By Matthew Becerra, November 4, 2025
Justin Vegara got his first tattoo on his 18th birthday. Despite having self-proclaimed strict immigrant parents, his tattoos pay tribute to them. His first tattoo was an M for his mom’s name, and the one on his forearm is a portrait of his father.
Vegara isn’t the only student to share this motivation behind getting a tattoo. Across Cal Poly Pomona, tattoos have become a way for students to express themselves through ink, carrying reminders of faith, memories and all that is important to them.
“I got this done for my dad, just to commemorate how much of a hard worker he is,” Vegara said.
Vegara’s sleeve tells a story about his life and what’s important to him, with pieces about his heritage, his religion and special memories like. a trip he took to Japan where he got his hand tattooed.
Vegara isn’t the only student to share this motivation behind getting a tattoo. Across Cal Poly Pomona, tattoos have become a way for students to express themselves through ink, carrying reminders of faith, memories and all that is important to them.
Liberal studies student Demarreya Lewis-Cooper and electrical engineering student O’Shon Mitchell also have tattoos for religion and family.
Lewis-Cooper explained the piece on his forearm has his parents’ names written in a cross, a tattoo shared with his siblings, and designs that blend his mother’s favorite flower to represent faith and family.
Religion is the main motivation behind Mitchell’s tattoos. He chose “Fear God”, because he liked how tattoos looked but also wanted a physical way to reflect his belief in God.
His second tattoo, which says “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” represents a deeper connection to his faith and marks the point when he began taking his relationship with God more seriously.
He explained the tattoo was his motivation to be more committed to his faith, as he started to reach out to groups on campus to be a part of Bible study and is on the road to getting baptized.
While students like Vegara, Lewis-Cooper, and Mitchell find deep personal meaning in their ink, tattoo artist Tim Liu sees the stories up close. Liu, who tattoos out of Upland, advertises through flyers around nearby college campuses, including CPP.
Liu started putting posters up on college campuses as an experiment because he was tired of waiting to get clients and thought schools might have good foot traffic.
“I’ve had people hit me back from schools,” Liu said. “Usually, I just go up there once a month and post them up.”
Liu estimated tattooing more than 50 college students because of his flyers, and he adjusts his prices to make tattoos more affordable for students.
The tattoo requests he gets are all familiar at this point. Most are smaller tattoos with an emphasis on linework, which he attributes to students not wanting to commit to a big piece as their first tattoo.
