Growing up in a Dominican American family in Dorchester, MA, senior Genesis De Los Santos says she was nurtured not only by her parents but also by her neighbors, teachers, and school counselors. “There are so many people that helped me become who I am. Without them, I wouldn’t be the same Genesis,” she says.⠀ ⠀ “I had a support system all my life, but I had to build another one when I came to Harvard,” she said. Her Harvard community proved crucial when De Los Santos’ mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. When she was accepted to a study abroad program in Paris, one of her childhood dreams, she seriously considered staying, but her mother pressed her to pursue her dreams, and off she went.⠀ ⠀ As a senior concentrating in history and literature with a focus on ethnic studies, De Los Santos wrote her thesis about hair in the Dominican Republic, which featured Dominican hair salons and their role as a “place of community” and “cultural creation.” On the day she turned it in, she made ...