Education: Ukiah High School
Hobbies: Drawing, painting, singing, and dancing
Abstract: In January of 1999, my family and I came to United States from Mexico for the first time. We saw ourselves in a different culture, speaking a different language, in a country that was not ours. By then, we were five in our family. I had two sisters: the eldest one Lupita, who was thirteen years old, my little sister Araceli, who was four years old and I, Elizabeth, was eleven years old.
Starting a new life in United States, my parents registered my sister and me in school in order to learn English and continue our education. That was difficult because I did not know any English. I felt as if I was going to vanish and I suffered a lot due to the lack of resources to help me adapt to my new surroundings.
My parents are blue collar workers because they had not finished their education. My father has been my inspiration to develop my educational vision since I was three years old. His dream of becoming a lawyer motivates me to go on and realize my goals of challenging myself and becoming what my father one day dreamed of achieving.
I received encouragement from my teachers, counselors, friends from high school, and Mr. Lombardy, alumni from St. Mary’s College, in pursuing a higher education. Not only did they encourage me to succeed, but helped on filling out the St. Mary’s College application and explained to me all the requirements that I needed to accomplish in order to be accepted. Each of them planted a seed of hope, knowledge, and faith inside my spirit to continue on as a first generation student.
Keywords: immigrants, Mexico, blue collar.
Elizabeth's grandparents, Eliza and Elizeo
Elizabeth's baby footprint
Elizabeth and friends at high school graduation. |
