The Sepulveda Family
Miami, FL
When Isabel Sepulveda’s world changed almost all at once, she was determined to preserve one thing for her children: a sense of stability. The Venezuelan-born mother of two was navigating a divorce, a move to a new home and the financial strain the pandemic placed on her career. With so much uncertainty surrounding their family, AAA Scholarships gave Isabel something invaluable—the ability to keep both of her children at the school they knew and loved, surrounded by familiar teachers, friends and routines when they needed that consistency most.
Born and raised in Venezuela, Isabel has always been driven by a desire to help others, a passion that led her to pursue a career in dentistry. After meeting and marrying the father of her children, she relocated to New York to complete her dental degree. The couple later moved to South Florida, where they built a life together and welcomed their daughter, Valentina, and son, Andres.
Over the years, Isabel devoted herself to motherhood while continuing to grow her career. Recognizing a need for affordable, accessible dental care—particularly among the area’s many immigrant and low-income families—she eventually established her own practice with a focus on serving those who might otherwise struggle to access the care they needed.
Then, in 2020, Isabel and her family faced a series of life-changing challenges. Isabel and her husband divorced, uprooting the family from the life they had known. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic took a significant toll on her dental practice and affected her former husband’s employment, adding further financial strain during an already difficult transition.
Through it all, Isabel’s priority remained her children. She knew she could not shield them from every change taking place around them, but she hoped to preserve as much familiarity and consistency as possible – especially when it came to their education.
At the time, Valentina was attending Montessori Academy of Broward in Pembroke Pines, where she was thriving academically and had developed close relationships with her teachers and classmates. But as Isabel adjusted to her family’s new financial reality, it soon became clear that continuing to afford tuition would be difficult.
“Valentina was already building such a strong foundation at Montessori Academy, and the school and her teachers had become like an extended family to us,” Isabel recalls. “With everything else changing in her life, I worried that having to leave her school would be one more loss for her to navigate. I wanted her to have at least one place that still felt familiar and secure.”
Isabel, who had spent much of her career helping make dental care accessible to families facing financial barriers, suddenly found herself needing help to preserve something equally important for her own children: access to the education and school community where they were flourishing.
“AAA Scholarship Foundation came into our lives at a time when we truly needed it,” Isabel says. “Receiving the scholarship meant my children didn’t have to lose their school on top of everything else that was changing around them.”
Today, Valentina is an eighth grader at Montessori Academy and continues to thrive thanks to her AAA Scholarship. An exceptional math student, she regularly earns straight A’s and recently placed second in a math competition. Her academic achievements have also earned her membership in the National Junior Honor Society.
But numbers aren’t her only passion. Valentina loves to sing and even taught herself to play the piano. While she dreams of becoming a singer one day, her talent for math has also sparked an interest in possibly pursuing business administration or finance in the future.
Her younger brother, Andres, also attends Montessori Academy with the help from a AAA Scholarship and is now in the third grade. Like his sister, he has a knack for numbers and is already developing an entrepreneurial spirit, always looking for ways to earn money to add to his savings. And like many eight-year-olds, his favorite part of the school day is recess. Outside the classroom, he stays active playing in a community soccer league.
When Isabel reflects on her family’s experience with the scholarship program, one word comes to mind: gratitude.
“AAA Scholarship Foundation and its donors have given me peace of mind that is difficult to put into words,” Isabel says. “During one of the most challenging seasons of our lives, the scholarships gave my children stability, continuity and the opportunity to keep learning in a place where they feel safe, supported and loved. That impact reaches beyond the classroom. Knowing my children are happy and thriving gives me the peace of mind to focus on rebuilding and continuing the work I love – helping other families in my community. When I think about what this support has meant for us, I can only imagine the ripple effect AAA donors are creating for so many families like mine. We are incredibly grateful.”
About AAA Scholarship Foundation
The typical AAA Scholarship student is either below grade level, failing at their previous school, or both, when they receive an income-based scholarship. Parents who find their children in these circumstances and care about their future look for viable options. They seek an atmosphere that challenges and engages their child to reverse inappropriate learning and/or social patterns and the lifelong negative impact they imply. They wish to change their child’s learning environment, acquaintances and the unfortunate predictable outcomes associated with school failure. Another is the first-time student, who is just entering kindergarten. Parents, wanting to empower their child’s academic journey from day one, choose the AAA scholarship so that their child will have a quality education tailored specifically for their learning needs ensuring their time in school is a seamless experience from K-12. Your contributions to AAA provide the lifelines that these parents need.
AAA Scholarships are funded in Arizona, Florida, Georgia and Nevada by companies that redirect a portion of their state tax liability to the AAA Scholarship Foundation in exchange for a dollar-for-dollar tax credit. AAA Scholarship Foundation is one of the only 501(c)(3) nonprofit scholarship organizations approved to administer these legislatively-authorized tax credit scholarship programs in multiple states. AAA Scholarship Foundation provides your company with the convenience and efficiency of a single solution for participating in multiple state tax credit scholarship programs. For more information, or to learn how your company can participate in the program, visit www.AAAScholarships.org, or contact Kerri Vaughan at kerri @ aaascholarships.org or 888-707-2465 ext. 730.