I say my family especially my son I just want
to be able to provide him a better life.
The emotional aspect of being a student-parent
and first generation, there's times where
I just want to give up.
But I know that there's resources here on campus
and people that believe in me and so it's
just a matter of advocating for myself.
I think balancing being a student and a parent
because I take three or four
classes every quarter and I work two jobs
and I'm also I mean sometimes my job especially
at the ARC requires me to do outreach to organizations.
They have their meetings late; so sometimes
I do feel guilty when I come home really late.
I'm thankful that my mom is really supportive.
But sometimes I do feel guilty that I'm not
the one cooking the food for my son because
I'm not there
or just little things like being able to take
him to story time at the library because I
have class.
So that's definitively a challenge but I just
try to take it one step at a time.
Definitively my family just because well my
dad he got up to a certificate in community
college but he doesn't have his bachelor's.
My mom she has the education, a ninth grade
education and they both were born in Mexico
and so I see how hard they've pushed for us
to have a better like and I feel that if I
give up it's like all their sacrifices would
be for nothing.
I feel at times I do it more for them and
for myself but more for them really and then
my son.
As for first generation students like myself
just to be proud to be in an institution like
this because even though it can be difficult
to navigate it once you find the resources
it's just there's so many opportunities.
You are your own advocate you know yourself
and you have to take the initiative because
there's so many students, everybody has their
needs but only you know what it is that you
need so and being proud of your story I think
that was definitely something that I struggled
with my first and second year partly because
I had my son my second year and there were
times where I did wish like Ahh I would've
done things differently but now that it's
coming to an end my career, like undergraduate
career, I'm really happy with my story It's
kinda unconventional and I used to be like
so against that but I can't imagine anything
else and I'm really proud of that.
So being proud of your story definitely.
