Hello, my name is Diego Flores Lopez and I am asking you to SHARE and READ my story.

I came to the US around a decade ago. Coming to the unknown my family and I struggled to adapt as we were forced to move here due to violent threats in our hometown city of Toluca, Mexico.

My parents decided to move for our safety and a chance at a better life, but little did we know the many struggles we would face coming here. Being unable to communicate with the community and being far away from our extended family left us feeling isolated. But little by little we came to appreciate the benefits and greatness of living making this country our second home.

Seeing the sacrifices my parents have made in the pursuit of a better life I have made it my commitment to strive and take advantage of the opportunities around me. I have maintained a 4.0+ GPA, completed internships at USD and UCSD, and tutored advanced math and chemistry. Beyond academics, I participated in varsity Cross Country and Track, qualified for CIF state competitions, volunteered over 100 hours, and founded a school club for community involvement.

All this hard work was summed up to major in Chemical Engineering at my dream school UCSD. Fortunately for me, I was accepted into my major at Warren College. But even with this accomplishment came the difficulty that has had us on the edge.

My parents came to the US on a work visa. Being on this visa has allowed us to complete our duties as residents, As of today, we are obtaining our green card, which has withheld us from leaving the country for five years. Due to the pandemic and high demand, there is a backup of the processes that will delay ours for at least another year. But even with this, I am still being recognized as a non-resident at UCSD making the tuition double of what we planned to pay for. Being recognized as an international student abstains me from any type of aid. I am not eligible for FAFSA, CA Dream Act, student loans, or in some instances many merit scholarships- all due to my citizenship, all this making my chances of attending UCSD almost impossible.

Due to this circumstance, my only choice to accomplish my dream is to attend part-time to maintain my admission to UCSD for the following fall.

I am telling you my story to ask for help in order for me to attend full time one day and get my engineering degree on time. I would love to see if you can share my story to connect me to someone or a foundation who can further assist me in my education to have the possibility to attend UCSD. I am open to any way of repayment like internships, work, volunteering, etc. I hope you can see it in your heart to help this future hard-working engineer in any way and if not thank you for reading my story.