Katherine Garcia is on a mission to break a cycle in her family. The IDEA McAllen student is going to become the first person in her family to go to college.

“I pushed myself to be a straight A student all of high school,” Garcia said. “I’m paving the way for my family, all of their hard work paid off… I come from a low income family, so the financial situation was kind of unstable sometimes, you never really knew what was going to happen next."

Garcia took 14 AP classes, participated in multiple extracurricular activities, and also got a job to help her family with bills. 

“I needed to find something to fill up my free time with,” Garcia said. “I made sure the days I didn't work, I had a school activity… I always had something to do."

Because of her sacrifice, grit, and determination, Garcia earned a full ride scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania.

Garcia says she plans to major in biochemistry.

“And I hope to double major in business, and then as soon as that's done I want to go to medical school to hopefully become a dermatologist,” Garcia said.

Watch the video above for the full story.