Hometown: Austin, Texas

Majors: Health and Society and Spanish

Best choice she says she ever made: coming to Beloit College

How Beloit (and its Student Support Services) has her back: SSS is like another mother. I would bring a paper in to the office and just write, write, write. My advisor would read it and it would just be bleeding red. I don’t think a lot of colleges provide a support system that genuinely wants to see you succeed. They do everything in their power. Their doors are never really closed.

Why Beloit discussions make you a better thinker—and a better person: In class, you formulate your opinion and you express it, but you also have to defend it. I don’t think many schools allow deep conversations about taboo subjects. At Beloit, we just dive right into it. You definitely don’t go with the flow here. You have to ask, “What do you really believe?”

Why Beloit is Lucia’s stepping stone to a Ph.D. (part one):  I want to get a Ph.D., but, when I was looking at colleges, I knew I wasn’t prepared mentally for it. I needed a school that would mentally prepare me. Beloit was step one for my long-term goals.

Why Beloit is Lucia’s stepping stone to a Ph.D. (part two):   I’m a McNair Scholar. My summer research project focused on how cultural differences affect doctor-patient relationships among the United States Latino population. I was amazed at what I found. Some doctors don’t ask for a translator when they know they should get them. Some hospital ERs assume your nationality without even asking you. I was like, “This needs to change.”

How she plans to change it: I’m set on a nursing Ph.D. degree. You can do so many things from there: administrative health, public health, family care. That degree would not only get me on the public health policy side but also I could work with patients as well.

How a Beloit major is really lots of majors wrapped up in one: I want a well-rounded perspective of things. I want experience in not just one disciplinary area but a bunch, and my health and society major allows me to do that. You take classes from sociology, psychology, and biology. I feel like health and society taps you into what you want to study.

What she has to say to prospective students: Do you want to take a risk not just to have a good education but to explore yourself? If you’re up to the challenge, come to Beloit. You can be pretty much anything you want here. If you want it, it’s out there. Go for it.