Spotlight!

USF Graduation + Stanford Acceptance!

June 28, 2023

It’s taken me a long time to write this up due to being busy with finals, graduating, visiting family for two weeks, going to concerts, ending up in a hospital with two bodily infections for a day, and moving to Stanford.

Yes, that’s right! I GOT INTO STANFORD!!!!!!

I remember when I was in high school - thinking about college and - I had thought about Stanford. But at the time, I knew I wasn’t ready for Stanford. I was in a position in my life where Stanford was unattainable, unreachable. Especially since I was forced into lower math classes due to my ethnicity and missed out on taking classes I wanted to take that could’ve helped improve my transcript.

Thus, I settled for comfort and a place I knew I could succeed in for undergrad which was at the University of San Francisco. It still was a big challenge for me, being the typical small-town-girl-moves-to-big-city trope. I had no family nor friends coming to SF. I basically was starting life anew at the age of 18. I also went through a lot of hardships on top of dealing with the pandemic throughout. I had relapses in my mental health and heartbreaks. I had to work two jobs to make ends meet. I made a lot of sacrifices and dealt with things normal everyday people never want to deal with.

But I’m still here now. And I still made wonderful memories and everlasting friendships at USF. I grew as a person and gained so much knowledge to help me move forward in life. I realized my own potential. All that gave me courage to pursue graduate school.

That’s when I came to discover the BMI program at Stanford. It was daunting, to say the least. With those thoughts from high school creeping back in. But I’m not my high school self anymore. I gathered a lot of courage to apply. I set aside so much time trying to illuminate my application as much as possible. I wanted to stand out. Which took time and effort. I spoke to many professors help with my essays and CV, all of which I am extremely grateful for as I made it to the interview stage. I was was one of the 29 out of 400+ applicants who made it to the interview stage. To say I was happy and excited is an understatement. However, now came the stress of preparing to interview.

I spent time improving my communication with other interviews and showcasing more of who I truly am. And I did managed to do exactly that as I got the offer and I am currently on Day 3 of living at Stanford.😁 I’ll spare you the sobbing I did during the phone call of the news and the joy of telling my parents. I merely want to emphasize that life is hard, and if you aren’t born with opportunities in your hands, it will take time and sacrifices to get what you truly desire in life. My parents are immigrants with no financial status to help me with tuition. I’m also a Latina in STEM. Of course I had all sorts of hardships and there’s more to come, but that doesn’t mean I should give up halfway. Nor should anybody. Life truly is what YOU make of it.

Past Posts

ADVANCE Program Leader!

June 1, 2024

I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as ADVANCE Summer Institute Program Leader at Stanford Biosciences!

I was accepted into ADVANCE last summer as an incoming student and had such a wonderful time. It truly made the transition to grad school A LOT less stressful than I was anticipating and was able to make many friends before the school year started.

And because of the positive experience I had, it was only right to pay it forward and become a Program Leader and help other incoming grad students matriculate into Stanford.

A special shout out to Marco Antonio Monroy, the Director of ADVANCE and to all the wonderful programs leaders who were my mentors and gave such great advice about grad school life. I truly can’t wait to be on the other side and mentor students!

(Below are some fun memories from my time as an ADVANCE student🤗)

SACNAS 2023 Conference

October 26, 2023

Went to my first grad school conference!

Stanford Biosciences Lab Coat Ceremony

September 27, 2023

I’m officially a Ph.D. student at Stanford now 😭

ADVANCE Institute Cohort

July 22, 2023

Fun times with my ADVANCE cohort!

AWM Spring Involvement Fair

February 08, 2023

AWM had a pretty successful recruiting season this semester at the Spring Involvement Fair! We got fun stuff planned for the club and I can’t wait to finish my last semester as club President with a strong bang! Special shout out to our eboard: Donielah Sharou , Brenda Aguirre, and Sriya Duggempudi.

NCUWM Conference In-Person

January 25, 2023

I had a wonderful and joyous time at the Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics a few days ago. I’ve never felt more included in such a space and I’ve never seen so many accomplished women and non-binary mathematicians in one spot. It was truly incredible and an honor to have been in a space like that. I even got to personally meet and talk to the wonderful Talithia Williams who graciously inspired me to move forward with my chosen path and her support and advice was everything I needed to hear during these stressful times I have been experiencing lately. It’s so good to hear that even the most accomplished people can experience hardships and still make it in life. Thank you to all the organizers for their hard work in making this conference happen and thank you to the USF Math and Stats Department for sponsoring all 8 of us on the trip.

AWM Fall Involvement Fair

September 01, 2022

We've had another successful recruitment season! It seems that this semester will finally get AWM's gears running. We have great things planned out for the semester and are excited to move forward with these plans. We are happy to welcome all the new freshmen and transfer students. We can't wait to see what this fall has in store for us!

Concluding My First Internship

August 13, 2022

My work at DaVita comes to a close now. Wow! What a time. I truly enjoyed my time with the Village and felt the experience to be extremely worthwhile. I felt that I learned so much about healthcare and how data science and analytics is applied and developed through the development and research of kidney care.

My time at DaVita was truly a wonderful experience. I met such talented and smart people. I connected with people who had similar backgrounds as a POC and a woman in the workforce. And I made great new friends whom I will definitely remain in contact with.

This experience also fueled my desires for working in the healthcare field. The more I learned and got to witness in the Clinical Outcomes Research Team, the more excited I was about pursuing a Ph.D. in a related field and doing healthcare research. I was also inspired by my mentors and supervisors whom a majority were women and POCs. It helped double-down my Imposter Syndrome and made me feel like I wasn't alone in my struggles. It gave me hope for the future. Something to look forward to.

There's nothing I would change about this experience and I wouldn't trade it for anything else. While there were many times I felt stressed out due to meetings and completing deliverables, I came out more than fully prepared to move forward with my career. I sincerely thank the Redwoods Team and the Clinical Outcomes Research Team at DaVita for this opportunity and all that they've taught me. Special thanks to my supervisor, Karen-Marie Eaton, and my mentor, Alina Bossenbroek.

Pi Mu Epsilon Inductee

May 11, 2022

Today I was inducted into the California Chapter of Pi Mu Epsilon. Pi Mu Epsilon is the National Undergraduate Honor Society in Mathematics. It is an honorary status for students in a math-related major with excellent academic standing and a good relationship with the department. Along with my induction into this group, I will receive special recognition for it at the graduation ceremony in the Spring 2023.

This was a very important for me as I have been discriminated against for being Latina back in high school. I was forced to be in a regular level math class despite having passed the Math Placement test and have already been in higher-level math classes in middle school. Because of that experience, I ended up attendning math classes that were just "too easy" for me or classes in which I had already learned the subjects before because I had learned them in my advanced math classes in middle school. My own teachers even recognized and acknowledged that I deserved to be at a level that matched by learning pace and previous skills. I even had a teacher try to move me to the higher-level class but it was to no avail and the adminstration gave no reason for it. In conclusion, it was because I was brown. It's no coincidence that all the students that were in those "low-level" math classes were all brown, too.

Due to this, I struggled in the relationship I had with math subjects, having experienced even hatred towards it for a while. I even felt that I just wasn't cut out for it despite passing tests with flying colors.

Years later, I am now here. I've received honorary status for my work in my college math classes and I'm even majoring in a math-related field. This is not to say I deserved the experience I went through in high school, but this is proof that such obstacles don't stop people like me. We are smart. We are intelligent. We are good at math. Our skin color and Latin American ethnicity do not define our capabilities. Just because we are darker than others and speak Spanish, doesn't mean we can't do math. Like my family always says, "Si se puede!"

AWM Hosts Integration Bee

May 05, 2022

We had such a successful turnout for AWM's first Integration Bee since the pandemic! It was an honor as the president to get to host and run such a fun event that had many students participating in. It's been a real struggle trying to bring this club back alive after a year of online schooling. It's a huge relief that these efforts are paying off. I'm grateful to our club Superviser: Prof. Emille Lawrence and to the rest of the e-board members of AWM (Sriya D, Chloe Pine, Angela Richards, and Melody). Special shoutout to the professors that showed up as judges for the competition: Prof. Daniel O'Connor and Prof. Emille Lawrence.

And congradulations to the winners and all participants!

AWM Pi Day Fundraising

March 10, 2022

We had a great turnout for out first ever Pi Day Fundraising today! Thank you to everyone who stopped by and supported our club. Enjoy some pie!

Meeting My Idol and Becoming Inspired

March 07, 2022

It was truly an honor to have been in the same room as incredible women in the field of data science such as Cecilia Aragon, US Chief of Data Science Denice Ross, the CEO of Youtube, and many more! It was such a wonderful pleasure to be able to finally attend a conference in person and for it to be the Women in Data Science Conference on top of that! I particularly had the pleasure of talking in person to Cecilia Aragon whom I had first met at the Nebraska Undergraduate Women in Math Conference 2021 and had been an incredible inspiration to me since then. I even got an autograph!!!

As a fellow Latina myself, it is truly inspiring to see another Latina who’s gone through the same struggles as I have growing up and yet accomplished so much in the fields of STEM. It is reasons such as these that we truly and desperately need more diversity and more representation in the workforce, particularly in STEM where the gender gaps are tremendous and the racial gaps even more. I’m truly inspired by and grateful to the work Cecilia Aragon has done and the barriers she’s demolished in order for other women like me to have opportunities to be seen today. I hope to become as well accomplished and inspiring to other women as much as her!

Special shout out to my girls Elisabeth Starr and Chloe Pine for attending the conference with me. Special thanks to Stanford University for hosting. Extreme special thanks to the WiDS co-directors Margot Gerritsen , Karen Matthys , and Judy Logan for organizing and creating such a welcoming and positive space for women in data science! I’m now, more than ever, truly inspired to move forward with my career aspirations, “focusing on what we can do.”

AWM's First Boba Fundraiser!

February 18, 2022

We completely sold out of boba on our club's first ever fundraising!!! We are extremely greatful to all of our faculty and eboard members who helped me in organizing this event. We are also extremely thankful to all students and faculty who bought boba from us. We are glad you could refresh from the hot sun today!

AWM is Revived!

February 03, 2022

I am honored to be the new President of AWM and feel excited to announce our revival as a club as we slowly return to full in-person classes. We had a great start and massive recruitment during the Spring 2022 Involvement Fair. We are all excited for what AWM has in store with our new and fresh eboard! Stay tuned!

My First Internship!!!

January 10, 2022

It took me a while to make this post, but I wanted to wait for the New Year and after I had moved in to my new place.

And with that said, I feel incredibly excited to announce my internship with DaVita Kidney Care for the 2022 Summer Redwoods Analyst program!

It’s an absolute goal of mine to work in healthcare as my career dream and I can’t wait for what this internship has in store for me. It’s truly an honor and I’m grateful for all the mentors in my life that have guided me and given me advice as I move forward in my future. Special thanks to Sarah Claxton Deming and MLT (Management Leadership for Tomorrow) organizers.

Take a look at this wonderful gift from DaVita as they let me know of my offer!!!

First Time Recruiting for AWM!

September 02, 2021

Today was my first time recruiting for AWM at the Fall 2021 Involvement Fair. It was a very fun learning experience for when I takeover as President the next semester. It was a cloudy day but we brought in wonderful new members to the club!

My First Tabling for AWM!

August 25, 2021

Today was my first time tabling for AWM as the new Vice President. I got to promote and advertise for AWM. It was really fun and I'm excited for what I'll get to plan for the club this year.

Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics 2021

January 24, 2021

Despite the conference being virtual, I did have a great time learning about the many incredible achievements women can do with math. I also loved joining in on the talks from accomplished women in math, one of which, I related A LOT to and has become a role model for me in the world of math.

I will also admit, that attending the second and last day of the conference was tough because the timezone for the conference was in Central Time, which meant the first events started at 6:30am PST and I had to get up early for that. But I still had a really great time! I wasn't expecting to gain what I did from attending. I gained a lot of confidence and motivation to move forward with my major and my career. I also didn't feel alone in my struggles, either. It was such a welcoming conference, very inclusive. I definitely hope to attend again next year, whether it is in person or virtual.

Tapia Conference 2020

September, 2020

I feel honored to have been awarded a scholarship to attend the 2020 ACM Richard Tapia Conference, a celebration of Diversity in Computing. Very grateful to all the sponsors and administrators of this event for granting me this opportunity. A special thanks to the National Science Foundation (NSF) who granted these scholarships to me and many other university students alike.

Being a Latina in tech is quite a challenge but conferences like these help shine a light on minorities and people of all races, ethnicities, sexualities, genders, and disabilities who are here to make a difference in the world with the power of science and technology.

It is unfortunate that so many events and conferences had to transition to virtual and online, but no one can deny how incredibly impressive the virtual platform for the Tapia conference is. The setup is impeccable with its appearance and user experience. Good job to those who worked hard to create it! Well done!👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

It truly is an honor to attend and enjoy learning so much about this wonderful community. Look forward to continuing to connect and learn!

Current Obsessions

• Shows: A Good Day to be a Dog (K-Drama), Bridgerton (on Netflix), The Boys (on Amazon Prime), Kimi ni Todoke (anime), My Hero Academia (anime), Haikyuu (anime)
• Film/Movies: The Substance (horror), Your Monster (horror-comedy))
• Books/Manga/Webtoons: Our Violent Ends (book 2 of series by Chloe Gong), Sea of Monsters (book 2 of PJO series by Rick Riordan), Let's Play (Webtoon on WEBTOON app), My Hero Academia (manga), Spy x Family (manga)

Upcoming Fun Stuff

• First Research Poster Presentation at SACNAS NDiSTEM Conference 2024
• Lab Research Projects
• Applying for fellowships
• Attending K-pop concerts!!!

Blog Archive

In the makings...