CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Corpus Christi and South Texas can honor the little girl who dreamed of attending college in the Sparkling City by the Sea but who will never get the opportunity to live out her dreams.
Friday is a day of tribute for Maite Rodriguez. It's the fifth of 21 days of tributes in Uvalde for the 21 victims of the Robb Elementary School shooting. You're encouraged to wear green or green Converse shoes if you have them.
Just ten years old, Maite had a strong sense of her future. She wrote in her journal, "I want to be a marine biologist." She had those plans ever since she was in Kindergarten.
"She had her heart set on Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi," Maite's mom, Ana Coronado, said. They planned to visit TAMUCC after school finished last summer. Ana says that Maite loved animals -- especially dolphins, whales and dogs.
Not long after the shooting, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi created a scholarship in Maite's name. It will be awarded each year to a senior from Uvalde who wants to attend TAMUCC.
Maite and her green Converse shoes
Green converse shoes have come to represent the bright little soul that was Maite. Her mom said she had just gotten the shoes, and Maite -- who loved hearts -- drew a small heart in Sharpie over the toes on the right sneaker.
Two weeks after the shooting, actor Matthew McConaughey, who is from Uvalde, took a similar pair of green Converse to the White House. He told the country how after her death, Maite's family could only identify her by her little green shoes with the heart. Overnight the green Converse shoes became a symbol for better gun control laws in the United States.
On March 27, yet another school shooting took place -- this time in Nashville, Tennessee. Maite's mom posted a picture of green Converse shoes.
How to donate to Maite's Uvalde Heart Scholarship
McConaughey's Just Keep Livin Foundation makes it easy to donate to Maite's Texas A&M-Corpus Christi scholarship. You can easily donate now online with a credit card.