Garcia overcomes obstacles to earn San Benito News Scholarship

San Juana Garcia, the 2013 San Benito News Scholarship recipient, is seen at San Benito High School, where she will be graduating from in June after amassing numerous achievements and distinctions. (Staff photos by Francisco E. Jimenez)

By FRANCISCO E. JIMENEZ
Staff Writer
reporter@sbnewspaper.com

Growing up in the Valley can be difficult for many. Known nationally as one of the poorest areas to reside, it is a struggle for many to achieve success in life. While many individuals in poverty might concede in the face of adversity, there are those who fight through such obstacles and achieve great success.

One of those individuals is San Benito High School senior San Juana Garcia, the 2013 San Benito News Scholarship recipient.

“When I got that phone call it was really surprising,” said Garcia. “I did all the local applications, everything the teachers told me to do, and just hoped that I got to win one. I didn’t think I would win the San Benito News one. For a newspaper, that was really exciting. I’m actually really proud of myself for that.”

Garcia was one of over 100 students from San Benito High School, South Texas Academy for Medical Professionals and Rio Hondo High School who submitted applications for the scholarship. While many of the applicants easily surpassed the criteria necessary to acquire the scholarship, it was Garcia who stood out not just for her success in academics and athletics as well as her determination to be successful given the obstacles she’s had to face, but also because of the poise and character she maintained while overcoming those obstacles.

Living without a father figure with her two younger brothers and mother, Garcia explained that it was difficult to maintain a stable home. Her mother, who at the time was an undocumented immigrant, had trouble finding and maintaining a job. Still, she was able to provide her children with the basic necessities such as food to eat and clothes for school.

“I had to mature at a very early age,” said Garcia. “My duty at home was to make sure the house was always clean and to bring home good grades for my mother to see. That was the only time she actually showed her warm smile.”

Garcia explained how school became a welcome distraction from her problems at home, which at one point included living with an abusive step father, and she had many teachers and coaches to help guide her along the way.

“Being at school was when I felt more like myself,” Garcia said. “I didn’t worry about a thing, because – to me – school work took my mind off of all the bad things. I became pretty good at it too.”

It was at a young age, while attending school at La Paloma Elementary, that she discovered her passion for Mathematics.

“Since I was in elementary school, I would always ace my benchmarks in math,” Garcia said. “Throughout middle school I was always good at math. In my eighth grade year, I had a teacher named Mr. (Bob) Pierce who was the CEO of a company. He was my Algebra teacher in eighth grade. One day he asked me a lot of questions and I answered them right. He was really impressed, so after class he told me that he thinks I’m really smart and he could see a lot of potential in me. That’s one thing that influenced me to get into business.”

Ultimately, Garcia said that she plans to graduate from Texas A&M, of which she has already been accepted, with a Bachelors Degree in Business and with a high grade point average so she can then pursue her dream of attending law school.

“That’s my dream… to become a lawyer,” Garcia said. “Business is just something I’m interested in, so just in case it doesn’t work out with being a lawyer I’ll still have my Bachelors Degree in Business.”

As far as Garcia’s accomplishments, they are endless. As of January 23, she is ranked 35th out of 600 students in her class with a 3.9 GPA. She is a member of the Mu Alpha Theta Math Honor Society, a Texas Scholar, a Tech Prep Scholar, a member of the Leo Club, track team, an All-Valley volleyball player and the Homecoming Queen.

“I’ve always told myself that you can’t use anything as an excuse to fail,” Garcia said. “I feel that nothing can take something away from you. If you come from something that’s really not a good place, just because you come from a bad place doesn’t mean that you can’t change your direction. I always tell myself that.”

“Just because I came from a broken home, I’m not going to use that as an excuse to not succeed,” continued Garcia. “I see a lot of kids in the Valley who don’t have perfect families. I see some of them fall into gangs or drugs. Their excuse is not having a father figure or a mother; their parents don’t care. I’ve always told myself that just because you don’t have that support or perfect family doesn’t mean that you can’t go out there and do something. I’m going to take that with me, especially in college. I’m not going to let anything get in the way of what I want to be or where I want to go.”