Andreina Valenzuela
April 26, 2018
Recently San Miguel High School Alumni, Andreina Valenzuela spoke to a group at Geico’s 15th Anniversary Celebration about how her experience being a recipient of an Arizona Leadership Foundation Scholarship and where she is today.
Andreina grew up in what she describes as a lower-income family in the south-side of Tucson. She felt like the odds were stacked against her coming from this background. When she walked into San Miguel High School, as a Freshman, she was encouraged to dream big. And dream big is exactly what she did…
Given the opportunity to attend San Miguel through her ALF scholarship, she was determined to make the most of the experience. Andreina was involved in Student Government, National Honor Society, athletics and took honors and AP courses.
In addition, she was involved in the Corporate Work Study program through San Miguel. Through this opportunity Andreina learned a number of essential skills about being a business professional. This was helpful when she started at the University of Arizona and was interviewing for her first university job.
Currently, Andreina is a junior at U of A with only two semesters left before earning her degree in marketing and entrepreneurship. She is one of Eller’s Top 50 Hispanic Scholars. She is also a member of the Association of Latino Professionals for America and serves on the executive board as the project management director. Being a part of this organization reminds her of San Miguel’s culture of entering to learn and leaving to serve, by empowering Latinos for Impact. She is also currently serving on San Miguel’s strategic planning committee. Through this role she has been given an opportunity to contribute ideas to better serve students, staff, faculty and alumni. When she joined this committee, she knew it was her chance to give back to a school that pushed me to reach for the impossible.
Andreina is looking ahead to the future. She plans to graduate in May of 2019 and pursue a Masters of Business Administration. She is interested in working in the sports industry and currently has an internship with the Arizona Athletics program.
She is very thankful to the Arizona Leadership for their role in getting her to San Miguel in the first place and she is continuing to build upon that opportunity and dream big.