When Ana was a teenager, her mother made a difficult decision: start over in a new country so her daughter could access greater opportunities. Raised by a single mother for most of her childhood, Ana remembers the moment everything changed.
“My mom made the decision to come to the United States purely so I could have a better education,” Ana says.
Ana arrived in the U.S. in 2019, just as high school was beginning. Like many immigrant families, they were starting over completely — learning a new system, navigating unfamiliar challenges, and trying to build stability from scratch.
Now a 21-year-old sophomore at San Diego State University, majoring in accounting, Ana has transformed that opportunity into relentless determination. Alongside her studies, she competes on the track team and aims to qualify for nationals and, one day, compete in the 2028 Paralympic Games. But pursuing excellence in both academics and athletics has required sacrifice.
“I want to be good at school, and I want to be a good athlete,” she says. “I want to excel at both.” That commitment leaves little room for anything else.
“I don’t have a social life, and that’s the truth,” she says. “All my time goes toward training, recovering, studying, or going to class.”
Every day is carefully structured around performance — not only in the classroom, but physically. As an athlete pushing her body to its limits, proper nutrition is essential. Yet during her first semester at SDSU, Ana struggled to access the kind of meals her training required.
Living in a dorm without a kitchen, she relied mostly on campus restaurants and meal plan options that often lacked the nutritional value she needed.
“I wasn’t improving the way I wanted to,” she says.
Things began to shift for Ana when she secured affordable housing with access to a kitchen and started receiving support through the San Diego Food Bank’s College Hunger-Relief Program. When she gained access to healthier foods, especially protein and fresh ingredients, her health and athletic performance immediately improved.
“It changed everything,” Ana says. “My body was responding to the workout better, and I got healthier. I felt better. It really made a difference.”
Ana recognizes that as an athlete, she pushes her body to the limit, and though she’s young, the food support gives her something important: long-term stability. At one point, Ana wasn’t sure she would even be able to remain at SDSU because of housing and financial concerns.
The uncertainty affected every part of her life.
“I wasn’t able to focus on classes or practice because there was such a major issue happening in my life,” she says.
With housing and food support in place, Ana says she can finally focus fully on the future she has worked so hard to build.
“That was the key for me being able to stay at San Diego State,” she says.
Programs like the College Hunger-Relief Program are critical for students from immigrant and low-income families, Ana explains — especially those navigating college without generational experience or financial safety nets.
“It is really hard,” she says. “Without programs like this, many people wouldn’t be able to go to college at all.”
Today, Ana continues to balance the demanding life of a student-athlete, driven by the sacrifices her mother made years ago when they left Venezuela in search of opportunity. Every training session, every late-night study session, and every challenge overcome is connected to that decision.
“I chose this life,” Ana says. “And every single day, you have to keep working toward it.”
Ana’s story is a reminder that food and housing support are not just temporary resources — they are life-changing opportunities that allow students to stay in school, pursue their goals, and continue building the futures they came to create.