City Cartography

Trading in cold Minnesota winters for sunny California is many Midwesterners’ dream. Aleisha Nelson made that dream come true nine years ago when she moved from Shoreview, Minnesota, to Santa Clara, California, to pursue a degree in computer science. Now, Nelson lives in San Francisco, where she’s taken on another dream: art.

“While growing up in Minnesota, I did all the winter sports like figure skating but also played soccer,” Nelson says, noting the many times she traveled to and from Woodbury for competitions. But during her time in high school at Cretin-Derham Hall High School, she desired to move out of state for college. “One of my first choices was Boston College, but Santa Clara had palm trees and was super sunny,” she says. “Everyone was in a good mood, and I immediately thought, ‘I have to go there.’” So, she pursued four years of warmth at Santa Clara University with the idea of moving back to Minnesota post-graduation.

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