Articles from Nicholas Academic Centers

This Thanksgiving, as many families across Southern California face rising food costs and limited access to holiday essentials, Broadcom co-founder and philanthropist Dr. Henry T. Nicholas III and the Nicholas Academic Centers (NAC) chose to forgo their annual Thanksgiving celebration together and reallocate those resources toward a meal giveaway. In 2025, with economic pressures continuing to impact local households, NAC and Dr. Nicholas redirected funding to ensure NAC students can provide their immediate families with a Thanksgiving meal kit to enjoy at home, reinforcing the organization’s ongoing mission of gratitude and service.

One of the four featured Nicholas Academic Centers (NAC) scholars was not expected to survive childbirth. “Before I opened my eyes to this world, I shared my first eight months of life alongside cancer,” stated Tanesha Bravo. Injecting her grandmother with insulin, caring for her mother’s medical issues, losing her best friend to leukemia, and surviving her own surgeries to remove a hemangioma fueled Bravo’s goal of becoming a surgical oncologist. This fall, she heads to Chapman University on a full scholarship as a biochemistry and molecular biology major. Her path has been shaped by the fragility and power of life, inspired by her mother’s unwavering strength as she battled illness while working long hours to support her children. An immigrant at age 12, Bravo helped her mom deliver groceries and food while maintaining top grades. The NAC, which provides highly qualified staff, academic assistance and tutoring, social services, cultural enrichment programs, college access and support services, and need-based scholarship opportunities for students, became her second home, providing the guidance and resources she needed to turn a once-distant dream into reality. “I was given a second chance at life,” Bravo said. “I couldn’t have achieved everything without the NAC, and now I want to be that support for others.”

Growing up without cable TV, University of Southern California senior Marco Ramirez spent his childhood watching local news channels while his parents worked long hours—his father as a receiver at Disneyland and his mother as a teacher's aide for special needs children. Now, he is a first-generation college journalism major aspiring to become a reporter. Ramirez is working at Channel 5 KTLA alongside reporters he used to admire. Ramirez’s and his sister’s achievements have inspired their mother to return to school for higher education. Ramirez thanks his family for instilling the value of hard work and credits the Nicholas Academic Centers (NAC) for helping him pursue his dream of becoming a TV reporter.

Surrounded by her best friends at her track and field meet, Santa Ana High School senior Mia Gonzalez opened up an email from Columbia University. She shrieked with joy as she clicked on the button that played Columbia’s song, which meant that her long-shot college had accepted her. This moment was a culmination of everything – starting high school online during the pandemic, wearing multiple hats at her family restaurant (cashier, marketer, “lawyer”) while juggling a full load of Advanced Placement classes, caretaking her beloved grandmother before she died of cancer, and participating in two internships, including a post-doctoral biology research at the California Institute of Technology. In April, before she accepted the opportunity to attend Columbia on a full scholarship, she traveled to its storied campus located in Manhattan. As she stared at its auspicious building with a dome and columns, she felt her grandmother's mantra in her soul – break the cycle of illiteracy and poverty. To pay tribute to her grandmother, Gonzalez will study biology to become a doctor who helps underserved communities.

Emotions poured in for Rodolfo Duarte, the newly appointed executive director of the Nicholas Academic Centers (NAC), as he watched NAC class of 2018 Alumna Pats Vazquez and NAC benefactor Dr. Henry T. Nicholas III pose for the ceremonial cutting of the turkey. It was a full-circle moment for Duarte, who 14 years ago stumbled onto the NAC after following his friends there.

Lorena Alvarez’s immigrant parents who worked the night shift cleaning hospital rooms taught Lorena the value of hard work. Now, she will be the first in her family to attend college. Jesus Huerta’s mother taught 4-year-old Jesus the alphabet and mathematics using books from the 99 Cents Store. Watching his parents struggle to pay for necessities motivated Jesus to attend college and pursue a career in business to support his family. Sandra Hernandez learned to adapt to loud environments as her family shared one house with many other families to make ends meet. The Nicholas Academic Centers (NAC) became her quiet sanctuary to study, and she was often the last to leave. Emmanuel Jaimes’s mother disappeared from his life six years ago, leaving him to be raised by his single father and grandparents. This motivated Emmanuel to reach for the stars and bring original ideas to the field of aerospace engineering. The NAC helped these students overcome financial, social, and emotional hardships to achieve academic success; the four are receiving full rides to Harvard University, University of Notre Dame, Stanford University, and the University of California, Los Angeles, respectively.