Laura Tamayo Rojas

I would like to thank Uniandes for opening its doors to me and my donor for having turned my dream into a reality.

I am from a small city called Ocaña in Norte de Santander. In 2014 I was a young student from a public school with many dreams and goals, the most important being to go to the best university in the country. However, unfortunately my family did not have enough money for me to do this.

My main inspirations to succeed are my mother and my four-year old brother who live on a farm in an area that is affected by the armed conflict. My mother is a teacher, and each day she risks her life in order to teach her students and earn money to support me. For this reason, my other dream is to give them a better quality of life somewhere where they can life safely, and I can live in peace.

For this reason, I was dedicated and studied hard to earn my Quiero Estudiar scholarship. When I first told my relatives I was going to Bogotá to study, they didn´t believe me, so it was even more surprising for everyone when I received the news that I had been awarded the scholarship thanks to my Icfes results.

I am currently studying chemical and industrial engineering in the Universidad de los Andes, and my grade point average is 4.4. I am a student monitor for integral calculus and transport phenomena, and I was also a student monitor for pre-calculus on the Sigma program, which allows students who do not have very many economic resources, and those who have graduated from public schools, to improve their abilities in order to enter into higher education.

I have a personal desire to help other young people, so when I go home to my city, I organize study groups for children and I tutor them in subjects that they have problems with to improve their level and sow a seed in their lives.

When I graduate, I hope to reciprocate in some way the support that has been given to me and provide the same opportunity to someone else who cannot fulfil their dreams because of their financial situation.