You sort of feel like someone is gonna
tap you on your shoulder and say
"Uh. We made a mistake."
I was afraid to speak out. 
I was afraid that whatever I said
wouldn't be smart enough
At times I thought of
leaving that first semester that maybe I
just--   really the first day I almost
turned around and left.
You're not sure you fit in.
You're not confident you can make it
because you're the first one to do it
There's people around you with
better vocabularies
and knowledge backgrounds that I was lacking
and that's difficult
I'm the daughter of mom and dad who are
immigrants from Mexico
My father worked for Frito Lay 
he delivered chips
Neither had finished high school so they weren't
exactly sure what this meant
Each of my parents were farm kids 
and each were very poor
They grew up in a war-torn country
where colleges and universities are a luxury
I wanted the opportunity to get outside of my neighborhood
I knew I wasn't going to go
back without a college degree
I realize that it matters that I'm here and that 
for certain people my presence and
what I bring to this job makes a huge
difference
It's important that we help first-gen students feel more comfortable because
a lot of first-gen students are from underrepresented groups
and those students should not be underrepresented
It makes it so much easier to fully
participate and contribute
when you feel that you belong
I'm grateful that I didn't have parents
who had PhDs
and this was all laid out for me 
so that I could figure things out myself.
And I like that better.
So what I would say to a first-gen student:
"Congratulations because you made it and
you should be so proud of yourself
that you're here."
I've had a wonderful career and a great life and I would like to make sure that other capable
young people who come from first-gen
families have the support they need
We do want to show them how far they can go
I'm very happy to be that person who can
accompany one of the students on their
way to graduation
Now I have students who are professors
That's crazy!
I want students to be able to look around the room
and see other people like them 
But more important than that
I want them to be able to look at the front of the room
and see somebody who looks like them
