Not many people get the opportunity to travel among the states of the U.S. Ana Vicinanzo, and eighteen year old freshman at Virginia tech, got that opportunity to do so while her dad was in the military. Her mom, who is from Spain, is full Spanish. She spent ten years of her life and her childhood growing up in Brooklyn; however, she was born in upstate New York in a city called Amsterdam. She spent a lot of her time playing with the kids on the block. They would all get together and play flashlight tag or maybe some basketball. Most of the time they just shot the breeze; however, sometimes got exceptionally crazy. Two fish took up some of her time as she had those as pets when she was younger. “It was different than Virginia to say the least”, says Ana, “there were many more kids on the block, and the school I attended was up four flights of stairs with no air conditioning.” In Brooklyn it gets very hot during the summer and is also much louder than Virginia. Her family, including two brothers that are seventeen and twelve, moved from Brooklyn to Herndon when she was ten because of her dad’s job. This is where she attended middle school and high school. The graduating class was about five-hundred students, so it was a pretty big school. She also attended a Spanish school where she has a diploma for all of Spain’s schools.
During high school Ana ran track. On the track field Ana was a fierce competitor and would do anything to win. Her sophomore year she hairline fractured her ankle while running hurdles and her dream was shot. But, while running track a very solid friendship was built. “Ana is a wonderful, genuine person who cares greatly about her friends and is dedicated to the things she undertakes,” says her best friend Emily who she met while running track. Emily also described her as diligent, attentive, and compassionate. “She can be shy at first but you will know when she breaks out of her shell,” says Emily. They spend a lot of time together working out in the gym and just hanging out. “We click on so many different levels and see everything almost eye to eye,” said Emily. Ana also worked as an employee at a Starbucks in Sterling Virginia for two years, where she says she will never work again. She had to quit her job to come to Virginia Tech, as many people have to do when they leave for the long journey to college. When asked why Virginia Tech, her response was, “I felt like it was the right place for me to be and I could see myself going there.” Many college students do not know what they are going to do with their life, or have planned it out. “A family, nice paying job, and a college degree of some sort would be great,” says Ana. That is most people’s dream plan when they are in college. She is also thinking about going into the psychology field and possibly pursuing a career when she gets out of college. During her spare time Ana enjoys doing artwork, listening to music, take pictures, and talking to her friends on facebook to keep in touch. She is very passionate about her drawings and picture taking skills and takes them very serious when she is at work with them.
Taking a trip to Spain every year would be mighty nice! The Vicinanzo family, which is spread out among the United States and Spain, takes a trip to Spain to see their Spanish part of the family every summer for a month. “My dad is one of seven so I have thirty two cousins on that side, and my mom is one of two so I have two cousins on that side, and I have a god child whose going to be five,” Ana said. “We only see each other once a year,” says Ana,” so it gets pretty intense.” There they enjoy every day on the sunny, beautiful Spanish beaches where they soak up the sun and enjoy their family time. La Manga is the beach they that the family enjoys and it is on the Mediterranean Sea. She also enjoys eating at the Spanish restaurants with her family where they catch up with each other in some very long conversations. She also loves to try the new dishes every year. Ana can speak very fluent Spanish but prefers to speak English. During her younger years of her life Ana was dyslexic and had to get help. She sees this as embarrassing but many people struggle with the diagnosis and try to hide it. She struggled until she was about three years old until she got the hang of reading. It looks like she did a good job at overcoming this as we see that she made it to Virginia Tech. This is a great accomplishment according to her and many other people. Getting into Virginia Tech was also at the top of Ana’s great accomplishment list. Ana now sees many doors open up for her in the near future even though she does not know what she wants to do.
It sounds like Ana has had a very adventurous life. Not too adventurous though because she is afraid of most animals. She is dedicated to every single thing she does. She wants a family but says kids are a drain right now and would also like to live near or close by a city when she gets a little older. Ana is a very ambitious, dedicated girl and has a long life ahead of her. There are many opportunities that are going to come to Ana in the future and she has the will-power to succeed. Her main goal now is to remain in good standing with all of her curriculum and soon pursue her goals when they become clear to her.
