My word to describe Oxy: Versatile

Hometown: Pawtucket, RI
Major: Diplomacy & World Affairs
Minor: French Studies

"[Occidental's philosophy on 'learning by doing'] was one of the biggest reasons I applied. The values the institution has instilled in me have driven me to conduct independent research in Spain, participate in a number of extracurricular activities like Glee Club, Cadence, theater, film, music, community service and a plethora of other activities that have taken me from RI to LA and half way around the world. I could not be more thankful for these opportunities. During the summer of 2011, I interned for the Office of the Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, in Washington, D.C. I was the only Hispanic Press Intern and, while I worked long and hard days, I gained incredible experience and met a lot of great people. Occidental played an integral role in my fortune. In addition, I will be interning at the Permanent Mission of Honduras at the United Nations for fall 2011--another indispensable experience Occidental had a major hand in helping me procure."

"In the summer of 2010, I was fortunate enough to be among 20 recipients of the Richter Traditional Scholars Program, which allowed me to study Hip-Hop/Flamenco Fusion, Globalization and the Multimedia Revolution in Spain. The application process was long. I began working on it in August of 2009 and spent a lot of sleepless nights along the way. In the end, it was well worth the elbow grease. Those three months in Spain changed my life. I met dozens of interesting artists and scholars, from underground rappers, to internationally known dancers to professors and ethnomusicologists. I shot over 40 hours of footage which I still have not finished cutting but I hope to submit a short documentary to the Oxy Film Festival in the spring."