What oppor­tu­ni­ties or expe­ri­ences have you been able to take part in that you might not have been able to with­out the scholarship?

Thanks to the Bright Foun­da­tion, I have been able to expe­ri­ence what high­er edu­ca­tion is. I’m from a big fam­i­ly, which makes it chal­leng­ing to attend a uni­ver­si­ty. I am very appre­cia­tive of the Bright Foun­da­tion for giv­ing me an oppor­tu­ni­ty to improve not only my future, but my family’s as well.

How are you shar­ing your time and/​or tal­ents with oth­ers now? How do you hope to do so in the future?

I have been shar­ing my time and tal­ents with oth­ers through my involve­ment in stu­dent orga­ni­za­tions. I cur­rent­ly serve as the trea­surer of Lat­inx Stu­dent Initiatives, which pro­motes Lat­inx lead­er­ship and unites the Lat­inx com­mu­ni­ty on cam­pus. As a first-gen­er­a­tion col­lege stu­dent, it can be dif­fi­cult to find con­nec­tions. Through my involve­ment in this orga­ni­za­tion, I hope to make col­lege more enjoy­able for oth­er mul­ti­cul­tur­al stu­dents and get more stu­dents involved and con­nect­ed to oth­ers on campus.

What is your favorite class and why? 

My favorite class so far has been Pol Sci 344, Pub­lic Pol­i­cy. After tak­ing this class, I’ve become more inter­est­ed in the pol­i­cy aspect of polit­i­cal sci­ence. I espe­cial­ly enjoyed learn­ing about how a bill pro­gress­es from an idea/​concept through the polit­i­cal ​“black box” and how out­side forces, such as vot­ers and inter­est groups, play a huge role in the polit­i­cal system.

Who is your biggest inspi­ra­tion and why? 

My father is my biggest inspi­ra­tion. He push­es me to my lim­its in every­thing I do. If it was not for my father, not only would I not be here at col­lege, I also would not be the per­son I am today. Since I can remem­ber, he has instilled in me a great work ethic. My father is the def­i­n­i­tion of not giv­ing up when life gets hard. I’ve learned from him to use life’s dif­fi­cul­ties as oppor­tu­ni­ties to grow, as hard­ships make all of life’s oth­er accom­plish­ments greater.

What is some­thing impor­tant you’ve learned out­side of class since you’ve start­ed col­lege?

I’ve learned that ask­ing for help with class­es is com­plete­ly nor­mal and expect­ed. I used to think that ask­ing for help was a sign that I wasn’t smart enough to be here. Now I under­stand that col­lege is sup­posed to be chal­leng­ing, and every­one needs a lit­tle extra guid­ance at times. I wish I would have known this my fresh­man year.