This is the fourth in a series about Faire Collection scholarship students. You can also read the previous stories of Tamia , Tatiana, and Elvis.
One of our more charming scholarship students is Blanca, the sister of our weaving family, Luzmila and Segundo. I particularly love her story because of how she isnt afraid of breaking gender stereotypes and flying past traditional expectations.
Blanca is 21 years old and studying computer programming at the Technical University of Otavalo. Very charmingly, she explains her practical choice saying, “I chose to study this (computer programming) because today everything is being automated through computers. When I was a little girl, I wanted to be a doctor, but I didn’t like blood….But in high school I realized I like computers because I was able to take a basic computer programming class and found it really interesting.”
Blanca has an unusually clear idea of her future (she has more direction than I did in college!): “My goal after I graduate to first find work in software development with an existing company, but once I get a bit more experience, I want to start my own company with some friends from my university. Specifically I want to focus on systems for automating invoices, inventory and other business focused resources.”
In a community were 85% of people don’t complete high school, striving to graduate from university is an outstanding accomplishment. Blanca is an inspiration to all those around her: “If I could tell my 6 younger siblings something about the importance of studying, I would tell them that if you don’t study, you can’t achieve anything, you have to really put the effort in and later you will get the benefit when you earn your diploma. I hope they listen to my advice.”
