Juan Avila

Howdy! I am a sophomore attending my first fall 2016 semester at Blinn and my goal is to be accepted into my dream school, Texas A&M. I spent my first year back home in San Antonio at the local community college, Northwest Vista. At Northwest Vista I had received the TSTEM Scholarship, which helped pay for my tuition in the fall, spring, and a Maymester. I met the requirements of becoming a member of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society at Northwest Vista because of my overall GPA and scholarly excellence. Each semester I was taking enough hours to be considered full time student while also working full time in order to save up for my future tuition here at Blinn. I transferred to the Blinn campus to get acclimated to living on my own and providing for myself before taking the big leap into a university. I do not receive any financial aid because I fall under the category of students where, on paper, their family makes “too” much money. This may be the category that I fall under on paper, but in reality, I have to work a full time job in order to put myself through college. As of now I am paying for the Blinn tuition out of pocket, and I am still working full time here in College Station to pay for rent and living costs along with school tuition. In the Spring 2017 semester, I will be taking 14 credit hours in order to complete the prerequisites to transfer into the Texas A&M Kinesiology program for the fall.
In addition to being a full time student and employee, I have still managed to give back to the community. I have also volunteered at local non-profit organizations, including The Ronald McDonald foundation, Habitat for Humanity, and Leon Springs Elementary. I have been in leadership positions by being a guidance counselor at summer weekend retreats through my church and serving my school as the Class of 2015 Treasurer. In these leadership positions, I was held accountable for many tasks such as creating fundraisers and raising more than enough money for our senior prom. In each position I was successful, being able to meet the standards that are expected is a rewarding feeling. Becoming a Blinn Buccaneer is one of the stepping stones of my academic journey and I believe it has pointed me in the right direction of becoming a future Aggie. Gig ‘Em Ags and Go Buccaneers.