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Cynthia Vasquez has always seen the details others haven’t. “I guess I have a different point of view," she said. “I'll go for a walk, see something in the street and just take a picture of it. People are like, ‘I would've never noticed.'"
After moving from Utah in 2018 and starting classes at AACC, she was encouraged by art faculty members to use those observations to create art. “They were just very kind and gave me the push that I needed when I needed it," she said.
Going to college was a big leap for her to make. “I've always been scared to take risks and be a part of the community," she said. “I got to a point in life where I'm just like, ‘Stop being scared. Try something new and let's just get out there and just be not afraid of taking risks in life now.’"
Vasquez said the biggest challenges with her AACC journey have sometimes been getting through the courses, especially during the early days of COVID when everything shifted to online. “I would sign up and then drop out, and so that was my biggest challenge.”
Her desire to learn won out, enough that she often champions going back to school to others. In a recent conversation with her brother, he expressed concerns about returning to higher education “He's just like, ‘I'm just too old to go back to school.’ I'm like, ‘You never are. You can always learn new things every day... there's no one else out there that's going to push you if you're not going to push yourself.’”
She does that daily now, in both her academics and her work.
“It took me a while to get used to being OK with me being who I am, but it's awesome.”