ORANGE PARK – When the first Walmart opened in Isabela, Puerto Rico, an entire shopping district closed down nearby. The Pineiro family’s sign shop was one of the businesses sucked up by the entry of the big box retailer. Eventually, with only $10 left to their name, they bought a pizza to either celebrate or commiserate. At the time, they weren’t sure which.

Fabian Pineiro of Orange Park, couldn’t speak English when his family left Puerto Rico to pursue larger possibilities. Now 18, Pineiro has just completed his first year at the University of South Florida with help from a $2,500 scholarship from the Jacksonville-based First Coast Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

For the last 17 years, the Hispanic Chamber has selected new aspiring scholars to receive its Achieving the Dream scholarship. The scholarship hopes to provide another path to college for Hispanic residents in Northeast Florida, such as Pineiro who otherwise might never get the opportunity for higher education.

This year, FCHCC will select 12 new applications for the $2,500 scholarship. The deadline for applications is June 30.

“It allows a Hispanic person, a minority student especially, to have a sense of financial security when they go to college, because when you go to college you worry about debts and loans,” Pineiro said. “When you’re studying that’s kind of the last thing you want, you kind of want to focus on your studies.”

Open to students from Duval, Baker, St. Johns, Clay and Nassau counties, scholarship honorees will be named at a Sept. 22 gala to be held at Club Continental in Orange Park. There’s no age limit on the scholarship. Pineiro was the youngest to receive the scholarship last year, while the oldest student was 45. The only prerequisites are that there is a true financial need for the scholarship, that the applicant is Hispanic and that they’ve retained a 3.0 grade point average.

“It’s really hard to even dream of going to college because of all the consequences,” said Maira Martelo, chair of social and corporate responsibilities for FCHCC. “This removes one of the barriers, so that really is a huge help for them.”

Last year they awarded 16 scholarships, but like many nonprofit organizations that rely on fundraising to award scholarships, the number fluctuates yearly.

Martelo describes the application process as “rigorous,” due to the many steps in the process itself, which includes face-to-face interviews and an initial essay to the application review committee.

Of course, the scholarship can’t cover all of college. Martelo was able to get a full ride to her doctorate by applying to as many scholarships as she could. Pineiro did the same, undoubtedly in an effort to curtail some of the costs of the mechanical engineering degree he’s working towards.

“$2,500 might not seem like a lot when it comes to the cost of college, but it really is a huge help,” Pineiro said. “It gives you a sense of hope. All I can do is hope. I don’t have to worry that my parents are going to be working their butts off to help their child out. Helps them relax, helps me relax, I can focus on my studies.”

In the past, the chamber awarded scholarships at a luncheon, but this year hopes to make it a bigger event this year by holding it conjunction with Hispanic Heritage Month.

Students who have previously received the scholarship can reenter as well to receive the scholarship a second time. With the chamber’s financial constraints outweighing the communities’ financial need, the chamber can only do so much a year, every little counts when the alternative might be another year without a degree in an economy that often times necessitates one.

“Hispanics in this country are not only the fastest-growing minority, but under perform low performing groups,” Martelo said. “We need to recognize that, while everyone may dream of going to college, not everyone can.”

Pineiro is well-acquainted with the many peaks and valleys that accompany Hispanics in their education and said that as a Hispanic student himself, he knows he has to “take what he can get.” Just like he did in Puerto Rico when, if the teacher didn’t show up, class was out for the day.

He also knows he’s already climbed the highest of those peaks. As his mother Ernestine Munoz states again and again with a grin, her son has always been a dedicated worker, and his work ethic shows its reflection in his 3.99 GPA.

Munoz tears up a bit as she watches her son write on a spiral notepad his message to the future recipients of the Achieving the Dream scholarship. However, he knows he’s not just writing to the recipients, he’s writing to all underserved Hispanics who are still climbing.

“Cuando tienes un suñeo no pares hasta que lo cojas con tus manos. Y cuando la tenga no lo dejes ir,” he wrote.

“When you have a dream, don’t stop until you grab it with your hands, and once you have it, don’t let go,” he said.