Alamance County student shares journey from local programs to Elon spotlight

Berenice Sanchez Rosaldo’s presentation at Elon University’s PACE conference became a full-circle moment for a 2029 Elon student whose path started in Alamance County classrooms and programs. She drew on experiences from Alamance Burlington Early College at ACC, Elon Academy, her father’s workplace and the Dream Center to show how local spaces helped shape her as a student, athlete and individual.

The moment carried weight because Sanchez Rosaldo’s story was not built in isolation. It reflected a pipeline of investment that began when she connected with Danielle Lake while attending Alamance Burlington Early College at ACC, then deepened through a summer internship with local camps across the county and later through Elon Academy.

That sequence matters in a county where educational access and mentoring can determine whether a student sees college as distant or possible. Elon Academy, Sanchez Rosaldo has said through her work and trajectory, opened her eyes to college and created the opportunities that carried her from local student to campus presenter. Her presentation showed that the return on that support is not just enrollment, but leadership.

Sanchez Rosaldo now works as an Odyssey Scholar and continues to stay connected to Elon’s Center for Design Thinking through the Power + Place Collaborative, which focuses on structured problem-solving. She also leads design-thinking workshops, extending the same kind of guidance she received to younger students and community members in Alamance County.

That is what makes her story resonate beyond the university. Alamance County schools, programs and mentors helped create a student who is now bringing those lessons back into the community through workshops, collaborative problem-solving and mentorship. Melissa Chacon Villalobos of Elon Academy described the presentation as a proud moment and said Sanchez Rosaldo is already making an impact in Alamance County.

For local families weighing the value of after-school programs, early-college pathways and university partnerships, Sanchez Rosaldo’s trajectory offers a concrete example of how those investments compound over time. The arc from Alamance Burlington Early College at ACC to Elon University now extends back into the county, where her work is shaping the next generation of students.