As a monolingual Spanish-speaking four-year old, my vision of a welcoming home became our small, cramped camper parked in a Colorado R.V. park. A year later, my kindergarten teacher accepted me with my bumbling grammar and thick accent while making me feel like the smartest little girl in class—her transfusion of hope and self-confidence will never be repaid but will also never be forgotten. My childhood and early adolescence was marked by a deep desire to fit in among peers and life became a battle for perfect …show more content…
Thus, accessing the more demanding curriculum and resources offered in a neighboring town’s public school after junior year required transferring and recreating my social support network while spending hours in public transportation. Glenwood Springs’s Pre-Collegiate Program taught me leadership, networking, and scholarship-searching skills in order to find scarce funds dedicated to undocumented students—the blessed dollars that eventually financed my undergraduate tuition. Throughout high school, volunteering as a catechism instructor distracted me from my personal struggles and fed my hunger to be of service. Volunteerism has always been a blessing and served as the cornerstone of my adolescent