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:

My name is Angelica Pacheco and I am a DACA recipient from Chihuahua, Mexico. I am a 19 year old studying for my Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Mesa Community College. I am a Westwood High School graduate! War Eagle!

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

As part of their Fellowship, the Aliento Fellows receive mentorship and learning opportunities from the leadership of Aliento. The Fellows often represented Aliento during events with pride and passion. Angelica was interviewed several times and always was willing to share her story with the media to help amplify her voice along with similar stories of other DACA Students in the state.

I heard about Aliento through Deya who is the student organizer at Aliento. She was the reason I wanted to get involved since she is so passionate about the work Aliento does. I am a part of the second cohort of Aliento Fellows and have been able to work alongside some very amazing students from other schools.

During her time as an Aliento Fellow, Angelica has worked alongside 6 other Aliento Fellows to help organize events, such as Education Day 2020, in their respective campuses. Angelica worked at the Mesa Community College campus to help spread the word about the #EducatedAF movement and bring students to the AZ Capitol to share their stories with legislators and shed light on the importance of having instate tuition available to every student.

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

As a fellow I learned some really important things such as being resilient and being able to approach people who are affected by the laws in Arizona that bar them from getting instate tuition or are allies to the community. Being able to grow and see how I could change the way I viewed things was a huge lesson for me as I only let myself do so little.

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

The moments I am proud of myself for during this Fellowship is being able to do interviews and speak at public events. I was also proud that I could see people I know become involved with Aliento. An example of this is Gaby. Gaby was a person I have influenced a lot during this Fellowship and it makes my heart warm to know that she is super involved with Aliento at such a young age. I admire that she is willing to fight for herself and others no matter how hard it gets. It is things like these that I feel are huge accomplishments for me.

*All of our Fellows have commitments outside of the Fellowship such as extracurricular activities, involvement in their school’s Aliento hubs and/or part-time jobs.*

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

At school I was involved with the Associated Students of Mesa Community College, the Senate for MCC along with being a full time student. I am also a future Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society member!

6. Would you recommend the fellowship? Why?

I would definitely recommend this fellowship. It helped me grow and helped me become a better person. I also think I found some of my best friends in this Fellowship and I am super happy to have been able to go through this adventure with these people.

7. What’s next for you?

After this Fellowship I hope I can continue to be an officer at the Aliento@MCC hub. I want to help and support other students like I was supported. You are also looking at a future nurse after getting my BSN. I want to get my PhD in Nursing to become a professor as there’s a shortage of Nursing professors.