About Me

Profile

About:

My name is Laura Artiles, and I am a sophomore majoring in Computer Science and Economics. I was born in Puerto Rico and lived there until I was six years old. When I was about to turn six my mom, being the ambitious person that she is, decided to begin a PhD at Lehigh University so we moved to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. I absolutely loved Pennsylvania. I thoroughly enjoyed being outside as a child. I spent my time playing in the creek behind our apartment complex during the summer and sledding in the winters. During my time in Pennsylvania, I admired my mom’s hard work and dedication to obtaining a respectable education and began to set my standards high. I knew my stay in Pennsylvania was temporary and upon my mom’s graduation from her PhD, she got a faculty position at Texas State University. We moved to San Marcos, Texas when I was in 6th grade and I began to obtain a passion for running. As a freshman in high school, I joined the Cross Country team. I ran all four years of high school and loved every minute of it, while also working hard to achieve my dream of attending an outstanding university. I am proud to say I made that dream come true by being accepted to the University of Texas at Austin. Now, it's time for new goals. I aspire to touch the lives of countless people on my journey from Austin to Alaska and inspire them to also join the fight against cancer.

Why I Ride

In the spring of 2011 my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer and by November she was gone. At age 81, my grandma looked at least 10 years younger and could walk and do everything on her own. She seemed as healthy as could be and was the last person you would expect to contract such a horrible disease. Cancer came so unexpectedly and although I was never as close to my grandmother as I wish I would have been, I was still greatly impacted by the effect that cancer had. For me, it was my grandmother. For others, it may be a neighbor, co-worker, friend. But for some, it’s someone as close as a parent or sibling. I joined Texas 4000 because I’m passionate about the fight against cancer. I’m confident that one day we CAN find a cure and no more grandparents, friends, co-workers, or family members will be lost to cancer.