“College had always been a dream for me,” Lizette Duarte says. “A dream I could not reach.”  

Lizette’s earliest memories of school pan through her mind like an album of disappointments, laid out neatly in rows, one after the next. Learning disabilities led to struggles in her classes, which led to an IEP (individual educational plan), which led to a label she felt like she could not escape.  

“I remember being bullied a lot because of my IEP and difficulty learning,” Duarte says. “Every time teachers would take roll, there was always a big yellow tag next to my name—like a warning sign, like I was some sort of danger.”  

Lizette struggled through elementary and middle school, constantly trying to shed her label but unable to do so. She came to the point where any dream of being what others called “normal,” let alone going to college, became an impossibility in her mind. She resigned herself to the reality that had been constructed around her. No matter how hard she tried, her dream would be out of reach.  

Even so, she never gave up.  “Sometimes you just have to work twice as hard as everyone,” she says. Lizette credits her faith, her family, and a few important teachers along the way for seeing her through. High school was not easy, and she continued to struggle. But slowly, Lizette began to prove to herself that she was more than the label she had been given.  

“To put yourself in God’s hands is to acknowledge that He will guide you and can do the unthinkable,” she says. “I could have given up early on in school. If I had, I don’t know where I would be today. Instead, I started working harder and began to trust God.” 

Lizette’s effort saw her through to high school graduation and eventually to enrollment in Chemeketa Community College where, despite her successes, her dream of attending a university, let alone a private Christian institution, somehow felt even further from her reach than before. Even if she could manage the grades, she knew there was no way her family could afford any university, no matter the cost.  

But Lizette kept working. After finishing her first year at Chemeketa, she decided to visit Corban University, her dream school, in a step of faith. It tore her up walking the campus, experiencing the classes, knowing that attending would be impossible, but she was there because she felt God calling her to take small, active steps of faith.  

After hearing from one of her hosts about a special scholarship called the Mosaic Scholarship, a generous need-based scholarship and leadership program designed to help make the dream of a private Christian education possible for students who would otherwise be unable to attend, Lizette decided to take another step of faith and send in her essay.  

She was not awarded a scholarship—another moment to add to her mental album of disappointments. Devastated, her mind told her it was time to fully shut the book on her dream. But she felt God continuing to push her. So, again, she did not give up.  

After a second year at Chemeketa, where she reached a new milestone of being on the honor role, Lizette traded steps of faith for a leap. “I sent in my full application to Corban, knowing full well we could never afford it,” she remembers. “My parents said, ‘Don’t worry about it. Get the loans. We’ll help you. God is in control.’” 

The summer before she was set to attend, Lizette did something bold. She walked into the office of Dr. Mechelle Garrett, who oversaw the interview panel and application process for the Mosaic Scholars Program. It was enough to secure a second interview, set for that same afternoon. Meeting with the panel once again, she explained everything she had gone through, laying all of her labels and all the memories of disappointment she carried with her bare on Dr. Garrett’s office desk. Two hours after the interview ended, she received an email. A decision that normally takes a week at minimum had arrived in her inbox.  

Lizette was a Mosaic Scholar. More importantly, she was a Corban Warrior—a dream made real. “I called my parents right away,” Lizette says. “They were in total disbelief. I told them about the interview, how I wasn’t nervous. I wasn’t scared. I just felt God’s presence.”  

Now, as a junior forensic psychology major, Lizette has finally found her dream academic community. “The community here is so strong and welcoming,” she says. “It was so easy to get to know everyone. I’ve finally been able to find a love and passion for education, and an education that is centered around Christ. It makes it so much more meaningful to study.”  

Lizette has begun to cover over the past negative memories that plagued her educational journey with new positive ones. And not only is she shedding old labels, but she is also gaining new ones. “I’m finding my identity here,” she says. “As a student, as a person, but most importantly, I’ve found my identity in Christ.”  

Looking ahead to her senior year and graduation beyond, Lizette hopes to one day work with victims of trauma. “I understand it’s not an easy job,” she says. “But that’s why I want to do it, because someone has to.” 

Lizette looks forward to graduating with a degree that has augmented her resolve and determination never to give up, using it to reach an often-neglected corner of humanity that is desperately in need of hope. “In my own experiences, I haven’t just learned how to heal,” she says. “I’ve learned how God can heal. I want to give to people who need help and show them, through the work that I do, the power of what only God can accomplish if you have faith in Him.”  

As she reflects on her journey, a series of impossibilities she fully believes were made possible only by faith and the power of Jesus Christ, Lizette hopes to encourage others to, like her, never give up. “There is no excuse for you not to be where God is calling you to be,” she says. “I had about every excuse I could think of between my learning disability, my IEP label, the difficulties of my past. I did not have the income. I did not have the resources. All I had were excuses and reasons to give up. But I decided to trust God instead. There is no excuse for you not to be where He needs you to be. Trust Him. He can make the impossible happen.”