LAFAYETTE – Beatriz Pacheco, a student leader at Ivy Tech Community College, is OurTown.com’s Student of the Month.

Pacheco, nominated by Ivy Tech administrator Andrew Antonio, is a Student Ambassador at Ivy Tech and president of the college’s Latino Student Union. She is the winner of the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce Community Activity Award, and is a peer mentor, and director of public relations and secretary for Ivy Tech’s student government.

She hopes to attend Purdue University and pursue her bachelor’s degree in Organizational Leadership and Supervision after graduating from Ivy Tech in May with an associate’s degree in business administration.

A 2007 graduate of Lafayette Jefferson High School, Pacheco said she attended Christina & Co.’s education center and became a cosmetologist out of high school, but later realized that education should come first.

“My parents migrated to the United States when they first married,” Pacheco said. “I worked at a hair salon, managed a restaurant, and went to Ivy Tech part time. I soon realized that concentrating on my education was priority.

“I have committed to participating in extracurricular activities because of my desire to be a leader for my peers and for those to follow. “

Pacheco said she has an array of options after graduating from Ivy Tech and Purdue.

“I have considered staying local and helping the community that has shaped me,” she said. “I also hope to travel the world either as an international flight attendant or a Marine officer. Whatever it is I decide on, I want to be an inspirational and exemplary individual.”