Scholar Stories: Meet Three-Year Scholar Elmer Coria

In this time of economic uncertainty, the GSBA Scholarship Fund is redoubling our efforts to stay connected with scholars, learn more about how they are doing, and find new and creative ways to support them. In 2016, the GSBA Scholarship Fund formally adopted a new policy, which we called the GSBA Guarantee. This Guarantee ensures that every scholar who is making steady progress toward degree completion is eligible for up to four years of undergraduate scholarship funding. As an added benefit, this Guarantee has allowed GSBA to foster and maintain deeper relationships with each of our scholars over the course of multiple years.

One such multi-year scholar who we have had the pleasure of supporting is Elmer Coria. Elmer came of age in Mexico City and presently resides in Tacoma, Washington, where he attends Pacific Lutheran University, pursuing undergraduate degrees in Business Administration and Hispanic Studies. He yearns to address LGBTQ issues of immigration, social justice, and discrimination by creating optimized support networks and spheres of influence. Elmer’s longstanding goal is to elevate the voice of LGBTQ immigrant and refugee communities in regional chambers of commerce via economic, legislative, and community-based initiatives.

For the past three years, we have come to know Elmer as a global-minded, infinite learner who firmly believes in building communities and economies through integrity, teamwork, and global vision. Elmer will be graduating from Pacific Lutheran University in May and is currently studying to take his CPA exams before starting full-time employment with PwC in the fall. We could not be more proud of Elmer and are so excited to continue witnessing all of the good that he brings to the world. Click here to watch Elmer speak on how the GSBA Scholarship Fund has impacted his life.

GSBA will be sharing more Scholar Stories in the coming months so stay tuned! And don’t forget to join us on Wednesday, May 27^th at 6 PM for our Virtual Scholars Celebration to honor our graduates, celebrate our returning scholars, and welcome our 35 newly selected scholars.