I will be the first one in
my family to attend college.
It's a huge responsibility.
I feel so proud of it.
I'm happy, I'm sad, I'm excited,
I'm scared, I'm frightened,
I'm nervous of all
these different feelings
that I have right now.
I'm just ready to close
my high school cycle
and to move onto college.
I applied as premed, because
my intentions as of now
is to go to medical school.
Wow.
If there's one thing I can
say back to high school
Rubi is, it's like she had
her whole life figured out,
but at the same time,
she didn't realize
how things would change.
When I came here, freshman
year, first semester,
I was in health classes.
I was taking biology, chemistry.
But I was also taking a
G.E. Writing 140 class.
And I realized that I was
enjoying my humanities classes
more.
I could put my own ideas into
it based on what I was reading,
based on the class discussions.
I started seeing all
these connections.
And so, for me, right away I
knew that there was something.
And then, in the
summer of 2012, I
went to Japan with 12
other Topping scholars.
All of a sudden, you're
getting ready to go to Japan,
and you're like, in the plane.
The plane's about to leave.
And there's a part
of you that's like, I
don't want to go anymore.
I don't want to leave my family.
But it made me grow as a scholar
because-- [SPEAKING JAPANESE]
I just started asking
so many questions.
Well, why is it?
Why does it have to be this way?
It provided me
with an opportunity
to see things differently.
And it offered me
a new perspective
of thinking, of analyzing,
of seeing the world.
We are here in Hiroshima.
How do you feel?
So I actually do feel
excited, because I was talking
to Felipe, and he
said that it makes us
think who we are as Americans.
Mm.
After going to Japan,
I realized I need
to broaden-- broaden myself.
And I really, really want to get
to know other cultures and see
the interactions they play.
Fall of 2014, I went
to Madrid, Spain.
It was just amazing
because I grew a lot,
and not only as a student
but also as a person.
Looking back, I had no idea
where I would be right now.
I thought that
college would just
be about getting good grades,
learning material, memorizing
it, that's it, moving on.
I always thought that research
only applied to science.
I met Dr. George Sanchez
my freshman year.
It's amazing the strides
happening in the field.
But the reality is
that there just needs
to be a lot more people in it.
And he told me, professors
engage in research.
We're scientists,
we're investigators.
We ask questions, and we
try to find solutions.
Gender was something
that spoke out to me.
But after reading it, I
think that it wasn't that she
was left out, but
I think that it
just didn't really fit into what
the book was trying to say.
And so that's how
my journey began.
I live in Watts.
I was born and raised there.
African-American culture,
or black culture,
has always interested me.
And it's impacted me, because
that's part of the culture
that I also grew up on, aside
from the Latino culture.
The current research
that I'm working on right
now has been developed
over a course of two years.
It's looking into
feminism, particularly
third-wave feminism
in the United States,
as it relates to women of color.
It started off with
a simple question
of, how does an individual
negotiate feminism?
Back home, before
coming to college,
I was always bombarded
with all these questions
about, why can't I, just
because I'm a woman?
Or what is a feminist?
All these questions
that I hadn't really
been able to answer
up until now that I
decided to do this research.
Even though I have
an older brother,
I am the first one from my
family to go to college.
It's been a really powerful
experience, not only for me,
but my parents as well.
Because I've grown
so much as a person,
but I feel that they've
grown so much, too.
I know my dad, at first,
while I was getting my college
acceptance letter,
he couldn't really
understand why I was so happy.
No one had done this before.
He had never
experienced this before.
And so for him not knowing what
was going to happen, you know,
you're just going to leave
us and forget about us.
But now, he's seen
everything that I've
done, how much I've
been able to experience
thanks to higher education.
He's just really proud.
Being a first-gen, particularly
here at USC, has been
a blessing, an utmost blessing.
There were times
where I did have
the imposter syndrome, which
is like, I don't belong here.
I'm just another statistic.
They want to increase
their diversity.
And now, I've definitely
noticed that now I'm
much more assertive.
I know why USC chose me.
I know what I have to
contribute to the university.
I know I'm doing this.
I feel like my undergraduate
experience here has prepared me
thoroughly for what's next.
I'm planning to work
first before going
to graduate school.
And I'm hoping to continue
growing as a person
to continue learning.
I've been blessed with having
the guidance of many people.
USC has taught me
a lot about myself,
especially just knowing that,
no matter how hard things get,
I can always bounce right back.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
 
