First-generation CSUDH student in the graduation ceremony 2019. Photo courtesy of University Communications and Marketing.
By Annais Garcia, Staff Reporter.
The day Jessy Leon tried on the cap and gown for her coming graduation ceremony, her parents and her daughter were there in the living room looking at her proudly because her achievement is also her family’s dream. When Leon saw her daughter looking at her, she put the gown on the two-year-old creating an emotive moment for herself and her parents.
Leon, a CSUDH sociology major, will be the first in her family to graduate with a bachelor’s degree this Spring of 2022.
According to a nonprofit organization, Exelencia in Education, 44% of Latinos students in the US are first-generation who attend college.
Leon’s parents migrated from Mexico and Peru to this country searching for a better life.
“Our parents came here to better themselves and to provide a better future for their potential families,” said Leon. “It just means that we are the ones to put that work in for them to finally say ‘I came here for this reason, my children succeed.”
Leon, who is a single mother, is also her family’s first member in receiving a bachelor’s degree. She has come this far with the help of her parents, and as graduation comes closer, her family has been very excited, especially her father.
To Leon, being the daughter of two migrants comes with a big responsibility, because she thinks her parents have been very brave ever since they made the decision of migrating to a new and unknown country.
“I strongly believe that if it wasn’t for my parents and their decision of leaving their homes in their countries to start their own families here (in the U.S.), I wouldn’t be where I am” Leon said.
To Leon, migrating from one country to another is an act that requires courage. Today this country has become a home for her and her parents because although they don’t forget their cultures and where they come from, they have now grown roots in the U.S.
Similar to Leon, Michelle Valtierra is a CSUDH first-generation student who has a Psychology major and is also graduating this coming spring 2022.
Valtierra’s parents have also been very excited to see their daughter at her graduation ceremony because she will be the first in her family to receive a bachelor’s degree.
“It is a huge honor and they are one of the reasons (to graduate) because they sacrificed so much leaving their countries, their families, their culture, just to come here to deal with racism, hate, and so many things,” Valtierra said. “I’m honored, and I’ll do anything possible to pay them back.”
Carlos Maximiliano Fernandez is a Jesuit who’s currently working in Mexico City in one of the Servicio Jesuita a Migrantes shelters. Fernandez has witnessed how parents try to cross the Mexican border in search of stability for their families.
“Not to make it sound romantic, but migration embodies a deep feeling that encourages a person to leave their country, their support where they have a life,” Fernandez said.
Fernandez also explained how many other migrants that already live in the U.S. contact him to let him know about their current life and about the roots they already have here.
“Those roots are their children,” Fernandez said.
To Valtierra migration means a new beginning because migrants leave their comfort zone to pursue the dream of a better life, without knowing how it will go.
The support Valtierra has received from her parents has been essential in her career. But as a first-generation student with migrant parents from Mexico and Guatemala, she had a difficult time trying to understand the American educational system.
Because Valtierra’s parents didn’t have the opportunity to go to a college when she first started her studies they couldn’t help her in the process of signing for Financial Aid, economic assistance designed to help students during their careers.
“This was one of the biggest issues I had to deal with, I had to learn all these things and I couldn’t ask my parents anything because they never dealt with all that,” Valtierra said. “Dealing with the difficulties of being a first-generation student where you can’t ask your parents for help with FAFSA and other documents is challenging.”
Although her parents’ knowledge about college was limited, they have supported Valtierra until this point, and they are looking forward to seeing her accomplishing their family’s dream during the graduation ceremony.
“As Latina, family is very important to our cultures, and it is also the biggest thing,” Valtierra said.
Leon explained how today she feels that she has been the result of her parents’ effort by doing what they always wanted to do, graduating from the University.
“I feel I am the result of them,” Leon said.
