What is your hometown? Westminster, CA
What colleges did you attend? Degrees earned? Golden West College- Transfer Only
CSU Long Beach- B.A. Arts in History
CSU Long Beach- M.A.- Education, Option in Social & Cultural Analysis of Education
What motivated you to go to college? The expectation from my family & knowing that my parents struggled & scraped by earning less than minimum wage solely for their five children to have access to the education & freedoms they were never afforded in their home country is what motivated me to pursue my higher education. I was also taught early on that the only way to ensure that I wouldn't be perpetuating the same cycle of poverty that I witnessed growing up was through education.
Describe your college experience as first-generation. As a first-generation student, I constantly felt unsure of myself. I felt like everyone else knew what they were doing, where they were going, & how they were going to get there, but I was just faking the funk & fumbling around trying to look like I knew what was I was doing. I went through the motions of doing what I was "supposed" to or what I was always taught--I going to class, keeping my head down, & getting good grades.
What unique challenges did you face? As a first generation college student I struggled with finding my voice & internal feelings of being "othered" or "less than" when among my peers. Coming from a background where I was raised to be voiceless & "not make waves," I internalized all of my insecurities to become an observer in my own life.
How did you overcome those challenges? It wasn't until my graduate school years when I was tasked into dialogue & discourse with my cohort mates over the very topics that I was feeling all throughout my undergraduate years that I realized I was "doing life" all wrong. It was through educating myself and lots of forced self-reflection that allowed me to open up & live more intentionally, transparently, & unapologetically.
What did you advise other first-generation students? GET INVOLVED. Know that you are NOT alone. There is so much value in your lived experiences & the shared experience. It took me a LONG time to realize that my college years could have been much easier had I been more intentional about my college experience & looked up once in a while. The connections & relationships that you make now coupled with the validation from your lived experiences when shared could help you or someone else more than you know.
