Fall 2025

To Members of Aspire Scholarship Committee,

Before I begin the description of my journey and experiences here at school, I must acknowledge

the everlasting thanks I have for everyone and all who made the Aspire Scholarship possible.

The actions you all have done one day have affected the lives of those who believed that they

themselves cannot act on another, and with this, I would like to share a story. It all started with

elementary school, where I learned what it meant to grow, how to adapt to traditions, and to

understand relationships with my people and family. I played soccer at an elite level, I

participated in my first traditional dances, I won 3rd place in a district spelling bee, and I was

accepted into a “gifted and talented” program. Accomplishments I value to this day. Then my

journey advanced toward middle school, where I was helped by amazing personnel and was

admitted into the Santa Fe Indian School. There, I learned what it meant to be academic, what it

meant to understand the world as a whole, and the importance of core values. During those years,

I was the leader of a chess team who not only won a state championship for the chess club, but

also defeated an impossible opponent, who put the High School Varsity team in position to win a

championship. I learned the world is a diverse place, where I learned to make “acceptance” one

of my main core values. Features of myself I never thought possible. Moving onto high school, I

learned what it meant to plan for the future, discover my past, and live in the present. I achieved

my first ever 4.0 GPA, connected with family I never knew I had, laid a foundation of what I'd

like to be when I grow up, and advanced in my life toward adulthood with the upcoming

graduation.

Even with what felt like an impossible amount of accomplishments, I was hesitant to become

inspired. This led to me taking a gap year after high school graduation, working and slowly

losing myself as the human and man I wanted to be, putting advanced degrees behind me, social

life behind me, and even faith in my culture at some point. One day, I built enough courage, just

a squish, to go to the Kewa Library and apply for college, not telling my family, not thinking

anything through, simply putting in the application, scared and waiting. My family was

struggling financially, so I thought I'd get discouraged for even thinking about going to school.

Later that same year, there was an opportunity to apply for a small internship program sponsored

by Kewa, so I applied to it and received an offer. This experience itself was very insightful, it

taught me the importance of teamwork and to making decisions on your own. With the skills I

obtained here, and the incentives I received from them, I was able to finally help my family a bit

and take the pressure off our financials temporarily. During this time, I received that one special

email, telling me I was accepted into the University of New Mexico and there was funding from

the state to pay for tuition in addition to what I nearly missed out on, the FAFSA. I started my

first semester, which turned to my first year in college. I went to classes with my heavy backpack

and high school clothing. I couldn’t make friends or even talk to anyone because I was too self

conscious about my past. After my first year, I received a call from Shana, who I recognized

from my elementary school experiences, about an opportunity for a scholarship. The Children ofthe Pueblo Scholarship. I never thought I’d even be a candidate for something as opportunistic as

this, believing there are so many other candidates who deserve the honorary award over my

struggling self. I applied and later had the interview with Ms. Kate, and had the chance to talk to

her, someone who never met me once, but still treated me like I was that boy I thought I had lost.

Sooner than later, I received that message, telling me I was accepted as a recipient of this

outstanding scholarship, in addition to receiving funding for some clothes and a brand new

laptop, which I still have and treasure as I currently write this letter with it. This takes me back to

college, with one semester left toward my bachelors program, I learned what it meant to be

myself, I learned who I was, and what I wanted to achieve, directing my hopes toward my goals.

Achieving things I never thought I could have, and this is all because of the Aspire Scholarship

committee, taking an action on a random day so that others may have a chance to take actions

themselves.

As I slowly advance in my journey, this past semester, Fall 2025, was sure to be an interesting

one. I had the great opportunity to visit the Netflix campus near the airport and network with

their team. I also had the chance to meet with many employers and discuss with them about

potential opportunities for post graduation work. Though I never had the chance to be accepted

into an internship, that didn’t prevent me from taking on the world and doing side projects

relevant to my field of study. The idea with going toward a business degree was to one day start a

business that will help my people. There are many challenges we face, being isolated from larger

cities, there are troubles with everyday tasks such as transportation, access to things like

groceries, problems with environmental trash dumping, peoples addictions to various

consumables, and for what I see, there really isn’t a source of income other than the gas station

that could help our society grow as a whole. Studying both marketing, my philosophy of

spreading awareness through storytelling, and operations, how businesses work from factory to

customer, will hopefully one day allow me to make change as those who have helped changed

me. This semester was also super fun, I attended my first ever concert with friends I made

throughout the years, I was a founder of the UNM chess club, and I visited monuments of my

ancestors. I am the marketer for a friend's country band, which has got recognition for their

music and now plays at various casinos and venues, with shows still upcoming in the year 2026.

In addition, I've picked up a few hobbies such as craft making, reading, and going to the gym.

There are many other things I’ve done this semester such as volunteering for the food bank,

learning to dance, and many other activities that I would like to fade to memory. As I approach

my final semester and prepare to walk across that stage of dreams, all I can say is thank you all

for trusting and believing in me and I cannot wait to see what kind of limits I can break in the

future.

Forever Grateful,

Alejandro Tenorio

The University of New Mexico Class of 2026

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