![user profile avatar](https://static.bold.org/profilePictures/a44635f9ccaa41449c18480d05f13c31845d7c4530564bfbbaccbaef851a4900.webp)
Hobbies and interests
Football
Nordic Skiing
Lacrosse
Basketball
Coaching
Woodworking
Babysitting And Childcare
Movies And Film
Writing
Kayaking
Alpine Skiing
Swimming
Boxing
Volleyball
Luis Paez
425
Bold Points1x
Finalist![user profile avatar](https://static.bold.org/profilePictures/a44635f9ccaa41449c18480d05f13c31845d7c4530564bfbbaccbaef851a4900.webp)
Luis Paez
425
Bold Points1x
FinalistBio
I want to be someone that I can be proud of, I will accomplish this by living life with no regrets. I love to do sports and I am willing to try new things. My favorite sports have been football, lacrosse, and nordic skiing.
Education
Irondale Senior High
High SchoolMiscellaneous
Desired degree level:
Bachelor's degree program
Majors of interest:
- Mechanical Engineering
Career
Dream career field:
Mechanical or Industrial Engineering
Dream career goals:
My role was to coach young skiers and teach them how to ski properly and efficiently while also cultivating a fun and safe space for the kids.
Trail Kids2023 – 20241 year
Sports
Football
Varsity2020 – 20244 years
Awards
- Defensive Captain
- Lead team in Tackles
- Special Teams MVP
Public services
Volunteering
Trail Kids — My role was to coach young skiers and teach them how to ski properly and efficiently while also cultivating a fun and safe space for the kids.2023 – 2024
PD Instore Scholarship
Me receiving this scholarship would not only help me pay for college but it would help me accomplish a dream bestowed upon me by my parents. They are immigrants from Mexico, both my mom and step-dad have overcome unsurpassable odds to make a life for me and my brother. They have both battled against racism and various others doubting their intelligence based on their ethnicity, my mom raised two boys alone and raised them while working as an engineer back in Mexico. This was all in the effort for me and my brother to have the chance to dream and achieve said dream. All of this, just to give me and my brother a chance to go to college. In her job as an engineer my mom met a man who would later become my step-dad. He is the closest thing I have to a father, I know that like any other parent my step-dad wishes for me and my brother to succeed in our endeavors.
Out of all of my family I would be among the few that can say that they were able to graduate from a university. I am the oldest from my family to go to school in the United States of America and I would be one of the few from my step-family to have completed their college education. I wasn't blessed with many physical gifts neither was I blessed with a ridiculous amount of money. However the hard work and enthusiasm from my mom and step-dad have infected me to the core. When I go to school I am not just going to school to chase my dreams and try to accomplish a career but also to make my mom's dream for us a reality. A single mother's dream to see her son graduate from college, to receive his diploma in the cap and gown. That was and still is my mother's dream for me. She has sacrificed so many things and the school I have been accepted to, the University of Minnesota, fits this criteria. It is an amazing college that I know I can thrive in and enjoy.
On top of that, when I graduate I will be able to accomplish not just one of my goals but also the first step towards my own dream. That being, I want to help people, I want to leave my mark in this world and become someone that I can be proud of. My dream is to become a professional as a mechanical engineer and find a way to help those around me. I want to make at least one person's life just a bit better, so many people have helped me and supported me. It would the right thing to do to help someone else in return.
I have met a million people and my heart stands along a million other hearts. What makes me special, the one thing I have over the other million people going to college is that someway, somehow I will become an engineer. I don't care if I have to crawl and drag myself to the finish line. I will graduate, just please help me not burden my family any longer.
I was blessed with a wonderful family and in a way it makes me feel extremely selfish for me to have this opportunity that my parents and family never had. I want to make them all proud and show my brother that it is possible to do anything that you set your mind to, I want my mom to see her little boy graduate and I want very selfishly to not burden my mother any longer. I know its a selfish wish, I just need a chance to show the world and maybe even myself just how smart and capable I am.
In order for me to do that I need that money. This scholarship is my first step into ensuring my own selfish desire and like any step it is an extremely important one. If I am awarded with this money I will go to college and not drown my family with my burdens and to double down I will graduate college as a first generation and do what my parents worked so hard to give me, a dream and a chance to be something great.