Noe Rosales (left) and friends cheer on the Wildcats with Willie.
One scholarship opened the door — now Noe Rosales is opening doors for others.
By Marisa Larson ’93, ’16, KSU Foundation
A hand up, not a hand out. This common saying is more than a platitude when truly put to practice, and Charlie and Debbie Morrison provide a hand up in all their philanthropy.
No one knows better than Noe Rosales, how that hand up can change not just one life, but can lift a whole extended family and community.
For Rosales, college was a dream that once felt out of reach.
“I thought college was a pipe dream,” he said. “My parents always pushed me to get good grades, but we never really talked about life beyond high school. Those conversations started happening the minute I stepped into Cristo Rey Fort Worth College Prep. They kind of shifted my mentality.”
THE FIRST STEP
Noe Rosales will graduate from K-State this May with degrees in computer science and cybersecurity, and he’s already landed a job with General Motors Financial. His successful launch into corporate work started at the Cristo Rey prep school and was fueled by the generosity of a supportive community, including K-State alums Charlie ’90 and Debbie Morrison.
Cristo Rey Forth Worth College Prep is part of a national network of 40 schools in major metropolitan areas that provide students whose families come from limited economic means access to a college prep education. The students are put through a rigorous curriculum four days a week and then work one day a week in a work-study at a supporting company in the community, including law firms, accounting firms and national corporations.
“My freshman year, we started doing SAT prep and researching colleges,” Rosales said. “I started to fall in love with the idea of going to college.”
PERSEVERANCE REWARDED
“I don’t like asking my parents for things, and money was always tight. Also we come from a culture of ‘once you’re old enough, you contribute to the family.’ So when I was 14, I got a job in upholstery,” Rosales said. “It was hard work, and I quickly realized that kind of work was not for me. This coincided with my first year at Cristo Rey. That year I had horrible grades. Then COVID hit and I left my job. I hit the books hard and spent the next three years working to raise my grades.”
During his junior year in high school, Rosales focused on his new goal — getting the full-ride scholarship to K-State that the Morrisons offered.
“The scholarship was created to provide an opportunity for a student of Cristo Rey to attend K-State, achieve their dream of a college degree and help their family break the cycle of poverty in the community,” Charlie Morrison explained. “We don’t restrict them only by way of their grades, as we respect the GRIT (Grace, Responsibility, Integrity, Tenacity) that drives them to achieve their dreams and the dreams of their families.”
A DREAM REALIZED
When he arrived on campus, Rosales felt a little on the outside since he didn’t know anyone at K-State yet. Then he discovered Kompass.
Kompass is a free three-day summer orientation and freshman-year retention program designed to accelerate academic success for incoming first-generation and Pell-eligible freshmen.
“Through the group of friends I made there, I met my girlfriend, and that’s where I got to see how lucky I was to have my school paid for,” Rosales said. “From the get-go, she had to get a job. Now she works two, and at one point, she worked three jobs to be able to support herself. For me, I never had to deal with that.”
In many ways, Rosales feels lucky compared to his classmates — not struggling to pay for expensive textbooks and getting a scholarship to study abroad in the Czech Republic.
“Study abroad is something that many students don’t consider if they’re struggling, having to pay their way through college,” Rosales said. “Being granted the opportunity to study abroad, go see the world — in those aspects, this scholarship has really impacted me a lot.”
Rosales shared that without the Morrisons’ scholarship, life would have been very different for him and his family. He likely would have gone to college close to home and needed to work multiple jobs, and he doubts he would have become an engineer.
“I probably would have chosen a less demanding degree and would have put my dreams to the side in order to help out my family,” he said.
OPPORTUNITY SHARED
General Motors Financial is one of the corporate partners of Cristo Rey College Prep that hosts students in the work-study program.
“I always dreamed of working with them,” Rosales said. “It just never lined up. So when I got the internship with them this last summer, I was so happy.”
Rosales’ skills and work ethic impressed the company enough to offer him a full-time job after graduation. And with his success, he intends to follow the path the Morrisons’ set out and lift others.
“Because of this opportunity, the full-ride scholarship that led to me getting my dream job, it has opened the doors for me to be able to help out my sister,” he said. “Regardless of if she gets a scholarship or not, the door to college is open to her.”
And his plans to help others reach their college dreams goes beyond his family.
“I have made it a goal to be able to do the same thing that the Morrisons have offered for students at my high school. I want to be able to pay it back,” he said. “It’s truly a life-changing opportunity.”
A single act of generosity sparked a chain of impact that’s still growing.