Hello! My name is Jackeline Jimenez Ayala. I was born in Tijuana, Baja California. While I was still young, my parents decided to move our family to the US,  more specifically, the border town of San Ysidro, CA in the hopes of giving my siblings and me better opportunities. Fast forward years later, I am now a first-generation college student at the University of California, San Diego where I plan on majoring in Chemistry. Currently, I am interested in two very different professional paths - environmental science and immigration law. One thing I am certain of is that whatever choice I make, I want to give back to my community. Not only by becoming a professional but using my resources in the non-profit sector. Ultimately, I aspire to become an individual my family and community can be proud of. In addition to the San Ysidro Rising Scholar Award, I am also the recipient of the AVID Founder Scholarship, the Lamp of Learning Scholarship, and UCSD’s Regents Scholarship. 

Angel Brianna Martinez is a first-generation college student and the child of a working-class, Mexican immigrant mother. Brianna grew up along the United States/Mexico border and has spent the majority of her time living between San Ysidro, California and Tijuana, Mexico due to her father’s deportation in her early childhood. Brianna's experiences living across two different countries have greatly shaped her identity and have fostered an interest in wanting to support her community in ways she largely viewed as unimaginable up until now. 

As a UC Berkeley Regents Scholar and member of the SEED Scholars Honors Program, Brianna hopes her journey in higher education propels her towards a career in which she can serve her multinational communities: as a physician! Brianna is excited to carve an original path for herself in academic frameworks and beyond by pursuing a double major in Chemical Biology and Public Health to address some of the structural and systemic barriers that inhibit people from her community from receiving proper medical care. 

Upon graduating from UC Berkeley, Brianna is interested in attending medical school, where she will continue working towards her dream of one day being a physician. The San Ysidro Rising Scholar Award has served as a stepping stone for Brianna in her journey as it has provided her with the financial and personal resources to better navigate higher education.

My name is Kimberly Gonzalez-Zelaya and I'm a Nahua Wixarika (Mexico) and Maya Lenca (El Salvador) queer transfronteriz@ from San Ysidro, California and Tijuana, Mexico. I go by she, they, or any pronouns. I intend to double major in Sociology and Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity with a specialization in Chicana/o-Latino/a studies and a minor in Education at Stanford University. I aspire to become a public interest or immigration attorney, however, my ultimate goal is to work within education administration and policy. In addition to being a part of San Ysidro High's first cohort of Rising Scholars, I'm also a Questbridge Scholar, a Gates Scholar, a Hispanic Scholarship Fund Scholar, and a Stanford Leland Scholar.