I’m excited to share that I will be serving at The University of Illinois Chicago.

I was raised in a loving Catholic family in El Salvador. My parents met through the Church, and my sisters and I attended Catholic schools before moving to the United States. Faith was an important part of our family life growing up, but after moving, staying connected to the Church became more difficult. As I got older and began making my own choices, I slowly drifted away from practicing in my faith. Although I never stopped believing in God, my relationship with Him became distant, and prayer was mostly limited to moments like saying grace before meals.

Even during that time, a small curiosity about God never completely disappeared. Over the years, I found myself wanting to understand my faith more deeply. I started attending Mass more regularly, reading books about the faith and becoming more involved in the church and its activities.

Through these experiences, I started to see faith not simply as a form of tradition, but as something personal and life-giving.

As I became more involved in the Church, my relationship with God grew stronger every day, and I met people who genuinely inspired me through their faith and witness. The friendships, community, and opportunities to serve have transformed my life and helped me become a more grounded, intentional person. Along the way, I was introduced to FOCUS and learned about its mission of accompanying college students in their faith journeys. Seeing the impact that authentic relationships and discipleship can have on students really resonated deeply with my own experience, and it has inspired me to help others encounter Christ in the same way that others helped me.