*This story is a 4 minute read
When you hear the name Harvard it usually elicits a mic drop, a raised eyebrow, a gasp as one takes in the name of the university that has nurtured some of the greatest minds in history. Ditto for Yale and Stanford which both command instant respect. When seventeen year old Lucia Lopez applied to eleven colleges, she wasn't sure if she would get into her first choice, let alone three ivy league colleges, but Lucia has many strengths: intellect, resilience, and a special super power- a family bond which helped her navigate through a labyrinth of tough times.
Lucia plays in a mariachi band with my son. Music is just one of her many talents. She is the ASB President at her school. In college she plans on majoring in Ethnic Studies (Chicano Studies) and minoring in Education. Eventually she plans on going to law school. She maintained a 4.0 GPA (A average) all four years of high school, and she did that under some pretty dire circumstances.
"I was a freshman in high school when my dad suffered a stroke. A year later, as I awaited my sixteenth birthday, my mom was diagnosed with stage III breast cancer. We had a year of recovery for my dad and chemotherapy for my mom," she said.
Health issues plagued Lucia's family throughout her high school years. These were trying times that would have sent anyone into a tailspin, but family is what kept Lucia grounded.
"In each of these events, my mother’s words reverberated: “If you freeze now, you’re never going to get back up.” My family’s situation would emotionally devastate anyone. Still, when everything felt out of my control, I decided to support my family and grow through writing and research - pursuits pivotal to my identity," said Lucia.
Lucia founded a Latino magazine at her school. She participated in STEM research for a school biology project with UC San Diego on the effects of curcumin on glioblastoma cancer cells. She shared her research with her mom as she underwent chemotherapy.
Lucia also helped test Dexcom glucose monitors for diabetic patients while in high school. Little did Lucia know how personal her research would become.
"On October 31, 2023, I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (T1D). I spent my Halloween in a brightly lit ER room as nurses took blood samples and ran tests. I lay there processing how my whole life was changing," said Lucia.
After all it was just two years prior to being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes that Lucia and her classmates were testing the Dexcom G7.
"A Dexcom representative talked to our class about how our experiments would impact those who rely on the G7 to control their diabetes. I never thought that I’d be one of those who rely on the G7 for my health," Lucia stated.
Lucia credits many mentors in her life from Kindergarten to present day teachers and school counselors. They were there offering pearls of wisdom when she needed them most, and she was wise enough to listen.
Lucia stated, "The first week post-diagnosis was one of the scariest times of my life. What got me through this time was my community of friends and family. I am fortunate enough to have friends and family who also have T1D and have helped me adjust to my new routines. People like my friend Chesney, whom I met in kindergarten and who also has T1D, encouraged me to see my diagnosis differently. “I can just see the life I was going to have, and now it’s just...gone,” I told her. “Lucia, it never went away. It’s just going to include diabetes now,” said Chesney.
Lucia will be a second generation college student in her family. Her mom Adriana received an Education Leadership Doctorate from Harvard University. Her father Cesar Lopez has a Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies from UC Berkeley.
Adriana describes Lucia as a very responsible student, but said her daughter struggled with math in middle school.
"We were very fortunate to have great teachers in school that we could lean on for support. Lucia also had difficulties with articulation and language, for which she received early intervention from amazing speech and language pathologists. Having received early intervention support was important to her future school and life success," said Adriana.
What else made a difference?
"One thing that I feel was a game changer for Lucia was instilling a love of reading and writing in her from a very young age, as well as building her bilingual skills and love for her culture," said her mom Adriana.
Lucia credits her parents to be her first mentors. "They both instilled in me from a young age the value of education from their own experiences being first-generation."
According to Adriana,"We always instilled in her the values of trust, empathy, curiosity, commitment, courage, respect, and family."
It was family and community that were the glue that held life's pieces together when they started to crack like the earth's foundation in a quake. It only makes Lucia's academic success sweeter. Her story is about a bond built on love, and striving for a higher purpose as a family and a community. It's what makes the Lopez's an amazing family, and Lucia an amazing kid!
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