4-year-old wins free college tuition in Pembroke Pines Charter Foundation raffle
Four-year-old Logan Valentin may not fully understand what college is yet, but he already knows he is going to get to go.
His mother, Yoslay Perez, was watching the Feb. 4 Pembroke Pines City Commission meeting livestream from her home. Her husband had just left to run an errand when Mayor Angelo Castillo announced the winner of the Pembroke Pines Charter School Foundation’s Winter scholarship raffle.
Perez said she screamed when she heard her son’s name.
“It was unbelievable. It’s kind of surreal,” Perez told the Pembroke Pines News on Feb. 6. “I called my husband and he thought that I was messing around with him, and that I was joking.”
Logan was announced as the winner of the foundation’s most recent Florida Prepaid scholarship raffle, a four-year scholarship covering tuition and fees for 120 undergraduate credit hours at eligible Florida colleges and universities.
The raffle is organized by the nonprofit Pembroke Pines Charter School Foundation, which raises funds to support the city-operated charter school system.
Jonathan Bonilla, the assistant city manager and assistant superintendent of the charter school system, said the raffle helps expand educational opportunities for local families while also supporting school programs.
“We, as a city, are always looking for opportunities to raise more money for our Pembroke Pines Charter Schools,” Bonilla said. “This idea was introduced many years ago, and it kind of failed the first time.”
The foundation aims to host two raffles each year, Bonilla said, with another planned for April.
Raffle tickets cost $100 and were sold from Dec. 8 through Jan. 26. While the foundation caps ticket sales at 1,000 entries, and averages 500 entries annually, families can purchase multiple tickets to increase their chances of winning.
This year, the foundation sold 342 tickets, surpassing the roughly 290 tickets needed to break even on the scholarship purchase, according to Bonilla .
“We purchase the actual scholarship,” Bonilla said. “We reach out to the Florida prepaid organization and they set up an account for the student...this child has already been registered as a winner and has this committed to them once they graduated from high school.”
Perez, who lives in Cooper City with her husband and two sons, said she first learned about the raffle through a city newsletter and decided to purchase entries for Logan and his younger brother.
She said the family saw it as both an investment in education and a way to support the charter school system.
“Whether we won or not, we want to make sure that we give back to the community, and we were really not expecting to win,” Perez said, adding this was her family’s first time participating in the raffle.
Perez said Logan, who is currently enrolled in preschool and preparing to enter prekindergarten, is excited about the recognition, even if he does not fully understand what it means.
“He understands that he’s going to be able to go to big people’s school,” Perez said. “But I don’t think he completely grasps the amazing opportunity that he has.”
She said the opportunity also significantly lowers the long-term financial concerns for her son’s future education.
“This takes off such a pressure from our shoulders,” Perez said. “We’re just hoping that he has the opportunity to pursue something that he likes and hopefully gives back to the community.”
For now, Logan’s focus is on preschool.
“We’ll make sure he understands as he starts getting older,” Perez said. “We’re incredibly grateful for how the community came together to give us this opportunity. It’s beyond words.”
