Flores has dream of teaching art classes
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Blanca Flores? dreams show on the walls of her bedroom in the shapes of her paintings and the ribbons and awards she?s received for them. Examine them and a central theme becomes evident ? Blanca loves to paint people. Talk to her and you?ll realize people must love her paintings.
She apologizes she cannot show you everything. Not all of them are in her room because her subjects often want to keep those she does of them and display them in their homes.
Flores? dream is to attend Tennessee Tech and then go into a classroom where she can teach other young people the joy of paint and color and the pleasure of expressing yourself through art. She is already inspiring others even though she hasn?t gotten her degree.
Her 9-year-old brother also wants to be an artist and eagerly comes into her room to see the latest strokes her brush has made and ask for advice on his own art. ?I hope he can go to college. He is very talented? she says quietly after pointing out his paintings that hang among hers on the walls of her home.
When asked what inspires her to gain her education and go for her dreams, Blanca describes her parents. She describes the dream her mother held to complete high school in the face of a father?s opposition and the steps she took to reach it. That includes leaving her home and traveling far away to live with her grandmother who helped pay the necessary fees required by the Mexican government for high school.
Then with a soft voice she says, ?My papa?s dreams are broken up, shattered,? and speaks of his desire for schooling but need to support his family. ?Papa began working when he was 6. He would carry rocks and weeds across the fields all day. His family had 11 children and they had to follow the work.?
Blanca, like her parents, is working to fulfill her dreams. The restaurant where she worked has closed and she needs to earn money. She and her mother are planning to work in the nursery together to earn the money to pay for her college. She and her art teachers are also sending her paintings into colleges and contests to try for scholarships.
Having already received several, including one from Tennessee Opportunity Programs, gives her hope she will be able to attend Tennessee Tech, her college of choice. But Blanca is torn between attending college in Mexico where it would be easier to afford the tuition or the United States where she loves the programs and the people love her art.
?Mexico has a lot of art but I don?t think they appreciate it,? she says. ?They have to do everything they can to survive. If they make something it is a thing that can be used for the animals or the farm. There is no time for paintings.?
Hispanic scholarships
Nora Wilson, who is fluent in Spanish, has profiled three Hispanic students who are pursuing college scholarships. This is the first story in a three-part series the Standard is publishing.