Last summer, Aliento selected 7 talented and brilliant students to make up the second cohort of Aliento’s Fellowship. Throughout the academic year, you have seen them be featured on our Aliento Voices, our social media, local and national news, and active members of the Aliento Team. The conclusion of this month will bring with it the end of their Fellowships with Aliento and, to honor their dedication to the organization, we will be featuring them on our blog. Here is one of the Aliento Fellows:

1. Introduce yourself!

My name is Maria Valeria Garcia Munoz and I did the Aliento Fellowship as a senior at Tempe High School. I am from Aguascalientes, Mexico.

2. How did you hear about Aliento, and why did you choose Aliento?

I attended the Immigrant Scholarship Hustle Cohort over the summer. Aliento attended the event and gave a presentation about all of their projects and events. I chose Aliento because it seemed the most intriguing to me. The in-state tuition campaign was something I wanted to be a part of.

3. What are some of the things you’ve learned as a fellow? Why was it important?

As a fellow, I have developed my leadership skills. I learned that being patient and having communication is important. It is better to communicate with each other earlier in order to fix the problem. You have to have patience because you can only worry about the things you can control.

4. What are some moments within the fellowship that you are most proud of?

I am most proud of E-Day. Seeing myself, the fellows, and my peers going to meetings with elected officials to advocate for in-state tuition and publicly funded scholarships made me incredibly proud of everyone. We put the work in and, while not everything seemed perfect, we made it perfect in our own way.

5. Besides Aliento, what else were you involved with at school? What did you?

Besides Aliento, I was involved in M.E.C.H.A, cross country, track, and AVID. During my entire high school senior year, aside from everything I was involved with, I completed applications for college and multiple scholarships.

6. Would you recommend the fellowship? Why?

I would definitely recommend this fellowship because it teaches you so much about yourself. I became more comfortable speaking up and the fellowship showed me my strengths and weaknesses. You also build amazing relationships with amazing people. You learn from each other and you get to a higher level of understanding with people.

7. What’s next for you?

After graduating high school, I will be attending Arizona State University. I received full tuition and am using other scholarships to cover housing at the ASU dorms. I am currently planning on majoring in aerospace engineering. I do plan to continue being involved with the organization through the Aliento@ASU hub.

Aliento Feature: Maria Garcia