Angelica became an HSC scholar in the Fall of 2013. She earned a degree in Sociology from Texas A&M University in College Station in the Spring of 2017.
Now, Angelica is a dual PhD student in the Department of Sociology and the Chicano/Latino Studies Program at Michigan State University. In the very scarce free time that she has, she enjoys socializing with other Latinx graduate students, taking care of her puppy, and reading.
As an HSC scholar at Texas A&M University, Angelica and some of her classmates felt that no courses were offered that taught the impacts of Latinos in the U.S.. They acted on this by gathering signatures from students and faculty stating how they wanted a Latino/a and Mexican American Studies minor to be offered on campus. Surely enough due to their hard work and dedication, they succeeded in getting their university to offer the minor to students!
When asked about her experience as an HSC scholar, Angelica answered:
"HSC provided me and many others with incredible opportunities to grow as leaders, students and professionals. HSC has always been very supportive of their scholars and pushed us to dream big. I remember sitting in on a presentation where the presenter was sharing the statistics on Latinxs in higher education and they were incredibly low. I wanted to defy those statistics and enable others to do the same."
As a result, she later learned about graduate opportunities and became interested in pursuing a PhD.
Angelica hopes to make a big impact on her community. She hopes to address inequalities in access and experiences in higher education. This can be seen in her current research, where she centers around Latinx undergraduate students who also attend Michigan State University. Specifically, she is interested in investigating how physical counter spaces nurture the feeling of belonging on campus by Latinx students. She also wishes to work directly with Latinx and other underrepresented students by ensuring that they have access to resources and opportunities so that they can succeed as well.
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We look forward to seeing what Angelica continues to accomplish!