Joel ’22

Meet Joel Lara ’22

Hometown: Aguas Callientes, Mexico, and Elkhart, Indiana
Major: Art

I was recruited to go to other universities, but the scholarships at GC changed my mind. I had heard it was a very small school, but my first year was good, and the stories of the alum that have come out of GC show how good GC is. A small population does not equate with a poor academic program

I’m a first generation student, who lived at home for the first three years. I worked 30-35 hours a week for the first three years at Greencroft and Rise-n-Roll, Miso Japan, always working in the culinary field. I love foreign food! I would like to create a DACA scholarship.

My SST was a three-week term with Mennonite Disaster Service. I did a lot of painting since I was the art major! Seeing the effect of our work was very emotional. We saw how our work paid off. I would do it again.

At GC, I get to learn from all people. Friendships are made easily, regardless of where you come from. The profs at GC help us network. I’ve had the opportunity to work with profs in Maple Scholars. They don’t just give us homework, real work.”