Hey, everyone, my name is Esai Hernandez! I am going into my junior year this spring as a My academic years are by calendar years because I graduated from high school a semester early and immediately went to college spring of 2024. I started my college career as a business management major, then transferred to the after a year and became an elementary education major. As I’m currently at the end of my sophomore year, I have decided to transfer back to being a business management major.
My leadership experience on campus consists of me serving as treasurer and president of the Black Student Organization (BSO) this past academic year; this past summer, I completed the CAPS (Calling And Purpose in Society) Fellowship Program; and this fall, I served as the marketing and engagement chair of the University Programming Council (UPC). The CAPS Program was the one thing that expanded my experience at Valpo. During my time as a 2025 CAPS Fellow, I volunteered at Holden Village, a Lutheran-based remote retreat center in the North Cascade Mountains of Washington state. There, I worked on the programming team completing various administrative tasks and worked in the village summer camp. Other than volunteer work, I researched my calling and purpose.
My purpose at face value is to improve this cruel world by bringing kindness, compassion, empathy, loyalty, and humility to guide the way of those who don’t know of or don’t have a way into a better future. To expound on that, at the crossing of a foot bridge, my calling and purpose came alive. As I journeyed on a musical embark of dance, I listened to a song to call on the ancestors, and I felt the spirit of the land. Embracing the nature and spiritual environment around me I awoke a certain level of status and ability to embrace the highest self of me.
Growing up, I had a very intense childhood, until I felt my calling towards spirituality. It is a blessing for me to be where I am and where I will be. After leaving Holden Village, I started my journey to spiritual alignment.
As I foreshadow the rest of my life, I approach it with the mentality of this mantra I live by:
I’m one with the land, the land is with me
I’m the chosen, the chosen is me
I’m the one, the one is me
I am the prophecy, the prophecy is me
I respect the world, the world respect me
I will improve the world, the world will improve me
I will become who I am meant to be
I’m one with the land, the land is with me
I’m the chosen, the chosen is me
I’m the one, the one is me
I am the prophecy, the prophecy is me
I respect the world, the world respect me
I will improve the world, the world will improve me
I will become who I am meant to be
