Growing Up

Family. That is the word that comes to mind when I think about the most important aspect of my life. Growing up, I was taught: family above everything. Every holiday was with a different side. Thanksgiving was dedicated to all my cousins coming together; trekking our way up to Buffalo, New York, often times an 8+ hour journey from our home in Connecticut due to heavy, slushy Early-Winter snow. My memories of Thanksgiving consist of many Texas Hold’em tournaments, family touch football, and a ridiculously massive feast with no less than three whole turkeys. Christmas was dedicated to my father’s side; loud and Puerto Rican. Every year we would attend the Quiñones family Christmas party, and each time I felt like there was at least one new second-cousin I’d meet. When I’d visit my grandparents in Florida I would spend the day with my grandma, learning how to make Surullitos de Maiz, Picadillo, and Empanadillas. I’d watch Telenovelas with my grandma, her pausing every few minutes to explain what was happening, or I’d sit with my quiet grandfather in his studio, him holding my hand as he let me ‘help’ him paint. I grew up surrounded by rich culture and a loving family, something I thought to be normal for all the other kids in my class too. I learned however that my experience was different; it was special. I am so lucky to come from a family with such different parts, each its own and integral in how I am as a person.

Megan, Abby, Kadee, Emily, and Jim on a hike in Macedonia State Park in Connecticut.

I have two older sisters who have and always will be my best friends. Megan teaches me every day to push myself out of my comfort zone and always just “go for it”. She is daring, bold, and an incredibly strong willed individual. Abby teaches me to be smart, organized, and loving. She is level headed; she is my rock. My parents raised us all to be kind, do our best, and most importantly be individual. We are all so different, and that is because they let us explore, never pressured us to do anything, and embraced our uniqueness. It is because of them that I am at school so far from home, trying something new and loving every second of it.

Abby, Emily, and Megan.

School

For as long as I can remember, I have always loved movies. My sister Abby and I would write scripts with our friends at a young age, thinking each time, “This is the one! This is the one that will make it to Hollywood!” We dreamed big and turned our wild imaginations into words. I’d watch films and television shows carefully, thinking about ways they could be improved and songs that could fit better into different scenes.

I left High School with a rather weak sense of self. I realized that I felt the need to try to be something I was not just to please others and fit in. An example of this is that I played a sport every season and by the time I was a Junior in High School I was miserable. I was not competitive, and realized eventually that I did not need to be doing this. Nobody was pressuring me into sports, I was just pressuring myself, and thought I would be weak if I quit. Eventually when I did however, the world didn’t come crashing down. Nobody reprimanded me for quitting. I was okay… in fact I was relieved.

When I came to Santa Clara, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I took an introductory Philosophy course my Freshman year that changed my outlook on almost everything. This was a class I loved going to. I was taught how to logically construct an argument and learned something new about the world and myself each day. Another class that shaped me was Introduction to Digital Filmmaking, a class that my fellow Comm majors complained about so much that I was very nervous for, but ended up changing my perspective on my future. I loved it. I picked up a Philosophy minor and a Cinema Studies pathway. I learned that my detail oriented nature is very useful in film editing, and I have grown so much in learning what I want to do. This is something that I’m sure will change, and maybe always will, but for now it is something that I love and can not wait to continue learning about.

Emily filming for her class, Short Fiction Production.

Builders Beyond Borders

As a middle school student, I heard about this organization called Builders Beyond Borders (B3) that took groups of high school students to the developing world to work alongside peace corps volunteers to complete a project. The organization took kids from all of Fairfield County Connecticut, but not many from my high school participated. I honestly just thought that this opportunity sounded too cool to pass up; I thought to myself, how else will I be able to see these parts of the world? So, I packed my bags, and spent the Spring break of my Freshman year in a tiny town in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador. I met some of the most incredible people there, and I began to gain global perspective. I always knew that there were people in the world who lived much differently than I did, but it took going to Ecuador and full immersion into their culture for me to realize what that meant. For the next three years, I traveled with B3 to different countries in the developing world for my Spring break. After Ecuador, I went to Nicaragua, then Guyana, and lastly the Dominican Republic. I slept in hammocks, tents and on the ground. I went days without showering, and made some of the best friends I have to this day.

Emily in Nicaragua.

I could not be more excited to combine my passion for filmmaking and storytelling with my passion for learning about and impacting the lives of others for the better. The experience that I will have as a Global Social Benefit Fellow is one I know will continue to shape me as a person and allow me to grow.