| Major: |
Spanish;Teacher Education minor
|
| Hometown: |
New York, New York |
| Favorites: |
The smell of the Indian restaurant; the mist over the falls footbridge |
| One thing I am: |
A filmmaker |
I come from Manhattan, the Lower East Side, and I am of Puerto Rican descent. I’m very close to my mother. She’s always told me I would go to college. She dropped out of high school at 16, but then she went back and went on to get her master’s degree. Because of her, I always knew I could succeed, no matter people’s opinions or the obstacles. I went to Catholic school with a majority of white students — I was one of the only Hispanics — and so growing up, when I wasn’t in my neighborhood, I grew up thinking I was white. As soon as I came to Middlebury, I discovered that some people viewed me as a minority, which I had not seen myself as. Now, I’m simply proud to be who I am.
One thing I am most passionate about is working with children. Middlebury has allowed me to tap into my activism to help children. I choose my course load carefully so when I graduate, I can give back to the Hispanic community, working with its youth.