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| "I knew I could do it" |
Diego Garcia is an excellent student and involved in so many activities, plus he comes from a different country.
He came to the United States a year before his Freshmen year of college, knowing he wanted to become a student at the University of Mississippi because they are the second ranked international school according to outreach. Coming to the United States and going to an American school seemed frightening at first and he had no idea all of the activities and hardships he would face.
“When first arriving in America, I had no idea how beautiful it was,” Garcia said.
Garcia lived in Hattiesburg, Mississippi a year before college so he could better his english and get to know the American ways of life. He started college very nervous not knowing what was going to happen.
He went to his foreign exchange guidance counselor before starting school to see what he could get involved in to meet new people. His guidance counselor, Dr. Christian Sellar, told him he should look into greek life because it is a very big deal on campus and he could really meet a lot of people.
“Get involved in every aseptic you can, it not only helps you for resumes but also to meet new people,” Sellar said.
Sellar said he gives this advice to every exchange student he talks to because he knows how hard it can be to meet new people when you come from somewhere else. Sellar talked very highly of Diego, saying he is an excellent and determined student who really can make a difference. Also, he just always has a positive attitude according to Sellar.
Garcia decided to go through fraternity rush and choose to be a member of Alpha Tau Omega, because he felt like he really connected with most of the guys in the fraternity. At first he thought it was tough being in the fraternity because he couldn’t always understand what the guys where talking about and sometimes they would’t invite him places. However, then he met his best friend Alex Phaup.
Phaup could tell sometimes Garcia didn’t get invited out so he began always carpooling with him everywhere and when he wouldn’t understand something Phaup would explain. Once Garcia began hanging around everyone he knew he had made the right choice and things were falling into place.
“Diego is a great guy, he is always helping the fraternity and trying to make it a better place,” Phaup said.
Knowing he wanted to do more and be a bigger part of the school Garcia decided to run for ASB as a senator for Public Policy, which is his major. He became a senator and began to pass many bills to better Ole Miss. He then decided he could do more so he decided to run for interfraternity vice president. So many people told him not to run because of his nationality saying people wouldn’t vote for him.
“I knew I could do it and make a difference in the greek world,” Garcia said. Despite what everyone said Garcia ran and won based on his attitude, honesty and determination with the student body.
Despite the hardships and discrimination Garcia has made a difference and an impact at this school.
“I will continue to go for anything I desire because I proved to so many I could do it and I am living the American dream,” Garcia said.
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