Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. Deuteronomy 7:9 (NIV). As a first-generation Mexican American, I am blessed beyond measures with the family that God has entrusted me with. My mother is caring, compassionate, a pioneer who was the first to attend college in her family after immigrating to America at the age of eleven. My father a God-fearing man, who works hard and even built my house. My eldest brother is with the Lord, but in his time on earth he was strong and courageous. A U.S Navy veteran who lost his private battle to depression. My second eldest brother an example of what it means to be Christian, to read and understand the bible, and to teach God's word without fear of the enemy and his tactics. My twin brother is a loving, sympathetic soul, who strives to help in the medical field. I am blessed to be the only daughter of my parents, and I like to believe I inherit a lot of my parents amazing qualities. My name is Katy Damaris Reyes; I am a Christian who was raised in the church and volunteer on Sundays with the 10-12 age range. However, that doesn't define me or my relationship with Christ. To begin I'd like to share my testimony, growing up in the church I knew of God but didn't fully know God. I strived to be a good Christian and often practiced works without faith. (James 2:14-26) It wasn't until my brother committed suicide when I was sixteen that I began to fully realize how far I strayed. I wasn't actively committing sin or drinking and partying like many other kids at my school, but I also wasn't fully following God's word either or practicing a routine to spend time in God's word or hearing his voice. I had a one-sided relationship with God. When my brother passed my church rushed to help, and I was put on a bus to Center Fuge with the youth group. A caring family had paid for my brother and I to go at the last minute. I had actively avoided going to youth before this. It just wasn't my thing, after Covid-19 happened I had no friends and knew none of the leaders anymore. But I did realize that I needed God to help me through this loss. I needed his help to help my family heal. So, I sucked it up, and went to help me discover God's voice, I didn't need to make friends I just wanted to hear God. Luckly, God knew I needed community, so on that trip I rediscovered God and found a small community of girls that help me hear God's voice. After centrifuge, we formed a bible study that I am still an active member of to this day. It is a grand time of laughing, comforting each other and getting convicted every now and then. It helped me strengthen my relationship with God. However, no relationship with God does not come without the threat of spiritual warfare. In April 2024, I began to experience attacks during my sleep, I was under an intense spiritual warfare for months. I began to grow paranoid and, in all honesty, I barely just started sleeping by myself again. But in this time my community stepped up, we vocalized these attacks and gained strength in the fact that were not in this alone. We encourage each other to pray and read our bibles daily. As of today, I still get attacked, not as often but I find strength that I must be doing something right if I'm being attacked. Ephesians 6:10 Apart from my testimony, I am currently a Barista at a coffee shop called Global Coffee. Where I serve Gods people coffee to help them throughout their day. I am a friend who lends a helping hand when my friends are struggling. I enjoy running when I am struggling mentally and find that it can help me relieve stress. I enjoy upbeat worship music and am currently obsessed with Leon, by Elevation Worship Spanish. I do, however, enjoy worship in English and Spanish. I also do enjoy listening to Sombr, Bad Bunny and Tame Impala. I am currently a major in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UTEP & take some core classes at EPCC. In the future I would like to be an agricultural specialist for the U.S Border Patrol and help the local environment with harmful plants and soil. I also do enjoy the beach but find any body of water resourceful for a nice swim. If I were to be granted this scholarship, I would be able to pay for my books and transportation to class. As of late the price of books and online software has increasingly risen and it's been difficult to decide what to pay for without taking out another loan. I would like to graduate college as debt free as possible. With this money I would be able to take less shifts at work and be able to volunteer my time to my community and ecosystem. I am an active member in my church and would like to continue to make time to help the children and families who would like to learn about God at their own level , not only on Sunday mornings.This scholarship would be a blessing to me and my family to help lift some of the financial burdens on our shoulders. As I continue my undergraduate journey these next classes will help me learn more about our environment and how I can help save our planet while we are still here. I hope you kindly consider me for this scholarship, however, I know this scholarship will be a huge blessing to anyone who receives it. Thank you!

The Guts album perfectly described the stages of ages sixteen through nineteen for me. The way all the songs have meaning and can be fun and heartwarming while others are like being stabbed in the back all over again, it makes you feel something. However, I feel like my favorite line and one that represents me completely is , " I'm so tired of being the girl that I am." That is how I feel most days in my teenage years. To have imposter syndrome to feel so confident in one moment and utter in disgust and what you just said. To be so judgemental of yourself for feeling the way you feel. All feelings are valid but being a girl who laughs to hard or similes to late is so discouraging. To feel like everyone is judging your every move in your most shapeable years to exhausting. I feel like making the bed describes the days it's so hard to accept that it's usually your fault for feeling the way you do. To realize that sometimes it's not even other people who make us feel so vile and disgusting but ourselves. To not even understand why you wake up hating yourself one morning and the next feeling like your untouchable. Its that knowing you have everything you could ever need but wanting more. To wanting the life you see of a pretty girl on instagram. The girl whose parents never worry about money and let their daughter live her best life because of it. The girl who always says the right thing, who dresses the best, who has the best perfume. Its the sin of lusting after a life that isn't yours and will never be yours. So you mourn the life that will never be yours. Than in a split second being so disgusted with all these thoughts. Realizing you aren't even the victim. You are the reason your mind is the way it is. Its an ever exhausting loop of loving yourself and hating yourself for loving yourself to having yourself to hating yourself for hating yourself. Its exhausting cycle no one talks about and I feel like Olivia captured it perfectly in the sing making the bed. At the end of the day you are in control of your own life and you make your own bed where you lie in, and it's up to you to make it comfortable enough to sleep in. I love Olivia Rodrigo for making two banger albums that I could cry and belt to.

As a first-generation Mexican American, I am proud of how I was raised and who raised me. My mother, born in Juárez, Chihuahua, is the true definition of a pioneer—the first in her family of nine to attend college and complete a degree in bilingual education. My father worked the fields and later construction from his teenage years into adulthood. He is a hardworking man who built my family’s home with his own hands. Both of my parents are pioneers and leaders who fought for their education and modeled perseverance, teaching me to do the same. I have three brothers who have shaped my life in profound ways. Emilio, my oldest brother, was a Navy veteran who served in Japan as a minesman. He tragically lost his battle with depression when I was sixteen. My second eldest brother, Jacobo, is currently working on his master’s degree in social work and has explored more career paths than I can count. My twin brother, Diego, serves our local community as an EMT and volunteer firefighter. Together, my parents and brothers have taught me lessons about resilience, service, and courage. My name is Katy Reyes, and I am a proud Mexican American who loves the Lord, my family, and the ocean. I grew up in Socorro, Texas, a small community outside of El Paso, known for its fields and canals. It is predominantly Hispanic and Spanish-speaking. For a time, I also lived in Brownsville, Texas, where I grew my love for the ocean. In high school, I was active in many activities—dance team, cross country, and captain of the swim team. Outside of school, I serve in my church’s children’s ministry, helping guide young children in their walk with Christ. My faith has been my anchor in both joyful and difficult seasons. Growing up, I did not always realize what my family lacked. When my cousin cared for me after school, I thought it was simply fun time with an older sister figure, not realizing my parents couldn’t afford daycare. Standing in line at the church food pantry felt like community fellowship, not a necessity to put food on our table. Showering at a friend’s home felt like a sleepover, not a reminder that our water had been shut off. I celebrated new shoes from local organizations without understanding how crucial that generosity was for us. Those experiences shaped me, but one moment broke the foundation of my world—when my family had to afford a funeral. On May 15, 2022, my brother Emilio died by suicide. His loss was shocking, heartbreaking, and devastating. He had been home from the Navy for less than a year, working and attending school using his GI Bill. He was charismatic, contagiously funny, and easy to be around. When Jacobo broke the news to me, my world fell apart. My mother wept for days, my father sat in silence, and I found myself helping Jacobo make difficult phone calls. I contacted the Veterans Affairs office, tried to arrange funeral services, and quickly realized how expensive they were. My father scrambled to find money, while I was sent back to school with the instructions to “focus on something else.” It was the darkest month of my life. In the months that followed, my support system rallied behind us, but it was God I relied on the most. A generous donation from our church allowed us to afford Emilio’s funeral. Later that summer, another generous donation was given so that my twin brother and I were sent ona retreat where I reconnected with my faith. I begged God to show me how my brother’s death could shape our family’s story. Though I still do not fully understand it, I am deeply grateful for the people who believed in us and reminded me that God’s grace appears even in pain. Despite these challenges, I remained focused on education. With the support of my school, I graduated from El Paso Community College with a degree in multidisciplinary studies in the fall of my senior year of high school. I pushed myself to complete it early so I could begin my studies at The University of Texas at El Paso in spring 2024. My school district’s dual-credit program helped me achieve this milestone while limiting the student loans I would need to take out. I am now pursuing a degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and I am completely enamored with my courses. I love learning how each member of an ecosystem plays a vital role. I want to study how we can protect natural resources—especially water—in regions like my own, where scarcity is a daily challenge. Growing up in the desert, I witnessed how essential water is to both families and ecosystems. Later, my time in Brownsville deepened my fascination with marine life and conservation. These two worlds—the desert and the ocean—sparked my passion for understanding the environment and finding ways to preserve it for future generations. I want families to feel confident in the water they drink, and I want communities to thrive without fear of scarcity. This scholarship would allow me to continue my studies without the financial barriers that have followed my family for generations. More than that, it would represent an investment in my dream: to turn the lessons I’ve learned from adversity into action that protects people, communities, and the planet.

The smell of water always takes me back to early morning runs with my cross-country team. Do I live by any significant body of water? No, in fact I grew up in West Texas, Socorro, Texas to be exact just a few miles outside of El Paso, Texas. I do love the ocean, and you will always catch me knee deep in lakes or bodies of waters I can find. I was even on the swim team; my twin brother and I were captains. I come from a family grounded in love, faith, and hard work. We share a strong Christian foundation that guides how we treat others and the world around us. That same spirit carries over into my current job at a coffee shop owned by a fellow believer. It’s been a blessing in my life although I'm pretty sure I am growing a small addiction to caffeine. Who knew that would happen? I am currently majoring in Ecology and Evolutionary biology. I want to understand the earth and how we react to it the way we do. We share this planet with many interesting animals and biodiversity. The number of plants and organisms (living and non-living) we interact with daily could often go uncared for, but I believe there is meaning in every interaction. It's beautiful what nature can do on its own. Not to mention, how we as humans can help increase its beauty and protect it from harm. I personally find benefit from hands on learning and have found this major to be beneficial to both my learning and how I interact with others in day-to-day life. In the future, I hope to serve my community as a water quality scientist or an agriculture specialist with the U.S. Border Patrol. In El Paso, nearly 40% of our water supply comes from the Rio Grande. As a proud Mexican American and lifelong member of the border community, I feel a deep responsibility to protect our local water resources. I understand firsthand the needs of families like mine, and I want to help ensure they have access to clean, safe water — not just today, but for generations to come. On the opposite side of my street are pecan farms that rely on this same river for irrigation, or down the street in Fabens, Texas where bee farms are being used for income. Clean, sustainable water doesn’t just serve homes, but can help people make a living. By studying water sustainability and how ecosystems function, I hope to develop smarter, more sustainable ways to manage this vital resource. I believe science can be a tool for compassion — a way to serve and protect both people and the planet.

On May 15, 2022 at 4:45 in the morning my eldest brother, a navy veteran committed suicide. It was an unexpected loss. It was tragic and heart-wrenching. There were no signs, letters, or even a phone call to say goodbye. He had plans for later that day, plans throughout the week he would never get to complete. As a Christian, the first thing I wanted to do was pray that he was in heaven safe. It scared me to think that he would punished for this eternally. Although I know that God forgives every sin, the thought frightened me. But who was I to tell my mother who had just lost her firstborn son, that we needed to pray? That day was silent, the most silent my family had ever been. The initial shock, the feeling that I needed to step up, the fear of the future. Would my parents divorce? Would my dad kill himself as well after the news? What caused this? Are we sure it was suicide? Was it the alcohol he consumed? What did we miss? In the weeks leading up to the funeral, I slept in my twin brothers' room while my parents rarely slept. With my father's stone-cold face and my mother's random sobs, it was hard, and awkward. As a Mexican, family runs deep in our roots, so the calls came flooding in, the doorbell rang every five minutes for two weeks, and family friends, cousins from out of town, and people who had just gone on vacation ran back to El Paso. The constant hugs, my grief didn't hit me right away so that was awkward plus I'm not a hug person. Church people, I had never met before had created a food train for the two weeks until the funeral. Our community gathered around to support us. To not break my mother more I called the VA and declared my brother dead. It was hard but my other brother took over halfway through the phone call. It's been two years since my brother died, and I miss him every day. Since, his death I've realized God has had a plan, he turns graves into gardens. When my brother died I knew I could not turn to drugs or alcohol, because what would that do? I was a sophomore in high school, and in some way that would through my life away. So, I joined the cross-country team and ran. I ran every morning that year and just kept running. It was my escape, it was my peace. God even gave me a strong Christian community that first year I went to bible study and grew even closer with God. I want to continue what my brother started and continue going to college even after previous failures, my brother was a " C's get degrees" type of guy but he instilled the importance of education in me. However, throughout all this, I worried for my family's peace even my dog Chocó's peace. I realized however that as a family we would continue to trust in God in his mysterious ways. We each grew closer to our God and for that, I am forever thankful for. I pray Emilio is happy and at peace on a boat in Heaven.