'Of course you can': How one woman's vision transformed hispanic students' lives in Sarasota-Manatee

SARASOTA-MANATEE, Fla. — Through the door of Unidos Now in Sarasota, the first thing visitors see is a colorful mural celebrating community and heritage. For the hundreds of first-generation, low-income Hispanic students who have walked through these doors, it represents something deeper: possibility.

"It really takes a village, and I think that mural really reflects all of those ideas in one," said Liam Ordonez, a Unidos Now alumnus who now holds a master's degree in healthcare administration.

This Hispanic Heritage Month, that village is honoring the woman who built it—Luz Corcuera, the former executive director whose seven-year tenure transformed Unidos Now from an after-school program into a life-changing family.

WATCH NOW: Of course you can': How one woman's vision transformed hispanic students' lives in Sarasota-Manatee

From Immigrant to Advocate

Corcuera's journey to Unidos Now began thousands of miles away. A practicing psychotherapist who immigrated from Peru to Canada before settling in Florida, she brought a unique perspective to her work.

"I think when you are an immigrant person, if you don't have all the tools you're gonna struggle to be fully immersed in this society," Corcuera said. "Even though I am an educated person, I came here with two master's degrees and I learned English and everything, sometimes I had a hard time with some of the cultural aspects."

That understanding of the immigrant experience would become the foundation of her approach at Unidos Now.

According to Corcuera, the Hispanic community in Sarasota-Manatee has grown 370% in the past 15 years. She worked tirelessly to meet that growth with opportunity through Unidos Now's Future Leaders Academy, a college readiness program designed specifically for first-generation Hispanic students.

The Family-First Approach

What set Corcuera's leadership apart wasn't just her commitment to college prep—it was her understanding that you can't help students without helping their families.

"One of the values in Latino families is family is the most important value actually," Corcuera explained. "So we needed to make sure that the parents understood that the kids had no limits—that if they had the potential there were pathways for them to follow."

She introduced intergenerational programming, taking parents on college tours alongside their children and offering workshops on everything from FAFSA applications to understanding scholarship opportunities—often with interpretation services for non-English speakers.

"The parents needed to understand why it was so important to empower their kids and to let go of some of the fears," she said.

'Well, Of Course You Can'

For Isabella Macias, now an astrophysicist at MIT, meeting Luz Corcuera at age 16 was transformative.

"I vividly remember that takeaway from that conversation—like, 'Of course, why wouldn't you?'" Macias recalled. "When I tell people astrophysics, they're like, 'Oh, are you sure?' But Luz was like, 'Yeah, because why wouldn't you?'"

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That unwavering belief became Corcuera's trademark.

"She has taught me the greatest lesson I've carried with me, and it's the responsibility to pay it forward," said Ordonez, who joined the program in sixth grade and now serves as a college coach, mentoring current students.

Both Macias and Ordonez credit Unidos Now with changing the trajectory of their lives—and both emphasize that Corcuera made it more than an educational program.

"This program becomes a family," Macias said. "I always call them my second family."

Beyond the Classroom

Corcuera's impact extended far beyond college applications. She secured partnerships with community foundations, hospitals, and businesses to provide career exploration opportunities. Students shadowed nurses at Sarasota Memorial Hospital, met with engineers at local companies, and connected with professionals in journalism, law, and beyond.

She also introduced the college coach program, hiring Unidos Now alumni like Macias and Ordonez to mentor current students—creating a sustainable cycle of support.

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"I still keep in touch with all of my students," Macias said. "I've had students call me at midnight like, 'Hey, I have something due, could we crunch this out really quick?' They're part of me."

When COVID-19 hit, Corcuera and her team worked around the clock to ensure families had resources—helping with rent payments, tutoring students online, and maintaining the close-knit community despite the distance.

A Lasting Legacy

Today, hundreds of students have graduated from the program. They're doctors, engineers, healthcare administrators, and scientists. But more importantly, they're mentors themselves, carrying forward Corcuera's philosophy of paying it forward.

"When I hear from them and they're telling me they graduated or they are doing this job, I am like wonderful," Corcuera said. "It's like my own kids. That's exactly how I feel about it. They will be in my life for as long as I live."

For Macias, who recently represented the United States and MIT at a Vatican Observatory program where she met Pope Leo, the impact is immeasurable.

"She has really set a legacy because when I think of someone that has changed the world, I think of Luz," Macias said.

Corcuera's message to current and future students remains simple but powerful: "Education is the most important thing that you can achieve in your life. No matter what happens to you in life, if you decide to go somewhere else or if they send you somewhere else not by your choice, education is something that can never take away from you."

The Village Continues

Though Corcuera has retired, her successor and the Unidos Now team continue to build on her foundation, recently introducing entrepreneurship programs for parents.

The organization still relies on support from the Community Foundation of Sarasota County, Community Foundation of Manatee County, and other local partners who believed in Corcuera's vision.

And through the door of the program in Sarasota, a new generation of students still walks in wondering "what if?"

Thanks to Luz Corcuera, they walk out knowing: "Of course you can."

Unidos Now's Future Leaders Academy serves first-generation, low-income Hispanic students in Manatee and Sarasota counties.