Florida Tech Student Receives CIC/UPS Scholarship

MELBOURNE, FLA. — Francis Hidalgo Flores, a sophomore majoring in forensic psychology, has been selected to receive a $3,200 CIC/UPS Scholarship provided by the Florida Independent College Fund and its national partner, the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC).

This year, the Florida Independent College Fund awarded $96,000 in CIC/UPS Scholarships to 30 low-income, first-generation, minority, and new American students at ICUF/FICF member schools.

Flores, a first-generation student whose parents are Nicaraguan immigrants, said the scholarship will help her fulfill her goal of helping others through psychology. 

“I want to be able to give a voice to those who have felt like their voice has been silenced,” she said in a thank-you note to the UPS Foundation. “I have always had a passion for helping others in a way that is often overlooked, and I believe that I will be able to achieve this dream with this major.”

Florida Tech’s highly regarded forensic psychology program drew Flores’s interest early on.

“I had become so fascinated with the program and the school; it instantly became my dream school ever since my sophomore year of high school,” she said in an interview. “Once I found out I was accepted, it had become like a dream come true to me. I am a first-generation student, so even the acceptance felt surreal.”

Since 1985, approximately $62.2 million has been awarded in scholarship grants to CIC State Councils to assist 22,228 first-generation, low-income, minority, or new American students at independent colleges across the country.