Early Life
ISLANDIA, NEW YORK
I grew up in Islandia, New York. I started playing the wonderful sport of soccer at age 5. My parents are originally from Colombia and my father, especially, was really pushing for me to start soccer right away. At first, it wasn't something I wanted to get into but I knew it would make my father happy. It eventually made me feel empowered and I fell in love with the sport. Not only did it make my father happy but it also started to make me happy.
As for high school, I attended Saint John the Baptist Diocesan High School in West Islip, New York. I played on my freshman and sophomore team. I tried out for the varsity team as a junior and did not think much of it but I made the team. I made the all conference team twice as a junior and senior. My team was runner up in the Catholic league of Long Island.
For my travel/club team, we were nationally and state ranked. We would travel every weekend up and down the east coast. If we weren’t in New Jersey, we were in Maryland and if it wasn’t Maryland we were in Delaware… And you guessed it, if we weren’t there; we were on a flight to Florida.
College Life
SACRED HEART UNIVERSITY/NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
My situation was a lot different than the other girls who went away to school. I first started my collegiate career at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut. They recruited me through their coaches seeing my high school games and me attending their camps.
However, I realized the fit wasn't good for me throughout my sophomore year. I would then start the transfer process. I was looking at a bunch of different schools but I ultimately decided on New York University. Although NYU is division 3 and Sacred Heart is division 1, the intensity level was still high. I was recruited to NYU by the coach attending my spring games at Sacred Heart.
The transfer experience was not difficult at all. As for balancing school and soccer, that was the most difficult part. I was the only one out of the six of us to play at the division one level. It was a crazy experience. After transferring to NYU, it was definitely hard to balance my life and athletic life but once I got into a rhythm, it came easy to me.
Future Life
LAWYER
Not being able to participate in soccer competitively anymore is something I still cannot get over. Something that has been a part of you for the longest time for it to just be taken away in the blink of a second is unfair.
Right now, I graduated from New York University in December of 2017; however, I will be going back to New York University to get my law degree soon. I am working at Orical in New York City. It’s a technology company that reaches out to engineers and other future employers. Being a part of a team allowed me to react to unpredictable situations, working in a team atmosphere, and have reliable time management skills.
For my full-time goal, I want to be lawyer. More specifically, I want to be involved in immigration law. I want to be able to help immigrants coming to the Unite States to receive the right help to become a citizen. At this point, it’s a waiting game to go back to school and to start taking exams for my license.