Scholar / Project
Major: Journalism
Project: Make a documentary to showcase the struggles that first-generation and undocumented students are faced with when going to college
Inspiration: Family
Future Plans: I hope to increase the support CSU gives its first generations and undocumented students.
Major: Cinema Studies with an emphasis on Production
Minor: Business
Project: Practically what I stated over on the top, doing a documentary and using the power of storytelling to be able to bring a community together. With a sense of belonging as well as connecting to points to hopefully bring about possible solutions to said problems.
Inspiration: Well I love movies, and I hope to become a filmmaker one day. Doing this project not only connects my passion but also focuses on areas of mental health and communities that I know struggle and come from similar backgrounds as me.
Future Plans: I hope to make an impact with storytelling, allowing people to heal.
Major: Business – Accounting and Operations Management
Project: My idea right now is trying to figure out a way to educate families and students specifically POCs on AP and concurrent enrollment classes. In order to increase the number of POCs that choose to further their education in college and how these classes can help them with that.
Inspiration: Growing up I had always chosen to take AP/Honors courses and in all those years I was usually one of the only POC in my classes and I didn’t notice it until about my senior year. And most of my peers didn’t take them because they were scared away by them being harder and counselors telling them that the regular classes would be easier for them. When in all reality they were not educated on the classes and how they could help them in the future.
Future Goals: I want to show POC students that they are worthy and just as capable as any other students to take those advanced courses and succeed in them. And I want families to have more education on the classes that their children are taking and the impact that they have on their futures.
Major: Business Analytics and Information Management
Project: During my time at Puksta, I want to continue working on the program I started in my hometown school district, “Habriendo Puertas,” which focuses not only on first-generation, minority students but also the parents. We try to keep parents in the loop as much as possible so that they don’t fall into a hole of fear and stop their kids from continuing their education.
Inspiration: What inspired me to choose this project was that I went through this and I know many people whose parents also felt like this. Towards the end of our senior year, we discovered that parents are usually more understanding of things when they know what’s going on as far as what college is about.
Future Plans: I hope to see more people of color attending big universities. Diverse and inclusive schools would make people feel more welcome and incentivize more people to attend.
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Project: For my Puksta Project, I am planning on mentoring students at a specific high school and providing seniors with college prep, advice, and resources on how to prepare for college. I especially want to help first-generation students and students from low-income households find scholarship opportunities available at their college of choice.
Inspiration: What inspired me to choose this project was thinking back to my senior year in high school and really wanting to attend a 4-year university. The only barrier I had, was being able to afford it. There were many resources provided by my school, but I would’ve never known, if I didn’t do the research myself. I know how difficult it is to make a college decision, so I want to make this process simpler for students who want to attend university.
Future Plans: I hope to increase the number of first-generation students in predominantly white universities and allow them to be an example for future generations. I also hope to lift some weight off student’s shoulders and reassure them throughout the college application process.
Major: Physics
Minor: Mathematics
Project: As an elected member of Student Government, I’m working on writing and passing bus line resolutions
Inspirations: All of my professors are white, and I wouldn’t be able to take physics in Boulder due to the fact that I have no money for that kind of education.
Future Goals: Get more students of color to apply for STEM positions. Find a way to help our society in a different way.
Major: Music Performance & Music Education
Project: I don’t have a very specific goal. But with this opportunity I have been given, I will be more than grateful to be able to help somebody in need in any way possible.
Inspiration: I have seen how life-draining it can be to deal with an addiction and how much it affects not only the person but their peers.
Future Goals: Make someone feel like they’re supported like they have someone they can lean on when the world feels empty around them.
Major: Zoology
Project: The project I am pursuing is Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, specifically focusing on the Indigenous community that lives in northern Colorado. I will be a mentor and lead community events, and provide a space for Indigenous peoples to come together and heal, give preventative courses and resources, and provide overall support for the Indigenous community.
Inspiration: I am an Indigenous woman who has seen my community members be hurt mentally and physically by others, I have seen little to no coverage of Missing and Murdered Indigenous peoples in the media and news. I think that education is very important, if I can educate the community Indigenous and non-Indigenous about these issues there can be a change.
Future Plans: I hope that I can accomplish educating the community, and provide a safe place where triggering conversations can be held. I hope to teach those around us what actions to take when placed in a harmful situation, to decrease the number of community members that have faced violence.
Major: Clinical Psychology, Spanish Language Minor
Project: The goal of my project is to educate others on ways to promote resilience and protective factors for LGBTQ+ and Foster Youth. By fostering the development of protective factors, and teaching adolescents how to effectively manage, adapt to, and bounce back from hardship, we can create opportunities that will allow these young leaders to prosper. Ultimately, the intended outcomes of the project will look to spread awareness of adversity in these communities and educate people on ways to incorporate a more supportive ideology into their own socio-political interventions.
Inspiration: My project is an extension of my personal experiences that looks to create positive change in these communities. My family runs a trauma-informed home designed to help facilitate the social rehabilitation of LGBTQ+ teens, pregnant teens, and teen moms. I grew up in a welcoming household, with a revolving front door, hence I want to carry on the legacy of generosity of my parents. I have experienced firsthand what it means to overcome adversity, and I am passionate about helping others do the same.
Future Plans: I am a compassionate individual, oriented towards building mutual aid through education and empathy. By exploring factors that affect the way different people cope with stress, hardship, and trauma, I intend to create a support network catered to adolescents facing these types of adversity. Ultimately, I hope to advocate in support of those silenced by harmful stigmas.
Major: Biomedical Science
Project: I want to continue research to see what best ways POC can access employment in the medical field. I also want to help increase diversity in the medical field.
Inspiration: I chose this because as someone interested in being an OBGYN, I’ve come to realize that many people do not feel represented by their doctors. There is a large racial disparity in the medical field and I want to help make it smaller.
Future Plans: I want to show other POC that there are jobs available to them that don’t require a doctor’s degree. Everyone has been raised that being a doctor is the way into the medical field when there are various opportunities available.
