Ocampo, Maria blog 1

Hello!

My name is Maria Ocampo Brito. I was born and raised in Guerrero, Mexico. I migrated to the United States when I was fifteen years old. I attended Cypress College in Orange County and I transferred to UCLA in the Fall of 2018. I am a Psychology major and a Chicana(o) minor. My goal is to get into a Ph.D. program in Clinical Psychology. I would like to research about family interactions and mental health stigma in the Latinx community and how these affect help-seeking behaviors. I would like to be able to work with my community and bring mental resources closer to the people. 

Before transfering from community college to UCLA, I did not know a lot about Chicana(o) Studies. I did not understand what a Chicana(o) was. Since I migrated from Mexico, I only knew about people like me. I did not know that there was a group of people who considered themselves as Chicana(o)s. When I finally learned about this, I only thought that this term applied to Mexican people who were born in the US. When I took Chicana(o)10A and 10B, I finally understood the history and the experiences of people that have been recorded over time. 

I am excited about taking Chicana art and artists because I would like to learn more about how Chicana women portray art, how they are portrayed by others and the different interpretations and perspectives there are. Also, I would like to learn about more women in art since many of the artists I know are mostly male and seeing Chicana women in art is inspiring to me. Watching art through the lenses of Chicana women will give me a different point of view about history and the struggles they have gone through from the history of living in the US.