Elizabeth Saldivar serves as chair of the Student Foundation, a group whose members serve as fitting representatives of the University, interacting with friends and guests of HBU at various events. She is a student worker in the President’s Office, at the desk of the Academic Success Center, and serves as a tutor. Saldivar also serves as a mentor for the Summer Launch and Impact programs, and is a historian for the Filipino Student Association. As a management major, she is the first person in her family to go to college.

As a junior and a Business Management major at Houston Baptist University, Elizabeth Saldivar reflects on how she became the first person in her family to go to a four-year institution. After working to be in the top 10 percent of her high school class, she researched area schools. “I had a friend in high school whom I told that my parents didn’t want me to leave Houston. The friend said, ‘Have you heard about HBU?’ I looked it up and started reading and saw it was Christian, and I thought, ‘This is me.’ I submitted my easy app., waited and got accepted,” she says.

Being accepted to the University was just the first step, however. Saldivar knew she would need to find a way to pay. “I didn’t think could afford it,” she remembers. “I started my first year by faith, and sure enough, God provided. Here I am in my junior year at HBU and I’m proud to say I have a full ride to the University that has my heart.”

Dr. Jerry Johnston, VP of Innovation and Strategic Marketing for HBU, says, “You’re an inspiration to so many other students. You can persevere and you can achieve your goals.”

Not only is Saldivar an excellent student, but she is very involved on campus, working in the President’s Office and in the Academic Success Center. She is chair of the Student Foundation, a special group that represents the University at events.

“Every person has things that they go through,” Saldivar says. “For me, my biggest obstacle was probably the financial aspect of not being able to afford (college). But HBU provides such great scholarships. There are also outside scholarships that are very helpful to students who apply. Families or students who are thinking of coming to HBU – do it. He is always faithful. He is there and never leaves us and never forsakes us.”

Johnston says, “What an inspiration you are to us. When I – along with President Sloan and others – when we come together to work on things and we endeavor to put our shoulders together, and move HBU forward, it’s people just like you who give us the inspiration to keep right on going. Let me just commend you Elizabeth for following God and letting His light shine.”

Watch or listen to the complete interview on HBU.edu.