Isabel Garcia, 16, was born and raised in San Diego. She comes from a modest family of four. Her mother, Jessica Garcia, comes from a family of eight in a small Iowa town. Isabel’s father, Carlos Garcia, was born and raised in the Bronx, New York City. Growing up, he helped with his family of six’s grocery store. Her parents met in San Diego when Carlos came here for the Navy and Jessica came to pursue her career of theater. Isabel’s older brother, Gabe, currently studies computer science at Point Loma Nazarene University. The school Isabel attends, High Tech High, is a project based school. They have a philosophy of preparing students for career opportunities that are still in the making. In her freshman year, Isabel wrote, acted, and produced a dystopian themed mini-series with her class that was later displayed in a theater. Her sophomore year, she was manager for a project called “Faces of South County”. Her cohort of ten students worked on two community projects in Logan Heights to target the needs of that community. Already this year, in biology class, they partnered with SeaWorld and Rising Tide Conservation to learn and conduct Elementary and Middle school workshops in their classroom. They currently have 25 fish tanks in their classroom including a larger tank created by the TV show “Tanked”. Isabel has thrived in this environment and has learned many professional skills. dd
But perhaps most importantly, Isabel has a passion and heart for serving the Lord. She grew up in church and has been attending Paseo Del Rey Church in Chula Vista for sixteen years, where her mom, Jessica Garcia, is the Children's Ministry Director. Isabel has participated in many church events as well as short term mission trips. Last year she spent a week in L.A in Pico Union to get a taste of what it was like to immerse yourself into a different environment. She participated in a homeless simulation, slept on the streets, asked for change for food, but most importantly formed relationships with the homeless and shared the gospel in the process. Isabel has also participated in a Mexico house build, which was a neat opportunity for her to gain a glimpse of how others live.
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Even with her drive and time investment in schooling, she still is heavily involved in extracurricular activities. Isabel was home-schooled K-8th grade. Growing up, her parents wanted music to be part of their children's lives, but money was too tight to afford lessons. At the age of six Isabel joined a free music program at the Community Music Center held in a public school. All the lessons were group lessons, but just exposure to music was all her parents desired. She began taking percussion lessons at the age of six and as the years progressed she took up piano, flute, and guitar. At the age of eight there was an opportunity for her to audition for the San Diego Youth Symphony on percussion with a scholarship provided. She was selected for this opportunity and now, after eight years of playing with SDYS, she plays in the highest-level orchestras. She played in the International Youth Symphony summer of 2016, and only three weeks ago was asked to be the ambassador for SDYS. She performed and spoke at a private dinner to raise money for music education. Along with this she teaches music private lessons to two young musicians.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Just over the last year or so, she has felt the Lord calling her to pursue missions. Not short term, but long term missions. She took a 15-week college course called Perspectives which opened her eyes to God’s ultimate plan for sharing the gospel to all nations. Isabel wanted to incorporate this passion with her passion for medicine. She currently is volunteering at Sharp Hospital in Chula Vista and has almost 150 hours of volunteer work. Isabel would love to serve others cross culturally through the gospel and through medical needs.