I have been teaching Art Therapy/classes at the Santa Cruz County Jail-Men's and Women's Facility with the Artistic Rehabilitative Therapeutic (ART) Initiative since 2017. Being a conduit for the inmates to find inner peace while creating art and preventing recidivism is our ultimate goal. Seeing them as family members as well as respected members of our society helps mend any open wounds they bring up creating their projects. Being an Art Graduate for Spatial Art here at San Jose State University I continue to volunteer in Santa Cruz, am a Student Art Graduate Committee Representative, the Sculpture Guild President, and work as a Student Assistant in the Woodshop. With volunteering, I hope to bring better cathartic avenues of approach, highlight the issues of mass incarceration, and talk about prison reform. So much is being said about what is wrong with America and there is not more being done about how we should heal America. I will continue to shed light on how we should start to inspire those incarcerated or even those who also struggle through mental illness to become leaders themselves as well as overcome any issues or roadblocks they may have faced within their past. This scholarship will help fund the ART Initiative materials and supplies.

Coming from (East) Menlo Park, our community always understood that Menlo-Atherton, West Menlo Park were more privileged and had been named one of the richest cities in the world. Yet, we had wonderful teachers at Belle Haven Elementary school. Some were Latinx and held an MA in Mathematics like Mr. Dueñes, or participated in the Civil Rights movements, like Mr. Speed, Mrs. Anderson, Ms. White, or Ms. Harris. With these people being leaders for our neighborhood's cultures and their history of determination, I was always inspired by their struggle and their tenacity for giving back to humanity as a way of teaching us how to be role models for those who come after us. During my transition to Menlo-Atherton High School, my dad separated from my mother and it threw her three boys and four girls as well as herself into a deep depression. Through this event, I did terribly during my freshman year and received a 1.8 GPA. I did Summer school following that year and made it a goal that I would never have a year like that. I proved myself right and would eventually graduate with a 3.0+ grade point average. Problems would continue without having a father figure in my life. I did not know what I wanted to do in life, and college came pretty fast. I did not think I was going to college even though I had signed up three months earlier. I was registered but was late in signing up for classes and my very first class was Salsa Dancing. Doing well during my dance class, I still didn’t have any direction or motivation for college and took more classes which dropped my grade point average even more within an educational career. I worked full-time at Starbucks and felt in no way that I could have life within education. I wanted to change the world and become a better person. I thought of myself as someone who had honor, courage, and commitment to people around me. And with that said, I joined the United States Marine Corps with an open contract. I went through Basic Training and Rifleman Training then was shipped to Meridian, Mississippi where I would eventually rank up from a Private to Private First Class. After two months of studying and training, I was given the title of a 7041, Aviation Operation Specialist, which became my job for the next two years as a Marine. While in Afghanistan I still trained physically, mentally, did my duties. Some Marines were sent home during the middle of a deployment, and I volunteered to stay and finish my responsibilities and helped train oncoming Marines on how to perform the tasks I had at hand. We were attacked by insurgents and I was hit with bereavement when my Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Raible was killed in action. I saw him like the dad I never had during high school. About 7 days would pass and my biological dad died of a heart attack and I did not hear about it until 14 days after we were attacked. And after that, I still finished my tour in Afghanistan and came back unmotivated to continue my career as a Marine. After those two years, my squadron released me of my duty by discharging me with a General (Under Honorable Conditions). Coming back home has given me the time to cope with some of my personal losses and given me the strength and ambition to move on and strive to help those in need of assistance.

I arrived in Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, AZ just after my schooling, and unexpectedly I was shipped out with the Harrier Squadron 211 to Afghanistan within the 3-month period. With my basic schooling as a clerk within my squadron, I was not prepared for the duties that I would endure. However, the basic training and leadership skills that I received in my preparation gave me the confidence and willingness to learn and keep striving. Therefore, during my title of becoming an operational clerk, I excelled and was set to arrive in Afghanistan in April 2012. I worked 12-hour shifts, learned more about my job duties, and was promoted from Private First Class to Lance Corporal. While in Afghanistan I still trained physically, mentally, did my duties. Some Marines were sent home during the middle of a deployment, and I volunteered to stay and finish my responsibilities and helped train oncoming Marines on how to perform the tasks I had at hand. We were attacked by insurgents and I was hit with bereavement when my Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Raible was killed in action. I saw him like the dad I never had during high school. About 7 days would pass and my biological dad died of a heart attack and I did not hear about it until 14 days after we were attacked. And after that, I still finished my tour in Afghanistan and came back unmotivated to continue my career as a Marine. After those two years, my squadron released me of my duty by discharging me with a General (Under Honorable Conditions). Coming back home has given me the time to cope with some of my personal losses and given me the strength and ambition to move on and strive to help those in need of assistance. With having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from the events of being at war, I worked security and slowly made my way back into school. After some time, I decided to stop working and pursue Education and Art as a full-time student. Later I would transfer from Foothill College to UC Santa Cruz, where graduated with Magna Cum Laude and was accepted to San Jose State University MFA program for Spatial Art. With that said, I have been teaching Art Therapy/classes at the Santa Cruz County Jail-Men's and Women's Facility with the Artistic Rehabilitative Therapeutic (ART) Initiative since 2017. Being a conduit for the inmates to find inner peace while creating art and preventing recidivism is our ultimate goal. Seeing them as family members as well as respected members of our society helps mend any open wounds they bring up creating their projects. Being an Art Graduate for Spatial Art here at San Jose State University I continue to volunteer in Santa Cruz, am a Student Art Graduate Committee Representative, the Sculpture Guild President, and work as a Student Assistant in the Woodshop. With volunteering, I hope to bring better cathartic avenues of approach, highlight the issues of mass incarceration, and talk about prison reform. So much is being said about what is wrong with America and there is not more being done about how we should heal America. I will continue to shed light on how we should start to inspire those incarcerated or even those who also struggle through mental illness to become leaders themselves as well as overcome any issues or roadblocks they may have faced within their past.

I arrived in Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, AZ just after my schooling, and unexpectedly I was shipped out with the Harrier Squadron 211 to Afghanistan within the 3-month period. With my basic schooling as a clerk within my squadron, I was not prepared for the duties that I would endure. However, the basic training and leadership skills that I received in my preparation gave me the confidence and willingness to learn and keep striving. Therefore, during my title of becoming an operational clerk, I excelled and was set to arrive in Afghanistan in April 2012. I worked 12-hour shifts, learned more about my job duties, and was promoted from Private First Class to Lance Corporal. While in Afghanistan I still trained physically, mentally, did my duties. Some Marines were sent home during the middle of a deployment, and I volunteered to stay and finish my responsibilities and helped train oncoming Marines on how to perform the tasks I had at hand. We were attacked by insurgents and I was hit with bereavement when my Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Raible was killed in action. I saw him like the dad I never had during high school. About 7 days would pass and my biological dad died of a heart attack and I did not hear about it until 14 days after we were attacked. And after that, I still finished my tour in Afghanistan and came back unmotivated to continue my career as a Marine. After those two years, my squadron released me of my duty by discharging me with a General (Under Honorable Conditions). Coming back home has given me the time to cope with some of my personal losses and given me the strength and ambition to move on and strive to help those in need of assistance. With having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from the events of being at war, I worked security and slowly made my way back into school. After some time, I decided to stop working and pursue Education and Art as a full-time student. Later I would transfer from Foothill College to UC Santa Cruz, where graduated with Magna Cum Laude and was accepted to San Jose State University MFA program for Spatial Art. With that said, I have been teaching Art Therapy/classes at the Santa Cruz County Jail-Men's and Women's Facility with the Artistic Rehabilitative Therapeutic (ART) Initiative since 2017. Being a conduit for the inmates to find inner peace while creating art and preventing recidivism is our ultimate goal. Seeing them as family members as well as respected members of our society helps mend any open wounds they bring up creating their projects. Being an Art Graduate for Spatial Art here at San Jose State University I continue to volunteer in Santa Cruz, am a Student Art Graduate Committee Representative, the Sculpture Guild President, and work as a Student Assistant in the Woodshop. With volunteering, I hope to bring better cathartic avenues of approach, highlight the issues of mass incarceration, and talk about prison reform. So much is being said about what is wrong with America and there is not more being done about how we should heal America. I will continue to shed light on how we should start to inspire those incarcerated or even those who also struggle through mental illness to become leaders themselves as well as overcome any issues or roadblocks they may have faced within their past.

I arrived in Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, AZ just after my schooling, and unexpectedly I was shipped out with the Harrier Squadron 211 to Afghanistan within the 3-month period. With my basic schooling as a clerk within my squadron, I was not prepared for the duties that I would endure. However, the basic training and leadership skills that I received in my preparation gave me the confidence and willingness to learn and keep striving. Therefore, during my title of becoming an operational clerk, I excelled and was set to arrive in Afghanistan in April 2012. I worked 12-hour shifts, learned more about my job duties, and was promoted from Private First Class to Lance Corporal. While in Afghanistan I still trained physically, mentally, did my duties. Some Marines were sent home during the middle of a deployment, and I volunteered to stay and finish my responsibilities and helped train oncoming Marines on how to perform the tasks I had at hand. We were attacked by insurgents and I was hit with bereavement when my Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Raible was killed in action. I saw him like the dad I never had during high school. About 7 days would pass and my biological dad died of a heart attack and I did not hear about it until 14 days after we were attacked. And after that, I still finished my tour in Afghanistan and came back unmotivated to continue my career as a Marine. After those two years, my squadron released me of my duty by discharging me with a General (Under Honorable Conditions). Coming back home has given me the time to cope with some of my personal losses and given me the strength and ambition to move on and strive to help those in need of assistance. With having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from the events of being at war, I worked security and slowly made my way back into school. After some time, I decided to stop working and pursue Education and Art as a full-time student. Later I would transfer from Foothill College to UC Santa Cruz, where graduated with Magna Cum Laude and was accepted to San Jose State University MFA program for Spatial Art. With that said, I have been teaching Art Therapy/classes at the Santa Cruz County Jail-Men's and Women's Facility with the Artistic Rehabilitative Therapeutic (ART) Initiative since 2017. Being a conduit for the inmates to find inner peace while creating art and preventing recidivism is our ultimate goal. Seeing them as family members as well as respected members of our society helps mend any open wounds they bring up creating their projects. Being an Art Graduate for Spatial Art here at San Jose State University I continue to volunteer in Santa Cruz, am a Student Art Graduate Committee Representative, the Sculpture Guild President, and work as a Student Assistant in the Woodshop. With volunteering, I hope to bring better cathartic avenues of approach, highlight the issues of mass incarceration, and talk about prison reform. So much is being said about what is wrong with America and there is not more being done about how we should heal America. I will continue to shed light on how we should start to inspire those incarcerated or even those who also struggle through mental illness to become leaders themselves as well as overcome any issues or roadblocks they may have faced within their past.

I arrived in Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, AZ just after my schooling, and unexpectedly I was shipped out with the Harrier Squadron 211 to Afghanistan within the 3-month period. With my basic schooling as a clerk within my squadron, I was not prepared for the duties that I would endure. However, the basic training and leadership skills that I received in my preparation gave me the confidence and willingness to learn and keep striving. Therefore, during my title of becoming an operational clerk, I excelled and was set to arrive in Afghanistan in April 2012. I worked 12-hour shifts, learned more about my job duties, and was promoted from Private First Class to Lance Corporal. While in Afghanistan I still trained physically, mentally, did my duties. Some Marines were sent home during the middle of a deployment, and I volunteered to stay and finish my responsibilities and helped train oncoming Marines on how to perform the tasks I had at hand. We were attacked by insurgents and I was hit with bereavement when my Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Raible was killed in action. I saw him like the dad I never had during high school. About 7 days would pass and my biological dad died of a heart attack and I did not hear about it until 14 days after we were attacked. And after that, I still finished my tour in Afghanistan and came back unmotivated to continue my career as a Marine. After those two years, my squadron released me of my duty by discharging me with a General (Under Honorable Conditions). Coming back home has given me the time to cope with some of my personal losses and given me the strength and ambition to move on and strive to help those in need of assistance. With having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from the events of being at war, I worked security and slowly made my way back into school. After some time, I decided to stop working and pursue Education and Art as a full-time student. Later I would transfer from Foothill College to UC Santa Cruz, where graduated with Magna Cum Laude and was accepted to San Jose State University MFA program for Spatial Art. With that said, I have been teaching Art Therapy/classes at the Santa Cruz County Jail-Men's and Women's Facility with the Artistic Rehabilitative Therapeutic (ART) Initiative since 2017. Being a conduit for the inmates to find inner peace while creating art and preventing recidivism is our ultimate goal. Seeing them as family members as well as respected members of our society helps mend any open wounds they bring up creating their projects. Being an Art Graduate for Spatial Art here at San Jose State University I continue to volunteer in Santa Cruz, am a Student Art Graduate Committee Representative, the Sculpture Guild President, and work as a Student Assistant in the Woodshop. With volunteering, I hope to bring better cathartic avenues of approach, highlight the issues of mass incarceration, and talk about prison reform. So much is being said about what is wrong with America and there is not more being done about how we should heal America. I will continue to shed light on how we should start to inspire those incarcerated or even those who also struggle through mental illness to become leaders themselves as well as overcome any issues or roadblocks they may have faced within their past.

I arrived in Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, AZ just after my schooling, and unexpectedly I was shipped out with the Harrier Squadron 211 to Afghanistan within the 3-month period. With my basic schooling as a clerk within my squadron, I was not prepared for the duties that I would endure. However, the basic training and leadership skills that I received in my preparation gave me the confidence and willingness to learn and keep striving. Therefore, during my title of becoming an operational clerk, I excelled and was set to arrive in Afghanistan in April 2012. I worked 12-hour shifts, learned more about my job duties, and was promoted from Private First Class to Lance Corporal. While in Afghanistan I still trained physically, mentally, did my duties. Some Marines were sent home during the middle of a deployment, and I volunteered to stay and finish my responsibilities and helped train oncoming Marines on how to perform the tasks I had at hand. We were attacked by insurgents and I was hit with bereavement when my Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Raible was killed in action. I saw him like the dad I never had during high school. About 7 days would pass and my biological dad died of a heart attack and I did not hear about it until 14 days after we were attacked. And after that, I still finished my tour in Afghanistan and came back unmotivated to continue my career as a Marine. After those two years, my squadron released me of my duty by discharging me with a General (Under Honorable Conditions). Coming back home has given me the time to cope with some of my personal losses and given me the strength and ambition to move on and strive to help those in need of assistance. With having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from the events of being at war, I worked security and slowly made my way back into school. After some time, I decided to stop working and pursue Education and Art as a full-time student. Later I would transfer from Foothill College to UC Santa Cruz, where graduated with Magna Cum Laude and was accepted to San Jose State University MFA program for Spatial Art. With that said, I have been teaching Art Therapy/classes at the Santa Cruz County Jail-Men's and Women's Facility with the Artistic Rehabilitative Therapeutic (ART) Initiative since 2017. Being a conduit for the inmates to find inner peace while creating art and preventing recidivism is our ultimate goal. Seeing them as family members as well as respected members of our society helps mend any open wounds they bring up creating their projects. Being an Art Graduate for Spatial Art here at San Jose State University I continue to volunteer in Santa Cruz, am a Student Art Graduate Committee Representative, the Sculpture Guild President, and work as a Student Assistant in the Woodshop. With volunteering, I hope to bring better cathartic avenues of approach, highlight the issues of mass incarceration, and talk about prison reform. So much is being said about what is wrong with America and there is not more being done about how we should heal America. I will continue to shed light on how we should start to inspire those incarcerated or even those who also struggle through mental illness to become leaders themselves as well as overcome any issues or roadblocks they may have faced within their past.

I arrived in Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, AZ just after my schooling, and unexpectedly I was shipped out with the Harrier Squadron 211 to Afghanistan within the 3-month period. With my basic schooling as a clerk within my squadron, I was not prepared for the duties that I would endure. However, the basic training and leadership skills that I received in my preparation gave me the confidence and willingness to learn and keep striving. Therefore, during my title of becoming an operational clerk, I excelled and was set to arrive in Afghanistan in April 2012. I worked 12-hour shifts, learned more about my job duties, and was promoted from Private First Class to Lance Corporal. While in Afghanistan I still trained physically, mentally, did my duties. Some Marines were sent home during the middle of a deployment, and I volunteered to stay and finish my responsibilities and helped train oncoming Marines on how to perform the tasks I had at hand. We were attacked by insurgents and I was hit with bereavement when my Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Raible was killed in action. I saw him like the dad I never had during high school. About 7 days would pass and my biological dad died of a heart attack and I did not hear about it until 14 days after we were attacked. And after that, I still finished my tour in Afghanistan and came back unmotivated to continue my career as a Marine. After those two years, my squadron released me of my duty by discharging me with a General (Under Honorable Conditions). Coming back home has given me the time to cope with some of my personal losses and given me the strength and ambition to move on and strive to help those in need of assistance. With having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from the events of being at war, I worked security and slowly made my way back into school. After some time, I decided to stop working and pursue Education and Art as a full-time student. Later I would transfer from Foothill College to UC Santa Cruz, where graduated with Magna Cum Laude and was accepted to San Jose State University MFA program for Spatial Art. With that said, I have been teaching Art Therapy/classes at the Santa Cruz County Jail-Men's and Women's Facility with the Artistic Rehabilitative Therapeutic (ART) Initiative since 2017. Being a conduit for the inmates to find inner peace while creating art and preventing recidivism is our ultimate goal. Seeing them as family members as well as respected members of our society helps mend any open wounds they bring up creating their projects. Being an Art Graduate for Spatial Art here at San Jose State University I continue to volunteer in Santa Cruz, am a Student Art Graduate Committee Representative, the Sculpture Guild President, and work as a Student Assistant in the Woodshop. With volunteering, I hope to bring better cathartic avenues of approach, highlight the issues of mass incarceration, and talk about prison reform. So much is being said about what is wrong with America and there is not more being done about how we should heal America. I will continue to shed light on how we should start to inspire those incarcerated or even those who also struggle through mental illness to become leaders themselves as well as overcome any issues or roadblocks they may have faced within their past.