Teresa Castro, ’21, moved to Colorado with her family as a senior in high school. Like many students, where she would attend university largely depended on where she 获得最多的经济援助.

“As I always tell everyone, UNC really chose me,” 卡斯特罗说.

Having so recently moved to a new state, it was important for Castro to attend a school that could offer her in-state tuition, but her decision to attend UNC was primarily influenced by the diversity she experienced when coming to campus, the academic options that interested her and the proximity of campus to her home community of Aurora.

Once on UNC’s campus, it didn’t take long for Castro to develop her own UNC community.

“我对这个机构非常投入. 我参加了所有这些活动，因为 I wanted to find my family, my home away from home, and I feel like I did just that,” 卡斯特罗说.

Getting involved with her sorority, Pi Lambda Chi Latina Sorority, Inc.，在…工作 the Marcus Garvey Cultural Center, participating in the Stryker Institute for 领导 Development and serving in Student Government as chief of staff played a huge role in creating a sense of belonging for Castro 在校园. 学生会变得特别 important to Castro, giving her the foundation of knowledge and confidence to run for 学生会主席 in her final year 在校园.

“I think that was the most rewarding experience—being the first openly gay, Afro-Latina 学生会主席. It was super empowering for me to be that representation for students who looked like me and identified like me,” 卡斯特罗说.

In her role as 学生会主席, Castro’s focus was to bridge the gap between 管理和学生团体. Working to ensure that students, especially those from minoritized or traditionally underserved backgrounds, were represented and supported 在校园. Through serving on different institution-wide task forces and subcommittees, Castro brought the concerns of students to administrators who had the power to effect 改变.

Through her education and extracurricular activities, Castro honed skills that enabled her to not only advocate for but connect with her peers. 现在，作为副导演 of 校友 Relations, she uses these skills every day to connect with UNC graduates. While Castro’s abilities, achievements and position were earned through her hard work and dedication, she acknowledges that her UNC education helped to propel her into a career she loves at an institution she wholeheartedly supports.

“I would not be where I am or who I am without my UNC education,” 卡斯特罗说.

That’s a large part of why she chose to come back and work at UNC.

“I have always wanted to give back to this institution because I feel like it poured 卡斯特罗说. “It poured into who I am through mentorship and the different organizations and programs that I was a part of.”

Castro uses her time to help alumni connect with their alma mater in the ways that 对他们最有意义的是什么. Whether that be writing cards to prospective students, participating on a career panel or volunteering at an event, she will consider an alum’s location, expertise and how much time they’d like to spend engaging with UNC 以及它的学生. The central theme that permeates how Castro engages with alumni 就是把学生放在第一位. It’s a core aspect of why she is so passionate about her 与校友合作.

“我真的相信我们是一个 学生的第一 institution and if I, and fellow alumni, can be a part of that 改变, that growth, that trajectory, that's what I’d like to spend my time doing,” 卡斯特罗说.

Bridging the gap between students and alumni is integral to fostering the “Once a Bear, Always a Bear” sentiment with students that has been present on UNC campus for 年. It’s that very sentiment that Castro and so many alumni cherished about their time 在校园, and thanks to her work in alumni relations, many others will undoubtedly cherish that same experience for 年 to come.