CHS Announces Fall 23 Commencement Honor Roles: Aixa Rojas, Undergraduate Banner Bearer

Published November 29, 2023
By Darlene Muguiro
UTEP College of Health Sciences

This December, four CHS students will serve in honorific roles at the Fall 2023 commencement ceremony at the Don Haskins Center. These students were selected for their positions based on academic achievement, extracurricular participation, and community and University service. Our final story features Aixa Rojas, Undergraduate Banner Bearer.

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Aixa Rojas, a candidate for the Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology degree, first visited UTEP during a campus tour she was part of as a high school student at Lydia Patterson Institute.

“I felt like UTEP provided a very welcoming environment, and there were a lot of other Hispanic students like myself, which made me feel very secure. I believed I would succeed here,” she said. “I went into kinesiology due to my interest in the human body and movement, which came from my experience as a high school athlete.”

As a first-generation American, Rojas says she appreciates the sacrifices her family have made throughout her time at UTEP, stating that without their support, none of her achievements could have been possible. Rojas’ parents stayed behind in Mexico while she pursued her degree, and arranged for her to stay with her aunt and uncle throughout her undergraduate career.

In addition to her full-time course load, Rojas took on a position as an undergraduate research assistant in Dr. Kisuk Min’s Muscle Molecular Physiology Lab. She was immediately intrigued about the work he was doing when she learned about it on the first day of his exercise physiology class. Rojas says the most important skill she has developed during her two years in the lab is resilience.

“The experiments we perform are very delicate, and if little things go wrong, that could impact an entire day of work,” she explained. “So, when that happened to me, I would just tell myself that it was fine if I failed; I would just try again the next day. It really requires self-regulation and management of emotions.”

Rojas says that one of the most memorable parts of her undergraduate experience was presenting a poster this past September at the college’s Viva la Salud conference, where she was tasked with explaining the lab’s research to students and professors from various allied health professions.

“It felt really daunting having to explain what we do and why we do it, but once I discovered I could actually talk to them about our work, I felt my self-confidence increase,” she said. “I’m grateful for the opportunity I had to interact with people from other fields, and it was just overall a wonderful experience.”

Along with her position as a research assistant, Rojas was a PT tech for two different clinics. She says that the daily interaction with patients cemented her decision to pursue the career. In her second position, she worked in a setting focused on patients’ pelvic floor health, and has found the specialty “very rewarding.” While managing her multiple roles as a student, employee and research assistant was demanding, Rojas’ desire to help shape her family’s future inspired her daily to continue her journey.

“At the time, I could say that my load was very heavy, and sometimes I felt like things were falling apart, but I would tell myself that I would get through it,” she said. “Coming from a family of immigrants, I always had this idea that I needed to excel, because what I was doing at that point would lay the foundation for helping my family have a better life.”

Following graduation, Rojas will continue her academic journey and pursue a doctor of physical therapy degree. She has been accepted into UT Health San Antonio’s DPT Class of 2027.

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Go Miners!

For more information about the Department of Kinesiology, please visit: https://www.utep.edu/chs/kinesiology