I am a millennial Mexican American who has been raised in the outdoors. Ever since I was one year old, I’ve been camping, fishing, backpacking and exploring the outdoors. When I was in high school, Hispanic Access Foundation gave me the opportunity to go out West with first my family and then college students to explore the beauty of our National Parks and highlight the issues surrounding them.

Those experiences and my love for the outdoors inspired me to study Environmental Biology and Chemistry at Christopher Newport University, where I graduated Magna Cum Laude with Honors. Although my education consisted of primarily science, I made it a priority to infuse my environmental studies with policy analysis and discussion. To me, the relationship between people and their world was the most central element to understand. My decision to join the HAF team was spurred by the desire to help others shine, and to showing our Latino community how important their relationship to their environment really is.