Hello, my name is Michelle, and I am the daughter of an immigrant. Throughout my life I have had many passions, but as I grew up I realized that being a first-generation college student became the main fuel that ignited my success. A notable factor that I always carry with me is that my mom and I endured many things alone, and that is one side of being an immigrant. Together we immigrated to another country, we moved homes many times, and my mom had two jobs to be able to afford a place to live. Another factor about being an immigrant is that you do hear things such as "Why are you even in school? It’s not even worth it, "You won’t even make it through high school,” and “college is a scam.” I have even had people in my life try to convince me to drop out of school. Latinos have one of the lowest rates of educational achievement in the U.S., and there are many variables that impact Latino students, such as being the first in the family to go to college, having financial burdens, or simply being discouraged from attending school. For me, having people around me who tried to drag me down became one of my biggest motivators in life since high school. I have always loved learning and expanding my knowledge, but when you grow up hearing things like that and have people around you who discourage your academic goals, over time something breaks inside you. It affects you in many ways, and one of those ways is feeling inferior compared to your classmates. Having an inferiority complex contributed to things that hindered me over time, such as not raising my hand, overlooking opportunities, having a conformist mindset, almost quitting school because of what I’ve been told throughout my life, and not realizing my talents and potential. But I have come to realize that although I have been pushed down many times, I cannot give up just because of what others think of me. I applied my own advice, and now I am about to get my bachelor’s degree in psychology, and after graduating I want to pursue a master of science in neuroscience and focus on research, and eventually I want to get a PhD in neuroscience as well. One of the things that I will carry with me for the rest of my life is a quote that one of my professors, who was also a first-generation student, told me: “When you don’t know what to ask, you just don’t ask.” That quote stayed with me because many first-generation students grow up without guidance on how college works, what opportunities exist, or even what questions we are supposed to ask in the first place. Sometimes you do not realize what resources or support are available to you because no one around you has experienced it before. And that’s why I am passionate about being the daughter of an immigrant and being the one to show that it is possible to be in higher education, which can be tricky, but it is worth it nonetheless. My mom taught me to not give up on my dreams, whether it takes a day or a decade. I have always achieved what I put my mind to because there is no failure, only a delay in results.

The most important advice that I have learned throughout my life is to not let your family’s negativity distract you from your education. Throughout my life, I have heard things such as, “Why are you even in school? It’s not even worth it,” “Michelle won’t even make it through high school,” and “college is a scam.” I have even had family members convince me to quit school because of jealousy. Latinos have one of the lowest rates of educational achievement in the U.S., and there are many variables that impact Latino students, such as being the first in the family to go to college, having financial burdens, or simply being discouraged from attending school. For me, having people around me who did not uplift me was actually one of my biggest motivators in life since high school. I have always loved learning and expanding my knowledge, but when you grow up hearing things like that and have people around you who discourage your academic goals, over time something breaks inside you. It affects you in many ways, and one of those ways is feeling inferior compared to your classmates. Having an inferiority complex contributed to things that hindered me over time, such as not raising my hand, overlooking opportunities, having a conformist mindset, almost quitting school because of what I’ve been told throughout my life, and not realizing my talents and potential. But I have come to realize that although I have been pushed down many times, I cannot give up just because of what others think of me. I applied my own advice, and now I am about to get my bachelor’s degree in psychology, and I aim to help people who have been through the same things that I have experienced. There are many kinds of advice that I could give first-generation students, but the most important is to just keep going and ignore the negativity. JUST. KEEP. GOING. One of the things that I will carry with me for the rest of my life is a quote that one of my professors, who was also a first-generation student, told me: “When you don’t know what to ask, you just don’t ask.” That quote stayed with me because many first-generation students grow up without guidance on how college works, what opportunities exist, or even what questions we are supposed to ask in the first place. Sometimes you do not realize what resources or support are available to you because no one around you has experienced it before, and they will even try to bring you down. When you are going through moments that hinder you, you may not realize their impact in the moment. But later on, your vision will clear, and you will realize that they were wrong, not you. You will see clearly after the storm, but for now, you will have to keep going and work with what you have.