2020 Montoya, Aonya

Hi everyone, I'm Aonya Montoya my first name sounds like "on ya" or if y'all have seen it in its more common spelling, Anya. Fun fact, my mom named me after the Fox animated movie Anastasia and got the spelling from one of her best friends at the time who named her daughter the same. My preferred pronouns are she/her/hers. I'm a fourth-year Sociology major with a minor in Film and Television, and currently looking into double minoring in Chicana/o Studies.
A little bit about myself, I was born and raised in Highland Park, California, and I love to draw and play music. I grew up learning to play guitar and bass with some practice with trumpet. Music is my favorite pass time, you'll find me listening to new music recommendations on my downtime if y'all have any let me know! My goal is to become a veterinarian, but after my last year here, I'd like to take a year off of school and try my hand at service animal work one to be able to support myself through vet school. And two, I've always wanted to advocate for animals and their care because it seems that because they are voiceless they are an afterthought to social progress and neglect/abuse. But also in my studies of sociology I've wanted to combine my love for animals and working with people. That being said I want to work with either the veteran population because had many of my cousins join the force or mental health/survivors of abuse population which is also close to home.

I'm interested in this course because I don't know too many Chicana/o artists besides Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, and I want to know more.