Anthony Delacruz has some hard-earned advice for those grappling with adversity: practice gratitude.

“My grandma has been my beacon of hope. She told me that gratitude could be the anchor that keeps us grounded in the hurricanes of our lives,” he said. “Her words galvanized my resilience.”

At the time, Anthony and his family were deep in crisis. After fire gutted their Lompoc home, daily life had become a disorienting blur of motel rooms and fitful attempts to regain a sense of normalcy. The family ended up crowding into a small trailer home.

Adding to the tragedy’s sting: Their former home was itself a symbol of familial resilience, the culmination of a years-long struggle to overcome financial hardship. The loss hit Anthony especially hard.

“My grades plummeted as I fell into a deep depression, feeling numb and consumed by despair,” said Anthony, then a sophomore at Lompoc High School. “Life felt meaningless, like I had been thrown into a bottomless pit with no escape.”

His grandmother’s gentle encouragement proved miraculously rejuvenating, however, spurring him to rebuild his academic standing. In the process, he rediscovered his fascination with human biology.

Today, Anthony is a freshman biology major at Santa Clara University, which he hopes will be his first step toward becoming a physician. The Scholarship Foundation helped get him there, awarding him a Robert Ormes Dougan Endowed Scholarship.

“When I received support from the Scholarship Foundation, it felt like someone out there believed in me. It helped lift a weight I was carrying quietly for a long time,” he said.

“Thanks to the Foundation, I can focus on my future – on medical school and on becoming the kind of doctor who shows up for people when they need it most. The Foundation didn’t just help with tuition. It helped restore hope.”