1. Major(s)/Minor(s)
American Culture and Anthropology
2. Expected Graduation Year
May 2020
3. Where did you grow up? What are your interests/ hobbies?
I was born and raised in El Paso, Texas (and I really miss the warm weather).
Outside of class, I'm involved in a few student organizations. I play viola in the Michigan Pops Orchestra, which is completely student-run. I'm a Campus Day Leader through the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. I give philanthropic tours for the Office of University Development. I also give tours and meet with students through my job with LSA recruitment. Most of my interests revolve around music and giving tours of the university.
Also, I volunteer with the English Language Institute as a Conversation Circle Facilitator and I absolutely love it. We meet for one hour a week and talk about anything related to American culture. I'm pretty sure I learn so much more from the people in my group than they learn from. It's a great way to meet amazing people and learn a little bit more about other cultures.
4. Why did you choose American Culture as your major?
I initially chose it because I was fascinated by everything in the major. Every time I look at the course guide, my immediate reaction is "I want to take all of these classes." It's a struggle to only choose two classes a semester.
American Culture is also a field of study that chooses to be inclusive of everyone. As a POC from the U.S. - Mexico border, I am very underrepresented on this campus. American Culture offers classes that talk about the things that really matter to me personally. I can take "Latina Women Women in the U.S." or "American Immigration." It's really a department that makes students from different backgrounds feel welcome. It reminds us that our lives and our experiences are worth talking about and are important to academic conversations.
5. What was your favorite AC class that you would recommend and why?
I absolutely loved AMCULT 201 (American Values) and I would recommend it to anyone interested in AC. I was lucky enough to take it with Kristin Hass in a 20-person class over the summer after my freshman year. I went into it thinking that this was just an interesting class that this could count for distribution credit. After about a month, I realized that I wanted to major in American Culture.
The class forces you to question our understanding of American culture and how history is constructed. It makes you question the parts of American culture that we take at face value.
6. What are your future plans after graduation, and how did the AC major help you achieve these goals?
I'm currently applying to graduate programs in American Studies. If you told me as a freshman that this is what I would be doing right now, I would've thought you were crazy. I just genuinely love everything my experience with AC here and I want to eventually make a career out of it. Now, I just have to get into a school!
7. What was your experience for the Summer Honors Fellowship?
It gave me a taste of what it's like to do full-time research. It was just really nice to have the time and resources to really focus on my thesis. I liked being in a space where there were students from the social sciences, humanities, and natural science. I was also really lucky that I was able to do it with Katrina.
8. How did the AC Student Organization start? What are your goals for the club (what would you want it to look like in 5 years)? Also, what is the contact info for someone who wants to join the club or get involved?
The AC Student Org really started from the fact that I didn't know that many other majors. There are so many classes offered and many of them are filled with non-majors, so it can be hard to find the people also majoring in American Culture. I'm also an Anthropology major and I would say the same is true. The difference is they have a well-established club that really focuses on bringing majors, and anyone else interested in Anthropology, together. I wanted to be able to do that over here as well. I also wouldn't have been able to plan anything if it weren't for Katrina and Scott, so I'm glad that they were just as enthusiastic about the idea as I was.
The goal is to provide a space where students can engage with the department outside of the classroom and connect with other students. It might sound kind of simple, but I think it would help make the student community in American Culture a bit stronger.
If anyone is interested in joining, they can contact either me or Katrina directly!
9. What is your favorite memory from college?
That's such a great question, but I have so many favorite moments! I think the one that sticks out the most is when I met one of my best friends. Oscar lived down the hall from me freshman year, but we didn't really talk to each other. I remember around late October I was desperately missing Mexican food and the Ann Arbor options weren't cutting it for me. After complaining on the phone to my mother, she sent me an excessive amount of food. Tamales, tortillas, chile con queso... you name it, she sent it. The problem was, I couldn't fit everything in my mini-fridge. I warmed up everything in my dorm room and walked down the halls offering some to people. Oscar immediately recognized the smell and peaked his head out of his room.
A bunch of people ended up coming to his room as I passed around tamales. Many of them didn't know that you aren't supposed to eat the corn husk and tried eating it like a burrito. Oscar and I started laughing because we couldn't believe that they all thought that we regularly eat corn husks. After that, we completely bonded and I can't imagine not having him in my life.
