Courtesy photo.
SANTA BARBARA — Norma (Alexa) Cervantes Gonzalez was awarded the Peter Alevra Memorial Scholarship for 2018 based upon her contributions to multicultural understanding and participation in campus and community activities which help to create a sense of community within diversity.
Alexa grew up in Ocatlán, near Guadalajara, Mexico. When she was still a young girl her American-born grandmother recognized her artistic talent and urged her to come to the United States to study one day. It took some time for that opportunity to present itself and in the intervening years she learned face painting, starting her own face painting business when she was 16 years old.
Her desire to study art continued to grow and five years ago she was able to come to Santa Barbara to pursue her dream. Living with her aunt (an instructor in the School of Modern Languages here at SBCC) but speaking little English, she enrolled in noncredit English as a Second Language (ESL) classes at the Wake Campus and soon progressed to the credit ESL program on main campus. While taking classes, she also worked in a restaurant part-time to practice her English. Within two years she earned her ESL certificate and became a peer advisor to other ESL students, a role she continues to enjoy.
For the past two years she has also engaged in community volunteer work, collecting food and blankets for the homeless and joining her aunt helping women who don’t speak English to navigate their way through the world of official forms, banking, medical appointments, etc.
When asked what her future holds, Alexa responded, “My dream is to open my own gallery to sell my work and the work of others.”