Student Ana Garcia, who appears in the University of Winchester’s new promotional film, 'Your Place to Become'’, is no stranger to being in front of the camera.
In her native Mexico Ana was a child actress who appeared in several telenovelas (TV soap operas) which attracted millions of viewers as well as short films and stage productions.
Despite her talent for acting Ana was always more interested in psychology, reading her grandfather’s books on Freud from an early age.
Her love of the subject brought her to Winchester where she is now in the second year of a Forensic Investigation and Psychology course and in the new video she plays a student who becomes a forensic investigator, moving from the lab to a crime scene.
Ana was born in Mexico City and grew up in the provincial city of Cuernavaca.
Ana acting in a scene from a Mexican telenovela
When she was 14, Ana and her brother moved to Miami, where her father was already living, to escape the growing violence linked to rival drug cartels.
Ana said the move to the US was difficult and she struggled with her mental health as she made the adjustment to a new country.
Setting herself the goal of becoming the first in her family to go to university was one of the ways in which Ana coped with her new life.
“I felt really lost but this was the one thing I wanted to do and when people told me I couldn’t, I set out to prove them wrong,” she explained.
Ana enjoyed her High School Psychology classes and says her professor there was one of the people who encouraged her to get to university.
“I was really interested in forensics and psychology, and I had a clear vision that I wanted to go to England," she said.
“I first found out about the University of Winchester on the internet when I was 13. Winchester looked such a friendly place, and I kept it in the back of my mind.”
Ana says the University and city lived up to her expectations.
“My favourite thing about the university is the sense of community,” said Ana. “If I am having a problem there is always someone I can talk to.”
She hopes to continue with studies at Winchester as a postgraduate and would like to draw on her childhood experiences for a dissertation.
“I grew up surrounded by crime in Mexico and I’m interested in why some people become involved in crime while others don’t,” said Ana.
When she came Winchester, Ana was the University’s only Mexican undergraduate, now she is one of four.
In addition to her studies, Ana is an international student ambassador. Her role involves showing students round campus and talking to them about university life.
“I speak to them about my experiences moving to a foreign country and I direct them to the International Team for more important inquiries. Basically, I am an ear and friend for other international students,” said Ana.
Ana in Your Place to Become
About Your Place to Become
"Your Place to Become" captures the University of Winchester's vision of transformative education.
Made by media firm Hybrid and the University’s own marketing team, it shows students using the facilities around the University before they are whisked forward in time to their careers as a nurse, teacher, filmmaker, physiotherapist and, in Ana’s case, a forensic investigator moving from the lab to a crime scene.
The film is now a key part of Welcome Talks at University Open Days - the next of which is on 30 November.
A shorter version is being screened as an advert at cinemas around Hampshire throughout November. It can be seen at Vue Cinemas in Eastleigh, Basingstoke and Farnborough and the Odeon in Andover.
Watch it on YouTube here
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