About Me

Profile

About:




I am 21 and grew up in Rochester, MN with a two older brothers an older sister and my parents. I am the youngest in my family and the only one of the children not to attend the University of Wisconsin in Madison. However I received full support from my family to break that tradition and become a Longhorn (especially from my mom and dad, both former Longhorns themselves). I couldn’t have made a better choice and am reminded daily as I find more wonderful things to see and experience in Austin. I am a Hispanic Studies major but am also working hard to get all of my pre-med requirements out of the way. I hope to go on to medical school after undergrad. Besides school, I enjoy traveling, reading, and anything involving the great outdoors, but most of all I enjoy the company of my family and friends and their whole-hearted support in everything I do.

Why I Ride

I come from a town that is positively saturated by the medical profession. The crowning glory of Rochester, MN is the Mayo Clinic, a world-renowned clinic, research center and medical school. As the daughter of a physician, the medical world has always been right in my home. It is easy to become numb to what means so much to so many. These “many” are people who work with the sick, live with and love the sick, and are the sick themselves. They come to my hometown, to the Mayo Clinic in particular, looking for support, answers, and most importantly help. They surrounded me everyday, in the news, on the streets and in my school. I can easily say that I was wholly unimpressed by what this clinic, and the men and women who work there, do for the sick that come to visit them. That was true anyway, until my own dad was diagnosed with cancer the summer before my senior year. He survived a gratefully short and easy battle, but suddenly all the illnesses and tragedies caused by cancer everyday were no longer invisible, they became Technicolor. I cannot now think of anyone that I know from my life growing up in Rochester that has not had his or her life affected by cancer. Whether it was my old skating coach battling breast cancer or my best friend losing her father to leukemia; no one was left untouched. And now I know how important it is that I do not let those stories go unnoticed. I think it is vitally important to raise awareness of these stories of success and loss with as many people as possible. People need to know about cancer prevention, and they need to know that there is hope and that they are not alone. Most of all I now know how important it is that money be gathered for cancer research that will prevent hurt in so many lives before it happens. And Texas4000 is striving to accomplish all of those things in quintessential Texas fashion: Big and unavoidably loud!