardens alongside urban buildings to capture rainfall and install roof gardens on top of bus and train stations.

After graduation, he wants to study city design in graduate school and eventually form a company that fosters sustainable, equitable outcomes for everyone.

He said his focus stemmed from a combination of his love of design and his grandfather, who made his living growing produce and selling it from the bed of his truck.

"I've always been attached to our environment and growing and maintaining and having a real solid core of respecting the Earth," Davis said. "Clean drinking water, equitable transportation and environmental policies are principles that are just human rights."

Being awarded the Voyager Scholarship is a huge honor, he said, because it means others support the values and vision he has been working to share.

"Being aligned with the Obama Foundation and the values they have and being able to tap into their resource network is a huge opportunity," Davis said. "It's a really unique opportunity to really put a bunch of young people with big ideas in a room and see how they can build those ideas together."

For his summer voyage, he is considering visiting Singapore, a leader in developing environmentally focused infrastructure, he said. He also would like to meet with company leaders in the U.S. and Canada working to expand infrastructure accessibility for people with disabilities.