Scholar Entries - Hispanic Lawyers Scholarship Fund of Illinois

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Are you a past recipient of an Hispanic Lawyers Scholarship Fund award?

Name

Denice Escalante

Current Mailing Address

128 W Roosevelt St
Apt 2
Dekalb, IL 60115
United States
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If mailing address is temporary, expected date when current mailing address is no longer valid

07/30/2026

Permanent Address (only if different from Current Mailing Address)

720 Lane 11
Powell, WY 82435
United States
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Phone

(307) 202-3428

Connection to Illinois

Resident and Student since August 2023

In what city do you intend to practice law upon graduation?

Chicago, IL

Name of Law School

Northern Illinois University

Class year

3rd year law student

Full Time or Part Time Student?

Full Time

Date you began attending THIS law school

08/11/2023

Anticipated Graduation Date

05/30/2026

Current GPA

3.450

Law School Class Rank (if known)

23/108

Law School Honors, Awards or Special Recognitions

Law Review, Associate Editor
Dean’s List Fall 2023 - Fall 2025
Jan. 2025 Illinois Bar Journal, Article Author
CALI award, Legal Writing II §5
Highest Grade Award, Legal Writing I and Legal Writing II §5

Name of Undergraduate Institution

University of Wyoming

Degree (BA, BSE, etc.) and Concentration/Major

Bachelor of Science in Management Consulting

Undergraduate Graduation Date

05/15/2019

GPA

3.345

Were you employed in 2025?

yes

If yes, please identify your employer(s).

The Law Offices of Omar Salguero
Aparicio Immigration Law
Northern Illinois University

What was your immediate family’s (including you and your spouse or domestic partner, if applicable) estimated income from all sources for the 2025 Tax Year?

10,000

Do you expect to be employed in 2026?

yes

If yes, please identify your employer(s).

Northern Illinois University

Please estimate your immediate family’s (including you and your spouse or domestic partner, if applicable) income from all sources for the 2026 Tax year

30,000

Please estimate your parent's average annual household income over the last five years

60,000

Do your parents own or rent their home? Please describe, if necessary

Own/Mortgage

Describe your parents' health insurance situation. Do they have employer-sponsored health insurance, health insurance through the exchange, or no health insurance?

Employer-sponsored

LIST below your total EXPENSES for attending law school for ONE YEAR (Please refer to example in FAQs)

Total Tuition Cost $

19,907

Books Cost $

1,600

Fees Cost $

4308

Housing Cost $

15000

Food Cost $

3600

Other Costs $ (describe)

5,000: Gas, Travel Home, Medical, Utilities

Total Expenses $ (add above entries)

49,415

LIST below your total FUNDING sources you plan to use to pay for these expenses (Please refer to example in FAQs)

Student Loans $

17000

Scholarships and Grants $

13274

Work Study, if any $

2,000

Personal Contribution (Savings/Employment) $

2000

Family Contribution $ (include parents, spouse, partner, etc.)

4000

Other Sources $ (describe)

Total Funding $ (add above entries)

38274

For 2Ls and 3Ls, what is your current TOTAL loan debt from the previous law school years?

45,000

Please list any community service activities with which you have been involved in the last ten years, paying particular attention to activities in support of the Hispanic community. For each activity, please include the dates of your participation, a short description of the organization and the community they serve, and a description of the activity you performed to help them. (Please read FAQs before completing)

David Mebuke Foundation- Volunteer, Director of Mentorship Program October 2024- Present
Latino Law Student Association- Member August 2024-Present
WY State Science Fair, Volunteer Judge, Spring 2016 - Present
El Paso Immigration Courts- Law Volunteer May 2024- July 2024

Please provide a statement describing your background and focus your statement on your reasons for pursuing a legal career and your legal career goals. This statement is important. Please give it appropriate attention. (min. 1000 characters) (Please read FAQs before completing)

I am the first-generation daughter of undocumented Mexican immigrants. My parents crossed the U.S.-Mexico border when my mother was pregnant with me. They then relocated to one of the least diverse and conservative states, Wyoming.
Spanish was my first language but by the time I finished first grade, I could speak, read, and write English just as well as I could in Spanish. I became my parents 24/7 ESL teacher. I repeated simple words to them so they could imitate the roll of my tongue or the movement of my lips as they moved from syllable to syllable. I translated at doctors’ appointments, parent-teacher conferences, the bank, and even McDonalds. But many of those encounters were met with racism, demeaning attitudes, and a sense that we didn’t belong. We were threatened with deportation, spoken to as if we didn’t matter, and overall treated with disrespect.
Twenty-five years passed before my parents could return to Mexico. During those years, I witnessed my mom’s face when she received the call that my Mexico-residing grandmother had terminal cancer with three months to live. I saw the disappointment and sorrow wash over her as she realized she would have to sit idly by as a wall of immigration laws prevented her ever being able to see her mother ever again. I watched as my citizen friends went on family vacations to Disneyland or New York, while we were at home, intimidated by simply driving 30 minutes into town for groceries in fear that a cop would pull us over, deport my parents, and leave me and my baby brother to fend for ourselves.
In 2021, my worst nightmare came true when my dad was removed from the United States and barred from re-entry for ten years. I learned that our attorney had recommended my parents lie to the government about their form of entry and entered his appearance when he had been disbarred. His submissions and advice ultimately led to my dad’s removal. He took advantage of the fact that my parents were uneducated, undocumented, and desperate to gain legal status. Watching and experiencing what it is like to be one of two Hispanic students in your school, being a Mexican daughter of immigrants raised in a majority-white, conservative state, and seeing the people you love the most be disrespected day after day and taken advantage of because of their vulnerability taught me above all what it means to have a focus and purpose beyond oneself. It instilled a need in me to help the helpless. I knew from very early on that the only way I could do this was by gaining a higher-level education.
I graduated from the University of Wyoming, left the state for good to attend law school with the goal of getting at least one A per semester, I got on to Law Review, earned recognitions, awards, a 3.45 GPA, worked for Illinois and Wyoming immigration firms, interned with the El Paso Immigration Courts, and throughout have fought my own, lifelong, battle with the U.S. immigration system. I developed a profound understanding of how immigrants and their families struggle with language barriers, social acclimation, cultural adjustments, and economic disadvantages in the U.S., fueling my passion for advocating for a humble, voiceless, and oppressed community. I am committed to dedicating my time to ensuring equal legal access for all those who, because of economic or social barriers, cannot afford or secure adequate counsel. I want to see to it that immigrant victims of human trafficking get justice, that those brought here as children gain access to everything I have access to, that families like mine are not ripped apart, and that children don’t grow up carrying the extra burden of fear that their parents could be ripped away from them at any given moment.

Financial Hardships.
As undocumented immigrants, my parents have always had to accept low-paying jobs. I have always known they could not help pay for any higher education degree I wanted to pursue. So, instead of attending law school immediately after earning my baccalaureate degree in 2019, I began working full-time to save up for law school expenses.
Following my dad’s removal, he was fortunately given the opportunity to file a waiver. Unfortunately, that waiver would cost another $12,000, on top of the $15,000 already spent on his failed immigration proceedings and would take at least a year to be reviewed. With my dad unemployed in Mexico, my mother working as a custodian, and my little brother finishing his sophomore year of high school, I stepped in to help in any way I could. I became the primary source of income for my family. Not only was I held from saving more money for school, but I withdrew my savings to pay for attorney fees so that my father could be represented in his complex process of returning to the U.S. with an immigrant visa. Thankfully, my dad re-joined us in March of 2022 but the money I had saved for law school was gone.

Please upload a copy of your financial award letter labeled as follows: LastName.FirstName.FinAwardLtr*

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Escalante.Denice.FinAwardLtr.pdf

Please upload a copy of your resume labeled as follows: LastName.FirstName.Resume*

Please upload a copy of your law school transcript labeled as follows: LastName.FirstName.LSTranscript*