My childhood was a memorable one even though we grew up extremely poor. Family in the Mexican culture is everything, so we spent every weekend with family, cooking, hearing stories and of course singing and dancing. I was blessed during my school years to have incredible teachers that went the extra mile to ensure we had everything we needed and treated us like their own children. During high school, I played sports, took AP classes, participated in an internship at the local radio station and was part of a program called Upward Bound. My participation in Upward Bound on the weekends and during the summer was really what opened my eyes to the possibilities beyond high school and prepared me to enter college.

I always felt like I was destined to go away to college and live a bigger life than what I had experienced in San Antonio, however, that destiny was put on hold and my life took a different path. During my freshman year of college, I became a mother and that drastically changed my life. My mother offered me the opportunity to go away to college and leave my daughter with her so I could get my education and truly experience college. For me, that was not an option. So my Plan B was to stay in San Antonio and attend the University of Texas in San Antonio while working to provide for my daughter. My goal was to earn my degree and work in the field of Public Relations, however, I had one professor mention in class that 90% of us would not end up in that field and if we did, our salaries would be low and we would start off as an assistant. That’s when I knew I needed to look into other options. That same year I saw a female that looked like me in one of my classes wearing a uniform, so I asked what that was about. She mentioned that she was in Air Force ROTC and how they paid for her education, offered her a career after college and opportunities to travel. The next day I went to visit the detachment and the next thing I knew, I was enrolled in ROTC and offered a scholarship. The next couple of years I was a full time student, mom, worked a couple jobs and was committed to ROTC. I graduated college in four years and went off to serve as a Personnel Officer in the Air Force. Not only was I the first person on both sides of my family to graduate high school, I was also the first to enter the military. 

I am the product of a village raising me, from my parents, siblings, friends, teachers and many others who taught me something or just loved me. Now I feel that it is my turn to give back to our youth.