• 2009 Maxwell Family High Hopes Scholarship recipient
• University of California, Irvine

• Fall 2009

I am first generation in my family to attend a University. I am currently attending the University of California, Irvine; having gone through the first quarter feels like such a relief. College has had its ups and downs. When I first arrived at Irvine I felt like a stranger, miles away from home, everything was new, I was no longer surrounded by the familiar places that I used to attend to so often. But as weeks passed I met new people and began to grow accustomed to the new environment.

I didn’t believe it at first, but the workload in college is completely different to the one in high school. Even though you spend less time in class, more time is required for reading and studying. Time management is very important in college; it dictates the amount of activities that you can accomplish in a day. From experience I have learned to not procrastinate and leave things to the last minute. I can truly say college has brought about so many new life learning experiences, everything that I learned from day one until now has been helpful and hopefully I will be able to apply it to future experiences.