First Generation Mexican-American I was Born in San Diego, California a pretty diverse state and city. San Diego is a border town so I was not always the only kid who was Hispanic when i first attended elementary school. My community was mainly Hispanics and African Americans, and I always felt safe and some sort of comfort. However as I got older and started middle school, school started to change for me. The school I went to was a predominantly Caucasian population. Everyone that was not Caucasian seemed to steer a different direction. This of course was new to me, and I felt out of place. I did not understand why everything seemed so segragated. I remember questioning my skin color and kids laughing at my name because it was different. I was called Indian by one kid class and that really stuck we me up until recently. I have now moved past that incident and have learned to embrace my culture and my Aztec name. A first gen American means becoming the first high school graduate in the family, and first gen college student. I couldn’t always rely on my parents to help me with my homework or help me submit college applications. It’s not because my parents didn’t want to help me succeed, it’s because my parents only spoke one language only and that was Spanish. When i was elementary school my parents were involved because my school offered bilingual classes for families like mine. I remember my teachers speaking Spanish to my parents to make them feel involved. What saddens me is that, these type of classes and help are no longer specially in the south were i currently reside. This means to me that the newer generation of kids will no longer carry on the Spanish language and are being forced to forget their fist languages in order to be meet the American standard. This also means that parents are less involved In their child’s education. Regardless of the boundaries that America has put on immigrants and people of color, my partners always tried their hardest, when it came to teaching us the importance of education. My parents always pushed education on me and my siblings, this meant going to college. I never looked down on the fact that my parents English was not the best, I have seen the struggles that my parents had to go through to fit in to the “American way of living” and It saddens me that many other’s are also going through this, and that it’s not gotten any better, and America has a long way to go. We still see a lot of discrimination towards immigrants, people of color, and even lower class people. We have long way to go, but I work everyday to honor my parents by furthering my education, and becoming a successful adult. The roadblocks are there and it’s up to us to gather our strength and jump over them. Sitlali Jowers