Azteca Valdivia, a freshman at the University of Nevada, Reno and a graduate of the 2022 ARC Summer Course in Tahoe, is on a journey to succeed. While a senior at Sierra High in Truckee last year, Azteca applied for every scholarship she could find to ensure that she would be able to go to college. She wrote a total of 27 essays in the span of a couple of months! “I would tell future students that want to apply to go for every opportunity you have, especially if you feel a connection to the scholarship,” says Azteca, while tearing up on her drive back home from school. She continues her advice: “Just try it out and see what happens with your most positive and intentional self. Take every opportunity available with the most positive version of yourself.” Her positive attitude and hard work paid off when she was awarded the $40,000 Jackson Ferree Scholarship. Administered by the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation, the Jackson Ferree Scholarship recognizes individuals who “exhibit generosity of spirit, independence, and a willingness to chart their own path through life.” Azteca is exactly such an individual.
Azteca has always pushed herself to work hard to make her family proud, whether holding a 4.0 GPA or working as a barista at the age of 14. Her family, especially her mom, supported her to work towards anything she wanted to do in her life. Azteca’s mom, Amelia, instilled in her children that education was important and that they should pursue trade school or higher education. When Azteca received the news of winning the Jackson Ferree Scholarship, she became very emotional because she knew it would change her life, and her family’s. Being awarded the scholarship meant the financial burden of higher education would be a little easier on her whole family. “I have no excuse not to make my dreams come true and now I definitely have the opportunity to make it happen,” she says. Upon receiving her scholarship, she felt like it was always supposed to be this way and this was what she was meant to do.
During the process of applying for scholarships, Azteca looked for a personal connection with each of the application prompts, something she learned to do while a student in ARC’s programs, she says. With ARC, she learned that she was fully capable of anything she wanted to do. ARC gave her the confidence to apply for multiple scholarships, and receiving scholarship money to ease her path to college was the beginning of a new chapter in her life.
Now a student at the University of Nevada Reno, Azteca juggles a 45 minute commute between school, home, and three jobs. When she wakes up, she reminds herself of the opportunities she is creating not only for herself, but her family. Azteca would like to receive her Bachelor’s Degree in Public Health or Chicano Studies, but her overall goal is, “just to be positive and happy,” she says.
As we enter this new year, let’s remind ourselves, as Azteca does, to deeply connect to whatever we strive to do and to keep pushing forward; do not let doubt sink in. Let us “be positive and happy,” and let us not forget to “take every opportunity available with the most positive version” of ourselves. Thank you, Azteca, for your encouraging words!