[Lyons Sanchezconcha speaking]

So this is a frame here of me and my brother with my mom when we were in Peru.

I was born in Lima, Peru, and I immigrated here when I was five years old.

I had always been told, go to school, be successful.

None of my siblings had a college degree.

My parents hadn’t graduated high school.

I submitted my application to UVA as a transfer student.

They came back with such a big financial aid packet that that really allowed me to just make the decision easy.

I’m going to the University of Virginia.

It was very interesting to come into this bigger school and find my place.

There was this sense of like, do I belong here?

Morning folks, we’re going to second period.

I’ll never forget Professor Padron, he had said to me, “I immigrated from Ecuador when I was five.”

Without saying it, he gave me a sense of, maybe I could do this too.

I became a college advisor, here at Huguenot High School in Richmond.

I stayed here and I became a teacher.

Now I’m the school’s first Latino administrator.

What UVA has given me is present in the work that I do now.

You have to learn and trip and make mistakes and take a few steps back, but then go even further.

And that’s what I teach my students, that there is no straight way to success.

You are capable of anything.

When my dad and my mom and when my brother wore my graduation cap for a picture in front of the Rotunda, it was really special to me.

This was an accomplishment that we had all done together.

I never thought I would ever get a master’s, but you need one to be an administrator.

In a couple of years, I will finish my doctorate.

UVA really wrapped its arms around me, and in doing that, acknowledged my potential.

I tell students that your biggest contribution is your story.

UVA played a significant role in my story.