Introduction

Hello, my name is Christina Garcia and I along with my older brother am second generation Mexicans from Los Angeles, California, but to be more specific Pico Rivera.  Growing up in Pico was great; the community was small and predominately Latino, which in a way limited my exposure to other cultures.  Other than that it was awesome, especially having Mexican restaurants on every corner.  I graduated from El Rancho High School, and the funniest thing is that every non Spanish speaker I share that with will comment,” Oh my God! Is your school’s name really in Spanish?” I started taking tennis lessons at the age of six and was able to play for my school’s varsity team for three consecutive years.  I loved high school, but moving away to college was a whole new experience.  I chose UCSB based on its location near the beach and my older cousin’s high recommendations.  I am majoring in speech pathology in order to work with young kids to overcome their speech impediments and help them boost their self-esteem.  Many people often question why I chose this major.  My reason why is always the same, I chose it because I saw the struggle my favorite younger cousin faced each and every day of his life when he tried to communicate with either adults or kids.  Most of his peers would tease or make fun of him because they couldn’t understand what he was saying and adults would ignore him for the same reason.  It was disheartening to see him struggle with something so simple as talking when most of us just take it for granted.  I want to be able to help kids like my cousin and UCSB will help me obtain the necessary tools to help these young kids. My first week at Santa Barbara has been much better than I anticipated and hopefully the year will continue as so.