Jason Koski and Matthew Fondeur/University Photography

Sarah Villarreal, in Weill Hall, is a first-generation college student from a Mexican-American, one-parent household, who has been an outstanding researcher and volunteer for Ithaca's soup kitchen and women's shelter and for engineering societies.

Major: Biological engineering
College: Engineering
Hometown: Corpus Christi, Texas

The main goal at my high school was to [prevent] dropping out. No one had ever really talked to me about what opportunities I had. I got a brochure from Cornell one day, and everything looked amazing. After I got accepted, the Diversity Programs in Engineering sent me up here to look at the school. I fell in love with the campus.

Doing community service with Society of Women Engineers, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, Loaves and Fishes, Encouraging Young Engineering Students, Engineering Ambassadors -- especially events that get underprivileged minority kids interested in science and engineering. As a Mexican-American student, I was once where they are, and I want them to know that there is a great future waiting for them if they pursue it. They really just need someone to tell them that it is possible.

I also have found a passion doing research on pancreatic cancer with Professor Jeffrey Varner and give tours to prospective engineering students. Talking about Cornell on these tours really helps refresh me and fall back in love with engineering.

The first time I got above the mean on an engineering prelim my freshman year. When I first came here I was terrified I had made a huge mistake and would end up failing horribly.

My grandmother, who was a migrant worker in south Texas, got married and pregnant young and didn't get a traditional education, and my mother, who had me in high school and never went to college. Their stories put things into perspective when school feels overwhelming. I think, "My grandmother was 6 years old picking cotton, and I am complaining about studying for a test? Come on!"

I come from a single-mother household. The day I got my financial aid letter, I cried. I knew that I could actually attend here like I wanted.

I've made dean's list several times and have received awards for my commitment to the organizations I am in, but, I think, just being here is what I am most proud of. I was one of two Hispanics in my graduating class to apply to schools outside of Texas, because that just isn't thought of as economically possible in the area I am from.

Next year I am taking a year to do research, hopefully on cancer. Then I want to get my Ph.D. and maybe even an M.D. I hope to end up doing research in the Texas Medical Center and to help underprivileged Hispanic students realize the importance of higher education.