Dayanara Torres: Fall 2022 High School Achiever Scholarship Recipient

My name is Dayanara Torres and I grew up in Converse, Texas. I was born April 10th, 2004 to two caring parents 3 years after their first born son. Growing up, I was a carefree child who had a strong passion for the arts alongside glittery-pink and frilly objects. I was often gifted art kits and adorable stuffed animals to build my ongoing collection of cute things. Socially, I was doing great, making friends like my best friend Neil in Kindergarten and some kids here and there from my various activities I was doing. I was a princess but I was also a soccer player, a cheerleader, a gymnast, a pianist, and a violinist all at a young age. It was all sunshine and rainbows for little Dayanara.

    However, I struggled a lot through middle school, earning myself barely passing grades. It continued into my freshman year where I realized I was truly unhappy. I had a very low self esteem paired with zero self confidence and it was reflecting itself in my social life and academics. Even playing my violin began to become a chore. Fortunately for me, my father works as a high school football coach and I was able to transfer to Harlandale High School. Things started looking up as I joined Mariachi Telpocame and made amazing friends who lifted me up instead of tearing me down. My grades became As instead of Cs and I had ambitious goals set for myself like starting my path to get a PhD in clinical psychology. This continued to my senior year with only a few bumps like COVID-19.

    In early October of 2021, I was informed by my 1st choice University, Our Lady of the Lake, was giving me an early decision. That decision being that I was accepted. Overjoyed, I worked twice as hard and made the decision to double major in the two things that I love the most: Psychology and Visual & New Media Arts. So far, things have been amazing regarding college. OLLU awarded me around over $18,000 in scholarships and grants but I still have much more money to raise and many more steps to complete.

 After years of learning to heal and express myself, I’ve also decided to work hard and learn how to sew, embroider, and knit my own clothes. They’re valuable skills I can use to express myself alongside taking my ceramics art classes and playing my violin throughout college. Though, I’m mostly excited about taking my first steps to earn a doctorate. All the money and scholarships are helping me save up to go through around 8 years of college to earn my doctorate in Clinical Psychology! Without the scholarships I earn, I’d have to rely on student loans and my parents to help me get through school. With the financial burden of supporting two kids through college, I can imagine it's a lot of stress and I’d like to keep my parents from struggling with money the way they did when they were young. I’m really appreciative of the Honor Society Foundation awarding me this scholarship so that I can do my best to work and change our future generation’s mental health.