Denise Olivas

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"I began to read during every possible spare moment and I began to write in a journal. Eventually, I learned to read and write in Spanish, only strengthening my passion for this art form. At the time, I did not realize I had spent more time with books and journals than with my friends. Neither did I realize the impression literature was leaving within me. Literature became a way to expand my mind and perspective on the world. "

  • Alumni of: 2006 Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship Program
  • Resides: Chandler, AZ
  • Hometown: Chandler, AZ
  • Age: 26

Biography

Growing up in a neighborhood "slowly being infected by the growing ragweed of violence, drugs and crime," Denise Olivas stayed apart, sometimes in the school library (it was the only one within safe walking distance) where immersion in Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women" was a transforming event. She has been working at a local nursing center since the age of 16, learning self-confidence as well as how to calm agitated relatives or pinch-hit for professionals on many levels.

Denise both embraced and rose above her tough neighborhood, setting goals and achieving them. She was shocked to find that "so many people were expecting other young women like me to fail," to be an impoverished single mother working in fast food. She concluded "that it was pointless to be so angry about the inequality that still unfortunately exists" or to be offended by those who typecast minorities. The crucial issue, she says, was for her to put forth her own perspectives "and to continue to break through the stereotypes that so often discourage young Hispanic girls."

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