SAN ANTONIO – Maria Flores made the most of her time while attending Our Lady of the Lake University. One thing she really loved about the campus were the people.
“Everyone’s just smiling, saying hello. Everyone’s always in a good mood here,” Flores said.
Getting to OLLU wasn’t the easiest journey for Flores. Originally from El Paso, Flores childhood was filled with moving around a lot and the loss of her two parents.
Her mother left her dad, taking Flores and her siblings with her because it wasn’t a good situation for the children to be in. A few years after leaving her father, Flores’ mother suddenly passed away.
“After she passed away, I was just like, you know, I have to do it [go to college] now,” Flores said.
Getting past her mother’s death would be difficult, but Flores would strive to keep her mom’s dreams alive.
“I do want to show people that you can do it. Growing up is hard, but you can do it,” Flores said.
After enrolling at OLLU, Flores wasted no time getting involved with the place she would call home for the next four years. She worked on campus, became President of the Sigma Zeta Math and Honor Society, and was the President of the PenPals Achieving Legacy organization that her and her roommate started together.
“It’s just something to connect students with the sisters, because they just do much for us, you know, they pray and love on us every day,” Flores said.
Despite being very involved in campus activities on top of being a biology major, Flores says she was able to manage her time well. She says she would write her schedule down and make sure she never strayed off of it. She says this tactic of organization helped her in her schooling and keep her stress levels down.
“I’ve never ever lost sleep because of like, homework or like studying for an exam, because I don’t see like the worth in it,” Flores said.
Flores got accepted into the PharmD program at The University of North Texas Health Sciences Center and will start classes in the Fall of 2023. She received a Dean’s Achievement Scholarship for pharmacy school because of her GPA.
Flores wants to be a bilingual pharmacist when she is done with school. She says there are not enough Spanish speaking pharmacists that are able to help those who don’t know English.
“I want to be able to help my community that have not been helped yet, because they deserve the same care as anyone else,” Flores said.