Name: Pia Aquije
Year: Sophomore
Major: Marketing Communications with a minor in International Business
Hometown: Northridge, California
Coming to a new country is a challenge, but learning English and having to translate for your parents at a young age? Talk about amazing! Pia Aquije can handle just about any challenge thrown her way. From the most advanced classes in high school to volunteering and having up to two jobs at a time, Pia does it all!
When Pia was six years old, she and her family moved to the United States from Ica, Peru. After making the move, Pia and her brother, Alonso, had to learn English and go to school. “It was hard at first learning the language but eventually it did get easier. It was also hard not having all my family around but my parents did their best and my grandparents would always come visit us which helped a lot,” said Pia. Growing up, she had to juggle her studies, home life, and personal life while working harder than anyone I know to be where she is today.
All through high school, Pia volunteered at a local hospital where she would get to know patients and write for them their own personal stories about their lives so that when they got depressed, they could look back at what Pia had written about them and they could be happy about it. She has such a big heart and cares so deeply for anyone who is blessed enough to enter her life.
When it came time for college decisions, Pia had to make a tough choice between SDSU and CLU. The reason Pia chose Cal Lutheran is because, “The study abroad program here really appealed to me. They offer so many opportunities and I knew coming into college I definitely wanted to do a semester abroad.”
Next semester (Fall 2016) Pia is going to be studying abroad at The Hague in the Netherlands. Pia is very excited because, “living in Europe has always been a dream of mine so the fact that I get to live out this dream is amazing. I can’t wait to get to explore Europe and learn a lot about their culture and how different it is from the US. The Hague University is also amazing for marketing which is my major so I’m excited about that. But the thing I’m not excited about is to be independent and live on my own for a bit.”
Pia has great goals for her future: “I hope to graduate from Cal Lutheran and begin a graduate program in New York to get my master’s degree. I hope by the time I graduate from Cal Lutheran I’m working in my field of study and eventually I would love to work for a record label company since I love music.” Pia is a bit of a “concert junkie”, she has gone to more concerts than you can count on your fingers and toes! Some of the artists she has seen are Troye Sivan, Taylor Swift, The Weeknd, One Direction, 5 Seconds of Summer, and pretty soon she is going to Coachella!