Our Mission

Hi! My name is Alexis and I am an undergraduate student studying psychology at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). I am a recipient of The Gates Scholarship, a last-dollar scholarship, and I have won over $80,000 from other additional scholarships. As a first-generation, low-income student, I know how scary it can be thinking about pursuing college when realizing its cost. As I continued to converse with my peers in high school and at UCI, I realized that their parents or family members discouraged them from going to a university due to the cost, just as my family did, and instead encouraged them to work a laborious job to avoid falling into debt. This financial barrier hinders students from underprivileged backgrounds from forming educational and career aspirations. I aim to take away this barrier from as many ambitious underprivileged youth and college students as possible through my Soñando Sin Miedo project (Dreaming Without Fear project). Through my project, I work personally with students, sharing scholarship strategies, editing writing, connecting students to mentors, and more! I hope to help others who come from a similar background do the same as I did, win enough scholarships to go to a 4-year university for free, pushing them to form meaningful educational aspirations and pursue these dreams without financial fear.