Help Alexla reach Essex

In the fourth grade, I recognized that I was a unique individual in a very particular situation.

I can’t say for sure if this realization came after I received a high score on the “Multiplication Test” or after I could finally keep up with everyone’s conversations.


I still remember the day when my teachers guided me to a classroom within the school's library. To my surprise, I saw many white faces staring back at me instead of my brown Spanish-speaking friends that I had grown used to seeing within our closet-sized ESL room.


I hope it shocks no one when I say that I lasted twenty minutes in that spacious classroom. All of the words came too quickly, and I did not understand “proper grammar," and, worst of all: I felt alone.

Regardless of my feelings of solitude, I still had family expectations of becoming a doctor or a lawyer. I had an obligation to make "the sacrifices" mean something. I had a duty to be a “someone” for them.  For my family. For my everything.

So, I worked hard every day-- at school and work-- and then when I felt I had done enough, I worked even more.
I mean, growing up in a single-parent, immigrant household and being undocumented for my entire childhood, it’s safe to say that the cards weren’t in my favor. I couldn’t get my driver's permit at 15, let alone provide a social security number at my community college. But, along the way, my "survival mode" developed into something more meaningful. I felt a complete sense of true self when I dedicated time to my community and my studies. I found equal happiness in nothing else. So, I went on, and I kept giving it my all.

In 2015, I was accepted to the Henderson County Early College High School. I obtained my Associate Degree in Science and became the first person in my entire family to receive an education beyond high school. I served two terms in AmeriCorps and had over 600+ volunteer hours that I devoted to my community throughout my time there. Now, I am a 20-year-old political science student from Western North Carolina studying at the University of North Carolina at Asheville.

So, the impossible has been happening for the last year and a half: I am receiving a college education.
And  now I am not becoming a lawyer or a doctor, but I am doing something crazier than that:

I am moving halfway across the world in hopes of becoming “someone” for myself.

I have been accepted into the year-long Human Rights Master Program at the University of Essex in England. Here, I will be able to understand my place in the world and help individuals around the globe obtain and maintain a safe, respectable, and humane living environment for themselves and the generations to come.

My family and I were forced to move away from our home because our living conditions were far from prosperous or "humane." I have received so many opportunities and have been fortunate, but I know that not everyone has this same story. I’ve always wanted to help, but have never understood how until I learned of the University of Essex's Human Rights Program.
It's an opportunity that will allow me to grow morally and academically. It’s a fantastic program with great networking and culturally immersive opportunities.

Believe me, I have grown significantly academically thanks to my classes at UNCA, but I believe that Essex's program is the force that will drive me to my fullest extent.

It is the beginning of a new project and story for me, and I plan to dedicate my time and energy to the bigger picture for the rest of my life. I know that I can succeed within this program. My core belief is that I am the person that can help make a difference in the lives of others., and I need this opportunity to learn of other ways to make that goal come to fruition.

Whether my future, metaphorically, looks like a cramped-closet-shaped room or a spacious library, I know that I will make great things happen. I am now a US Permanent Resident, which cleared one “hurdle,” but I still need help. I need financial support to survive and excel in Essex. I have allocated most of the money to pay for this program through scholarships and grants, but I need $6,000 to complete the cost of my Tuition and Cost of Attendance.

I am thankful and appreciative of any financial support given to me.

I sincerely thank you for giving me an opportunity to make it.