ASU alum spurs additional donors to support Capital Scholars

Vada Manager wants to show why the university experience is important. Earning his political science degree in 1983 wasn’t the first step in forging a successful career, it was his involvement in various programs and the opportunity to form lasting relationships.

Throughout the years, Manager has worked to keep those relationships strong within Arizona State University and beyond. Manager serves on the School of Politics and Global Studies alumni advisory board, which was formed to help with everything from building alumni engagement to strategic planning for the School’s enrollment. He is also a member of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean’s Council.

Manager also keeps in contact with his former financial aid officer while at ASU, Vince Roig, who is now the Chairman of the Board at the Helios Educational Foundation. The two colleagues are all too familiar with how finances can create hurdles at college so they decided to fully fund two students for the Capital Scholars Program.

Describing those hurdles while at ASU, Manager explained, “That experience of knowing how finances can be the razor thin margin between not finishing and success is the reason why I give back.”

The Capital Scholars Program is an internship opportunity for students to experience Washington D.C. as an intern while earning upper division credits. Manager and Roig did not want to exclude students from an opportunity like this because they were worried about the costs associated with the program so they funded the Manager Family and the Helios Educational Foundation scholarship.  The Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences matched their donation with funding from members of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean’s Council and donations from alumni who gave to the college's Dean’s Investment Fund.      

“Those bonds and experiences you have carry with you for 30 to 40 years later,” Manager said.

Alexandria Flores, one of the recipients of the scholarship, had never ventured further east than Arizona. Not only was she able to enjoy the various monuments, neighborhoods and memorials but she took advantage of her time to network as often as possible.

“Throughout my time in D.C.,” Flores said, “networking was one of my favorite things to do whether it was handing my card out on the Metro or meeting for coffee with an ASU Alumni, I found a way to reach out to not only those in my field but also those who are outside of my area of interest.”

The time Flores spent in the Nation’s Capital opened doors for another internship for her senior year.  It was an opportunity that she says she would not have gotten if it weren’t for the help of the Manager Family and the Helios Educational Foundation.

“Being someone who is self-supporting I could not have had this time in D.C. without [this scholarship] being awarded to me. Washington D.C. has always been a dream for me and this scholarship has made that dream a reality.”