Don Purdue and Patrick Spargur founded the education-based nonprofit Project 150 in 2011 after hearing about a group of 150 homeless students who were then attending Rancho High School. Today, their effort to support “homeless, displaced and disadvantaged” local students has expanded to 75 area high schools and five Nevada colleges. 

The organization gave a collective $220,000 to 102 awardees at its annual scholarship ceremony on June 18. Each recipient gets an average of $2,500 per year. Of them, 85 were first-generation college students. 

UNLV senior and third-time scholarship winner Rosemary Hernandez-Lopez is one of 32 who are pursuing a health care-related field. The Rancho alum calls Project 150 “one of my biggest supporters.”

“For the students who work like three jobs to pay off their classes, this is something that can help you free up more time for your studies or other opportunities like internships” she says.

The nonprofit’s reach extends far beyond scholarships, however. It operates two clothing stores under the Betty’s Boutique moniker, where qualifying students can select up to five outfits a month with their student ID. It also provides more than 5,000 with food assistance and roughly 800 prom outfits. 

UNLV junior Naomi Garcia-Suastegui has been both a shopper and volunteer at the boutique. The first-generation college student cites Project 150 as fundamental to helping her overcome her financial barriers en route to graduating third in the Bonanza High School class of 2023 and beyond.

“Basically, the biggest challenge was feeling a little lost because I didn’t have my parents to go to. I started figuring out by myself, and these resources really helped a lot. For me, it was about overcoming the unknown, but they help you get through it,” Garcia-Suastegui says.

Hernandez-Lopez, Garcia-Suastegui and other awardees encourage area high school students to consider submitting an application next year. 

“For anyone thinking of applying for Project 150, I’d give the same advice I told myself—it doesn’t hurt to try,” Garcia-Suastegui says. “I applied to whatever opportunities I found, and I was able to pay off my tuition fully on scholarships this year.”

“So many of my fellow peers think they’re not capable of applying for scholarships, but they really are,” Hernandez-Lopez adds. “I feel like Project 150 is pretty flexible with who they can accept, and as long as they just put the effort in on their essay and volunteer hours, they should be OK.”

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