Andy Garcia, '26

Hometown: Los Angeles, California 

High School: Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies

Affiliations: College Match LA, CEDAR SoCal Scholar, Hispanic Scholarship Fund, INROADS, Project Proximate, and Sponsors for Educational Opportunity Career (SEO)

Major: Economics and Statistics

Main Extracurricular Activities: Middlebury Consulting Group, Health Economics Research Assistant, Middlebury Diversity in Business, and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship

Why did you choose to attend Middlebury? I chose Middlebury College because of the people. Middlebury students and faculty genuinely care about your success, and I first experienced this when I began the college application process. Through College Match, a college-access program, I connected with Middlebury students who provided me support throughout the entire process (building a consistent narrative, interview preparation, financial aid, etc). Given that I developed close-knit relationships with these students prior to arriving on campus, I knew the transition would be smooth with their support. These students were taking the time out of their busy college schedule to assist a high school student who had other options. 

After I applied to Middlebury, I constantly received news surrounding different events the school was hosting, which is something that the other schools were not doing. One day, Middlebury sent me this amazing opportunity before committing to the school. The school offered me the opportunity to participate in Data & Digital Methods, which is a one-month-long program for learning skills in Excel, RStudio, and Stata. This program gave me credit before I began my classes in the fall and set me up for research opportunities as a first-year student. This research opportunity is something that you all should be on the lookout for! 

What do you do to relax and have fun? I participate in intramural sports. I play basketball with people who play the sport casually, not on a competitive level. The intramural sports coordinators host tournaments throughout the year. This opportunity allows me to decompress after an intense week of classes.

Favorite thing to do during J-Term? Given that you have significantly more free time on your hands during J-Term. I enjoy relaxing and bonding with friends. Since you are only taking one class, you and your friends do not have any schedule conflicts, which allows you to coordinate fun activities. For me, it was playing intramural basketball.