How did the loss of your mother and brother impact you, especially as you were getting ready to start high school? I think that was my biggest challenge I’ve had to overcome. That was devastating but I’ve had a really good support group with my family and the community I have. I live in a small town called Lee Vining, California. It’s near Yosemite and I’m on a lake. It’s very touristy but there’s this small community here. And everyone, all the neighbors, are really supportive in every way.

You had some academic struggles to start, but you really made a turn in your junior year by enrolling in some vigorous courses. What led to the transformation? I was struggling because of my hardships in life. But through the support of the community, the teachers, the students, everyone wanted me to do better. And even myself, I knew I wanted to do better so that’s why I decided to take AP courses to better my GPA because I knew I wanted to go to college.

Your school community is about 60 students. How did everyone come together to support you? They tried to support me in every way they could. And it really helped. They did a really good job in helping me. And they still do. I still have such a great support group.

I’m most excited to meet all these new people. New friends. New contacts, too. I want to get to know as many people as I can. I’m sure that will help me in life a lot, too. And I’m looking forward to building leadership skills over there at Chico State.

What advice would you give to other students experiencing similar challenges? No matter what you’re going through, you can get through it. You just have to keep pushing. It does get easier, for sure.