Scholarships > Teresa Navarrete Scholarship - Creating a better future in Education

Teresa Navarrete

TRENZA is a student organization at the University of California, Berkeley dedicated to serving the Chicana/Latina community. TRENZA endeavors to provide women with academic, community and social support in order to ensure their success at Cal. Since 1995, TRENZA membership has grown to over 1,000 members. We have continued our success by enrolling in graduate programs, pursing professional careers, and striving to continue our personal and organizational goals. As part of our endeavors, the alumni of TRENZA support our undergraduate members and impact our Latino community by presenting this yearly educational scholarship in the loving memory of Teresa Navarrete.

As an undergraduate, Teresa made great contributions to TRENZA and to the Cal community. With her energy and great charisma, she held leadership positions in business, social and academic student organizations. Teresa Navarrete graduated from Cal in 2000 with degrees in Social Welfare and Sociology. Upon graduation, she joined the United Way Foundation to encourage and help prepare elementary and middle school students to obtain higher education degrees.  In 2001, Teresa Navarrete tragically passed away in a pedestrian/car accident. 

Teresa grew up in the city of Huntington Park and moved to the city of Whittier during her senior year of high school. She aspired to return to, and teach at, the junior high school she attended in Huntington Park; eventually becoming a school principal. Teresa’s major ambition in life was to provide a better education for all students, focusing her efforts on minority populations. 

Today, her family, friends and TRENZA remember Teresa with great love and wish to honor her passionate dedication to pedagogy and educational equality.