My name is Loany Pineda and I am 21 years old. I grew up in a small community called San Jose de Comayagua with my parents and 5 siblings. I had an amazing childhood surrounded by many people who taught me valuable things like values and how to treat people as I wanted to be treated.

My father used to have a coffee farm which means that sometimes we used to go there to work. It was one of my favorite stages in my whole life. I would not change it for anything. I can say I am very blessed for all the amazing and wonderful people I have had in my life and that have helped me to be the person I am today.

Everything changed when I was 15 years old, since my father, one of the people I have loved the most, died because of a heart attack. Until now, I can’t help but wonder how different things would be if he were with me. A part of me also died with him, but I still believe God’s plans are better than mine and the fact of being alive means that there is still a purpose for me.

After my father’s death, we needed to make some changes in our family to continue studying. At that time, my oldest sister was also studying to become a nurse, my three younger siblings were in elementary school and I wanted to move to another high school to study accounting and finances since at the local high school the only available career was informatics or computer science. The only thing I knew is that I did not want to study something I did not like.

It was not possible at that time because of the lack of money, so in 2016, I went to the local high school to study the only career there was. In 2017, one of my father’s cousins offered to help me pay the needed expenses for me to move to the high school where I wanted to go. It was an unforgettable experience – there I met incredible people. It was also one of the hardest times in my life since even my father’s cousin was paying the money for the bus fare, more expenses needed to be covered.

My oldest sister was working just for a little bit of money, she was helping my mom with home expenses, she was covering the expenses for her studies and she was also supporting me. In 2018, I graduated from high school and I started looking for a job but I could not find one, so I spent one year at home.

In 2020, because I wanted to continue studying, I decided to come to TLC and it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. At TLC, I have learned things that cannot be learned at any other place. I have met such amazing people who are not selfish to share their knowledge with me and more than care about my academic performance and also about my personal growth.  I have discovered who I am, what I am passionate about, and what is the legacy I want to leave in this world.