Scholar Spotlight: Abril Velazco

Where Are They Now? Abril Velazco Finds Community at Bellingham Tech

By Gretchen Wing

As part of its “Where are they now?” series, the Lopez Island Community Scholarship Foundation (LICSF) caught up with 2025 scholarship recipient Abril Velazco. Abril was the sole recipient of the CTE (Career and Technical Education) award last year, bound for two years at Bellingham Technical College to study nursing.

Being at Bellingham Tech compared to Lopez was “scary at first,” Abril said. On her first day of class, she got lost. “The BTC campus isn’t that big, but coming from Lopez Island High School, it was really big to me in the moment! I walked around for about 15 minutes and ended up needing to ask for help because I was late…only to find out I had already passed the classroom twice.” Pretty embarrassing, Abril admits, “but it’s funny to look back on now.”

Abril relaxing during her off time.

Once inside classrooms with “20 people or so,” Abril found herself on more familiar ground, “excited about interacting with new people and making friends.” Now, with two quarters under her belt, Abril said her college experience has “gone better than I ever could have imagined.”

While she has enjoyed all her classes, a favorite has been an interactive course, Interpersonal Communication, involving lots of public speaking and group work. Said Abril, “I think I particularly enjoyed it so much because I already had the necessary skills, and I owe that to my past English teachers, Mr. Carter and Mr. Tetu. They both helped me build the confidence that I didn’t always have, which now allows me to present confidently in a room full of people. This was something I struggled with in the beginning of high school, but they helped me build those skills overtime and were always there to provide support and help me improve.”

The first in her family to attend college, Abril said she had no set expectations, but just hoped everything would go smoothly. Her biggest surprise at BTC has been the supportiveness of the professors, although she expects that might be due to her choice of community college. “I’m in a smaller setting, where they can provide more support. At a big university, with so many students in one room, it’s harder to get that one-on-one time with your professor.”

When not in class or studying, Abril works as a Home Care Aide through a private agency, a job she started just after Thanksgiving, and which she loves. “It is so rewarding to help older adults, and know that I am making their life a bit easier by being there to provide care they need.” Besides supporting her, Abril appreciates that professional caregiving will also give her lots of valuable experience before she starts her nursing program.

Abril’s attraction to nursing was born of her heritage and her own family. “Only ten percent of registered nurses are Latina,” she said. “I want to represent my community, and help other Hispanic patients whose first language isn’t English to understand what’s going on with their health.” Having needed to serve as translator at her mother to appointments only strengthened this pull, Abril said: “This was the main reason I was inspired to become a registered nurse, to be there to help and care for those with similar struggles like my mom.”

For the remainder of the year, Abril looks forward to finishing off her first year of college “strong,” completing her required credits for that next step: application to the Nursing Program. Even half a year in, though, her responses exude a sense of accomplishment: “I have really found a sense of community here, and I feel like I am exactly where I need to be.”

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