May 26, 2025 • 33 mins
It’s graduation season and we’re feeling so proud, like tía level proud. We’ve been watching all the pics, the shoutouts, and the familias going all out, and honestly… we love to see it. Latinos graduating? That’s a big deal. Today we’re talking about what it really means to celebrate those wins—the hard work, generational sacrificios, first generation student milestones, emotional family support, cultural pride, educational barriers, and everything behind that diploma. From the pressure of being the example to the joy of making our people proud, we are honoring the resilience, orgullo, and success of our comunidad. Let’s get into it, amigas.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:09):
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to NOSA Vemos.
Pero Pinamos. I'm Jessica.
And I am Martha, thank you for joining us for episode #4 we're
glad you're here with. Us again, I want to thank
everybody for joining us and andfollowing us and all the support
we've been receiving. Martha.
You agree? I agree.
I'm. I'm very excited to hear your
(00:30):
guys's opinion and I hope you'reenjoying our podcast.
They're around Amazon. YouTube.
YouTube. And.
Apple, Apple podcast. We started our TikTok, we're on
Instagram, so everybody who's been following us, I, I, I
really appreciate you and today's episode because of the
(00:52):
season, let's talk about graduation season.
I think it's such an interestingsubject, Jessica.
Yeah, especially for us Latinos,you know, some of the struggles
that we go through and the lack of guidance that maybe we have
(01:14):
in our in our schools or just because we're the first
generation in the United States that sometimes we're not very
much aware of all the benefits and all the resources that are
out there. So I think it's important.
What do you think? Absolutely, absolutely.
I think that I, it warms my heart to see obviously not only
(01:35):
people in my family graduate, but I see, you know, we're
scrolling on TikTok all those great videos of the Latinos
graduating and not just, you know, high school and their
undergrad, but going as far as getting their doctorate.
Like it, it makes me proud for them.
And I don't even and I don't even know them.
Absolutely. So it's unorguyo tener Latinos
(01:57):
este El Carlos por SU professionques Cogen ESU na SU Paso tan
Grande que Aquino estas unidos estamos tomando Y ojala que
sigamos ASI este conspiremos alaguentujoven que estudien que
sia bran Paso. Yeah, yeah.
(02:26):
But I wanna. Before we go any further, I
wanna congratulate. So congratulations.
Thank you, High School High. School.
(02:51):
He's going to a university. Yeah, she's off to Eastern
Michigan University in the fall.Also MI Sobrino, he graduated
from the University of Illinois Champaign Urbana last weekend.
Super proud of him. He actually spent Todo Nano in
Alemania last year when we went to go visit him.
(03:11):
So he's the 1st in terms of Los Primos.
So hopefully he's an inspirationfor my daughter and you know,
the rest of our children. Academy Familia because it's not
easy. It's not easy.
No, it's not. It's it's a very difficult road
to get the opportunity to go to school 'cause there's a lot of
(03:33):
discouragement and not to get too serious, but sometimes it's
the language barrier, you know, it's very hard.
Our parents perhaps didn't have the high school or the, you
know, the opportunity to go to further their education.
And so they gave us the opportunity and the platform to
(03:55):
come to the United States and toopen up that door.
And we should take advantage of that.
You know, we should take advantage of it.
There's, there's, there's, there's financial aid, there's
different resources that will help us to, to start, you know,
and of course we always get in debt a little bit with the
(04:15):
education, but if we really wantit, it's really well, well worth
it. What's your what was your career
path in terms of schooling como Paso well?
Well, I didn't know English, that's for sure.
I had to learn English as a veryyoung girl and at home we only
spoke Spanish, so that made it very confusing.
(04:38):
Finally, when I got to high school, I already knew how to
speak English. And then I was very eager to
learn about literature, and my counselor forced me to take the,
what is it bilingual classes. And I was so confused because
(04:59):
that was beyond already what I went through as a young girl.
So I missed out on my literatureclasses and I didn't learn what
I really wanted to learn. So I felt like that put me
behind a little bit. And then when I went to when I
was graduating, my counselor would not help me to get into a
(05:22):
university. I had two great friends that
helped me out and encouraged me and I applied for a lot of
things that I don't even remember but I know I remember
getting 2 scholarships, 1 a fouryear scholarship in one
university and the other one a two year scholarship.
But at that time my parents did not allow me to go to school
(05:45):
away from home. I guess it's based on culture.
I I don't know but I wasn't allowed to and so I ended up
going to a Community College. I graduated from there with a
science degree because I originally wanted to be a nurse.
So I went through some uneventful things that happened
(06:09):
in my life and I wasn't able to pass my nursing test.
So then I just needed to continue my education.
It was either social work and the one that I always wanted to
do was anthropology. And so that's where I got my
degree and anthropology for Rio de Grande, you know, so it, it
(06:29):
was hard, it was a struggle, butI was very proud.
And I'm the first generation here in the United States.
So I'm the first person in my family to to receive my my
bachelor's in anthropology. Do your other siblings have
bachelor's? You're the only one your
siblings. Yeah, I'm the only one and, and
(06:50):
it's exciting. I I feel proud because it was a
great struggle. A lot of a lot of things happen
in between, but not per de la Mira, you know, I really wanted
to achieve. Them achieve it.
And, and I, and I did and then, so then I started, you know,
(07:11):
I've always worked. So then I, I thought that with
my degrees, then I would have more opportunities to grow in a,
in a, in a work to, to be, you know, a leader to help others
achieve and help them grow in their position.
(07:32):
And unfortunately it doesn't happen that quick, right?
You know, so it's, it's been a struggle.
So in all your time you were in school or Community College and
then to the university you were working.
Oh yeah, I was working. I forget the most important
thing. I was a single mother of two
(07:53):
young kids. Wow.
And I worked full time and I went to school full time.
And then I also worked a part time job.
How I did it I have no clue. I don't know.
But I did it. I did.
It I did it. Yeah.
Because, you know, well, if you go, Oh yeah, how did I do that?
(08:17):
You know what, I must have had alot of desire to achieve it, to
become a scholar. And so, yeah, I don't know.
I'm so. And.
And then on top of that, my daughter was in school with me,
so she graduated a year after I did.
Yeah. Yeah.
(08:38):
When you first started CommunityCollege, did you have your
parents support financially? No, no, no, I paid all that.
I paid all that and then the this is embarrassing but I would
go every semester to see what classes I needed to take and
they can't giving me classes andgiving me classes.
(09:00):
I graduated from a Community College with 92 or 96 credits to
Yaka Sierra Una. Bachelor Yaka S120.
Bachelor's yeah. And they never told me to stop.
So I think it's important to, to, if you know somebody who is,
(09:22):
who's gone through some, you know, gone to school or, or you
feel like you're a little not that as knowledgeable on how to
go about it. Talk to, to someone, a mentor,
pick up a mentor that you can trust it.
You know, I always tell the young people I'm here to help
and guide you in and, and encourage them to go to school
(09:45):
because the reason I'm saying this is because like I said, I
graduated with 9296 credits. Can Can you imagine that if I
would have kept doing that, theywould, I would have never
graduated. I would have been making that
school filthy. Really spending their money on
no final degree of any sort. None at all.
(10:05):
So I was pretty upset about that, but it was it was my
fault. I don't know if it was my fault,
but I think it was like. Well, I think that's a struggle
of a first Gen. a first Gen. person like you don't know.
Sometimes you don't know. Yeah.
And so it's really, you know, itwas hard.
(10:26):
It makes it doesn't make me, it just makes me like, Oh my God,
how can other people be so cool?And that help a young person
with ambition to to, you know, to succeed.
So, but, but once I get to to the university, by then I was a
little bit more savvy about education and I was offered to
(10:49):
go into the Latino program and Irefused to, not because I didn't
want to learn about the Latinos or the opportunities we had.
It was because I didn't want I felt like I was an American and
I felt like I could do everything anybody else could do
(11:12):
without having to go into a special program.
Like you felt like you were getting like, pigeonholed into
something. Yeah, and and I didn't want to
do that. I I think because I am
frustration pretty much aware ofmy culture.
And it's also, it's so easy to, to learn about your culture if
you really want to, you know, you don't, I don't feel we need
(11:33):
that much guidance for that because our parents and our
families continue to carry our, our traditions.
And, and, you know, we, we, we celebrate certain things.
We, we keep our families very dear, you know, So those are the
things that that at least that's, that's how I looked.
(11:55):
At it. And as Latinos, I think that we
need to have presence in other things and then and a lot of
other things or else they're notgoing to give us the position
that we that we deserve, you know?
Yeah, like, like example, like example, when I was in in high
school, I think I was in my junior year or something, and
they put me in ESL classes. Yeah.
(12:17):
I was not able to learn literature, You know, I felt
cheated. You're being held back.
Yeah. Yeah, I was cheated.
I was being yeah, pull back. That's why I think 1 was so
determined. Like, you know, I had to do the
I had to do what I wanted to do the way I wanted to do it
because I believed in myself. I believed in what I could do.
(12:40):
I know it was a struggle. It was a great struggle, you
know, not to say that I'm super smart because I'm not, but I did
it the way I wanted to and nobody can tell me, oh, that's
because you went to a Latino apartment or something.
Today, yeah. You know, Yeah.
So tell me about yours, Jessica.Well, education was always in
(13:03):
the forefront in our house. My mom and dad always said
Escuela, escuela, Escuela. There's the Chiquitos.
Like, like the goal of my parents coming to this country
is to give their kids the best, the best position possible,
right? So I always had my parents
(13:25):
support in verbal support. I went to a very good high
(13:50):
school called Trinity High School out in River Forest, IL,
the Poros Mujeres Catholic School.
But all again, like I had to do the FAFSA on my own.
I had to figure out my schedule on my own.
Like it's not like I could rely on my parents.
(14:12):
So do those things. You know, I there's a
applicaciones and registrations and all of that crap on your own
as a first Gen. person. You know, we're translating for
our parents at a very young young, I guess it's
responsibilities that fall on usto try to to try to help them.
So I was always, you know, quickwith with all of that.
(14:34):
I ended up going to Michigan State University and I got my
bachelors in at go green and I got my, as I said in episode 1,
I got my degree in Agri businessbecause, you know, I come from
an agriculture family. So I always thought initially I
wanted to be a veterinarian. I was like, oh, me, this
business side of things. So then I went into the business
(14:56):
side of things and I ended up getting my my degree in that and
I graduated my parents siempre MI tiero mentos estate en les
cuela nosotros espagamosto. So my parents financially always
assisted in that way. I think that it was very hard to
(15:18):
go from living on the outside ofChicago going to East Lansing,
MI. I think that it was like a
culture shock for me. I logo mas loco lo estudier,
like every business era era, proranchero huerto, like Poro, like
Mexicana in my in my field at that moment or Isabel photos,
(15:40):
because I you know, I follow Michigan State on different
things and I love seeing todos Latinos, Kevan, you know pero
cuando. It was like rough.
Like you like, like there, you know, like you didn't.
Fit in? No.
Yeah. No, I was.
(16:01):
I was obviously now not Americanenough para Los huertos Y logo
avia Latinos. There's a Michigan State has a
big migrant program, OK equals of migrant workers like they
come from Texas, Florida, even from something places of
Michigan you have escape and seasonal workers and things like
that. But I wasn't like that Mexican
for them cuz I wasn't a migrant worker.
(16:23):
My parents are not migrant workers, you know.
Yeah, a lot of people. The other thing is, like those
Mexicanos creating from like, Texas or like northern Michigan,
like, so in Como, like what we call like, you know, Tejanos
cablan, Mas Ingles, you know, Mas musica tejana.
And I wasn't like, into that either.
Yeah. So it was hard to find my group
(16:43):
when I went to college. Yeah.
And I, I didn't do the greatest,honestly, I didn't do the
greatest that first year. I struggled.
I struggled a lot. Like it was a culture shock.
Like I come from predominantly Caucasian schools.
Yeah. But I always lived with my
family, Los Amigos Mexicanos, and I lived on the outside of
Chicago Mexicanos. I buy less Mexicanos.
(17:08):
You go to East Lansing, MI? Yeah.
Yeah, some little club out in Lansing to say I'm all.
Lucky I. Think they ended up shooting up,
shooting up the place. Yeah.
In my room in it, yeah. But I was a.
(17:28):
But I think that that's what I Ifound the hardest.
Yeah. I found the hardest and that's
something that I see with my daughter Aura Ke Yavan Pesar in
the fall to go to college, like me, had not to work as the FAFSA
form on her own as a poquito. We had a meeting with her
advisor, we picked all her classes.
I went on her website. She didn't have to do any of
that alone. It's good, though, you got you.
(17:51):
But I understand that we that's the beauty is like we, but I'm
glad that we, we are there for our children.
And that's what I'm saying is that we should be there for each
other as mentors, for our family, for our children, but
also for for younger Latinos, because it is a struggle.
(18:12):
I wouldn't want somebody to go to what we went through.
You know, it's, it's, it's sometimes it's really hard.
I used to cry too, Jessica. I used to cry because I didn't
understand. I mean, I spoke English and
everything, but I wasn't able toexpress myself like I wanted to.
And that was very difficult for me.
(18:33):
You know, I was stuck in Englishand in Spanish.
I was going back and forth. It was it was hard, but you
know, like you said, it's an awesome.
Experience. Yeah.
No, he like my parents, you knowwhat I mean?
Like like they had. Hard work to send us all like
(18:59):
it's difficult. Like there was no other option
for me other than to finish. That was it.
Yeah. You didn't want to let him down.
I know. Yeah, it's hard.
I didn't want to let my pocket down.
Yeah. Aside from that, for years after
(19:23):
graduation, which is another issue that's going on in the
government and, and all that shit because it's an arm and a
leg to, to go to school. You know, honestly, like
Latinos, look, look, I said one way or another, like even if
it's not a four year degree or you know, maybe it's like a
trade job, maybe it's better something that, you know, that's
(19:44):
gonna skill, something that's gonna set you up for something
in the future. No, no.
And don't forget, you know, I mean, let's not forget where we
come from and always give a handto our fellow.
Latino, you know, we need to help each other and unite
(20:06):
together. I was looking up that back in.
This is just a little bit of info.
Back in the early 2000s, there was the increase of Latino
graduate students was at 60%. Today it is 80%.
Yeah. So it's increased 20%.
(20:27):
So that's an awesome thing that to see that and to know that
that we are becoming our names, you know, Gonzalez, you know,
Martinez, these common names arecoming up now and they're
filling positions that that represent us, that understand
(20:51):
our culture. It's so, so important that that
we see our our fellow friends and and ethnicity group of
people that that we come from that are rising.
You know, it's just no more an Anglo dominant professions.
(21:14):
You know, it, it's a it's a large, it's becoming diverse.
So I think that's that's the most beautiful thing.
We continue to press on and pushforward, you know, as Latinos.
Yeah. And, and I can't even, you know,
I'm a person that would just love to meet with younger people
and, and talk to him really about our, about the struggles
(21:38):
that maybe we don't express as young people what we're going
through because we don't want tobe embarrassed or, or, you know,
you don't want to be point, you know, somebody pointing finger
at you. They, oh, you didn't know to do
this or that while other people,it comes so easy.
But you know, we don't know. Like I said, my parents, we, we
(21:59):
came here and my dad worked. My mother never worked.
It was five of us. It was a lot.
It was a lot, but we made it through, you know, and and you
know, you just got to remember why you came here.
You, you didn't come to take anybody's job.
You came to be a better person and to grow.
(22:22):
And for your next generation, your offspring scoot to to grow
and to be to have better opportunities that you did.
And to better every every generation.
After us or after? You know, in my case, like after
my parents, like my parents haveelementary school education and
all of us, it's four of us, we all have undergrads.
(22:45):
My brother has a masters, my oldest sister has 3 masters.
You know I. Mean that's what that's that's
the goal of what they came here for yeah now imagine our next
generation hopefully they're going to be even more better off
than us for. Yeah, absolutely.
We just going to make that like they say, break that that glass
(23:05):
ceiling and and come above, you know, and make sure that we're
known as educators as well as professionals.
And like I said, don't ever forget where you come from and
remember we can always mentor a young Latino that's just Kim and
(23:26):
are trying to better themselves,you know, always give them a
hand and then. To keep in mind that not
everybody has the same path, like graduating high school, go
to school. This is Pasan Kosaske.
They set you back, you know, without you wanting that to
happen. Biddle I don't want people to
lose focus on it's never late togo back.
It's never late to do something for yourself.
(23:47):
It's never late to better yourself.
Take that course, take, you know, find that better job, find
go back to school if that's whatyou want, but it'll always
bettering ourselves, especially right now, you know, control of
esta Pasando. You know that they're they're
meddling with the student loan system, they're meddling with
the education system. They're, you know, everywhere
(24:11):
and it feels like they're tryingto hold us back.
They're trying to for us to not have some piece of that pie and
we can't. We can't let it happen.
Nope. We cannot let it happen.
We cannot allow it to happen. And the more powerful, and you
know, what did they say? That's the same.
(24:33):
Knowledge is power. The more we know, the less power
they have and the more we know we're able to maneuver through
do whatever they may throw at usat that time.
You know, we're just going to keep focused and, and you know
what, it's true. My son is didn't want to go to
school after high school. He's doing OK.
(24:55):
He's he's I, I've ever since he was a little kid, he was an
entrepreneur. He would make cards and sell
them in the kids school. He had his T-shirt business and
then he ended up making a hoodieor a sweater.
Well, I helped him, but he had a, a, a rapper wear it and it's
(25:19):
on YouTube. I don't know the rapper.
He told me, but I don't remember.
But you know, he has that mind and it's, you know, he wants to
do more than what he's doing right now.
And that's, that's, that's OK too, you know, But like I said,
strive, strive, strive, work, work, work.
Make your goals, make your dreams come true.
(25:40):
It's OK to dream big. It's OK to, it's awesome when
you reach them. And I mean, it's so satisfying
to reach where you want to go. You know, it doesn't matter.
Not everybody's made for school.Not everybody's made to do just
sit behind a desk. You know, not everybody's for
that. But I guess what I would like
(26:02):
everyone to take from this conversation is, is don't give
up and. If you don't see somebody that
resembles you at the main seat at that table, then maybe it's
got to be you, right? You got to move
(26:30):
towards that. It's it's much, yeah, yeah,
it's, it is. There's, there's no limit.
(26:53):
The Sky's the limit, you know, and that's right.
There's so many people, you know, a lot of people say, oh,
restaurant business is, is such a commitment.
It's so hard. It's, you know, this and that.
But that's how we come. We come, we share our food, you
guys turn every corner. There's no more too many
hamburger joints, all right, Youknow, our culture is so rich
(27:20):
and, and so wanted by so many people.
And that's great, you know, and with that, we can use that to,
to, to build whatever we want inthis country because we have
been here for a long time. So we should build ourselves,
(27:41):
our families, our, our, our Latinos, you know, and, and
always be mindful and respectfulto the people, even if they're
not Latinos, because we don't want to be like them.
We don't want to be cruel. We don't want to be pentejitos.
They don't want them walking allover us.
Yeah. No, no, no, no, you know.
But we're kind people. Yeah, we are.
(28:02):
We're very kind. And so, you know, just remember,
you know, manners and respect and, and treating people with
respect is important. But if they don't treat you that
way, it's time to walk away. And I get near those folks
because they're going to break you.
(28:22):
So, you know, and you are powerful.
You're, you're, you're here to do the best you can in your
education and, or in anything you want to do.
Like I said, doesn't necessarilyneed to be education.
It could be anything, could be askill, it could be a Carpenter,
electrician is the plumber. You know, my father had a, a
(28:45):
small construction company, you know, he did well, you know, and
he came with nothing. He came with five kids, five
kids and my, my mom, which totalof seven people all on his back
to, to make us a better, to giveus a better opportunity here.
And so, you know, it can't be done.
It's just a lot of work, a lot of dedication.
(29:07):
Yeah, it depends how bad you want.
It. Yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely, and it's nice to seethat and.
(29:30):
It's nice to hear that they graduate from from school,
whether it's any program, you know.
Anything. Yeah, get a certificate in
something. Yeah.
Yeah, it's an honor. It's an.
Honor, it's like in terms of studio, we went to studio like I
(29:53):
hope to one day go back and get my masters.
Hopefully it's something that maybe I see myself achieving one
day, but for sure right now it'll it'll to try to push her
(30:14):
and and get her through her undergrad because you know, you
and I know how difficult it is sometimes that you see La Mehtas
a little bit farther. I think that having that
support, hopefully it makes it easier for her.
Yeah, you achieve it. You can also like a ton
difficile commos amaze for me. Yeah, yeah, cuz it could get so
(30:36):
hard. I remember, I think it was in my
junior year, I wanted to quit and, and I said I can't, I'm too
far off almost to the end for myfor me to quit.
And I pushed and I, I searched in my soul like in what I wanted
to do. And I pushed and I pushed and I
(30:58):
made it through. And then my daughter went
through the same thing and she was mom.
I can't do it. And I go, no, you can do it.
It's just part of the struggle of education because education
is hard. They start to have a CVN light
and then they go. On you.
They're laying on. You, yeah.
It's really hard. Yeah.
(31:21):
No, You know, if you're like me,I used to get embarrassed and
scared to talk in front of people.
You know, I would just sweat theworld, the world.
And then the classroom was, I was teeter tottering, you know?
But be confident you know it canbe done.
(31:43):
Yeah. Yeah.
In graduation season, a lot of graduations coming up as you
Conejos La Vic. So to all of our Latino
(32:13):
graduates out there, we see you.You made it through a system
that maybe wasn't built for us, but it'll you did it anyway.
We did it. Anyway.
And don't let anybody tell you that it wasn't worth it, because
it was. This is a victory for your
family, your community, and mostimportantly, for you.
Absolutely. When you have that education,
(32:34):
education is one thing that nobody ever can take it away
from you. Never.
That's so true, Jessica. Any last words, Barta?
And so on.
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to NOSA Vemos.
Pero Pinamos. I'm Jessica.
And I am Martha, thank you for joining us for episode #4 we're
glad you're here with. Us again, I want to thank
everybody for joining us and andfollowing us and all the support
we've been receiving. Martha.
You agree? I agree.
I'm. I'm very excited to hear your
(00:30):
guys's opinion and I hope you'reenjoying our podcast.
They're around Amazon. YouTube.
YouTube. And.
Apple, Apple podcast. We started our TikTok, we're on
Instagram, so everybody who's been following us, I, I, I
really appreciate you and today's episode because of the
(00:52):
season, let's talk about graduation season.
I think it's such an interestingsubject, Jessica.
Yeah, especially for us Latinos,you know, some of the struggles
that we go through and the lack of guidance that maybe we have
(01:14):
in our in our schools or just because we're the first
generation in the United States that sometimes we're not very
much aware of all the benefits and all the resources that are
out there. So I think it's important.
What do you think? Absolutely, absolutely.
I think that I, it warms my heart to see obviously not only
(01:35):
people in my family graduate, but I see, you know, we're
scrolling on TikTok all those great videos of the Latinos
graduating and not just, you know, high school and their
undergrad, but going as far as getting their doctorate.
Like it, it makes me proud for them.
And I don't even and I don't even know them.
Absolutely. So it's unorguyo tener Latinos
(01:57):
este El Carlos por SU professionques Cogen ESU na SU Paso tan
Grande que Aquino estas unidos estamos tomando Y ojala que
sigamos ASI este conspiremos alaguentujoven que estudien que
sia bran Paso. Yeah, yeah.
(02:26):
But I wanna. Before we go any further, I
wanna congratulate. So congratulations.
Thank you, High School High. School.
(02:51):
He's going to a university. Yeah, she's off to Eastern
Michigan University in the fall.Also MI Sobrino, he graduated
from the University of Illinois Champaign Urbana last weekend.
Super proud of him. He actually spent Todo Nano in
Alemania last year when we went to go visit him.
(03:11):
So he's the 1st in terms of Los Primos.
So hopefully he's an inspirationfor my daughter and you know,
the rest of our children. Academy Familia because it's not
easy. It's not easy.
No, it's not. It's it's a very difficult road
to get the opportunity to go to school 'cause there's a lot of
(03:33):
discouragement and not to get too serious, but sometimes it's
the language barrier, you know, it's very hard.
Our parents perhaps didn't have the high school or the, you
know, the opportunity to go to further their education.
And so they gave us the opportunity and the platform to
(03:55):
come to the United States and toopen up that door.
And we should take advantage of that.
You know, we should take advantage of it.
There's, there's, there's, there's financial aid, there's
different resources that will help us to, to start, you know,
and of course we always get in debt a little bit with the
(04:15):
education, but if we really wantit, it's really well, well worth
it. What's your what was your career
path in terms of schooling como Paso well?
Well, I didn't know English, that's for sure.
I had to learn English as a veryyoung girl and at home we only
spoke Spanish, so that made it very confusing.
(04:38):
Finally, when I got to high school, I already knew how to
speak English. And then I was very eager to
learn about literature, and my counselor forced me to take the,
what is it bilingual classes. And I was so confused because
(04:59):
that was beyond already what I went through as a young girl.
So I missed out on my literatureclasses and I didn't learn what
I really wanted to learn. So I felt like that put me
behind a little bit. And then when I went to when I
was graduating, my counselor would not help me to get into a
(05:22):
university. I had two great friends that
helped me out and encouraged me and I applied for a lot of
things that I don't even remember but I know I remember
getting 2 scholarships, 1 a fouryear scholarship in one
university and the other one a two year scholarship.
But at that time my parents did not allow me to go to school
(05:45):
away from home. I guess it's based on culture.
I I don't know but I wasn't allowed to and so I ended up
going to a Community College. I graduated from there with a
science degree because I originally wanted to be a nurse.
So I went through some uneventful things that happened
(06:09):
in my life and I wasn't able to pass my nursing test.
So then I just needed to continue my education.
It was either social work and the one that I always wanted to
do was anthropology. And so that's where I got my
degree and anthropology for Rio de Grande, you know, so it, it
(06:29):
was hard, it was a struggle, butI was very proud.
And I'm the first generation here in the United States.
So I'm the first person in my family to to receive my my
bachelor's in anthropology. Do your other siblings have
bachelor's? You're the only one your
siblings. Yeah, I'm the only one and, and
(06:50):
it's exciting. I I feel proud because it was a
great struggle. A lot of a lot of things happen
in between, but not per de la Mira, you know, I really wanted
to achieve. Them achieve it.
And, and I, and I did and then, so then I started, you know,
(07:11):
I've always worked. So then I, I thought that with
my degrees, then I would have more opportunities to grow in a,
in a, in a work to, to be, you know, a leader to help others
achieve and help them grow in their position.
(07:32):
And unfortunately it doesn't happen that quick, right?
You know, so it's, it's been a struggle.
So in all your time you were in school or Community College and
then to the university you were working.
Oh yeah, I was working. I forget the most important
thing. I was a single mother of two
(07:53):
young kids. Wow.
And I worked full time and I went to school full time.
And then I also worked a part time job.
How I did it I have no clue. I don't know.
But I did it. I did.
It I did it. Yeah.
Because, you know, well, if you go, Oh yeah, how did I do that?
(08:17):
You know what, I must have had alot of desire to achieve it, to
become a scholar. And so, yeah, I don't know.
I'm so. And.
And then on top of that, my daughter was in school with me,
so she graduated a year after I did.
Yeah. Yeah.
(08:38):
When you first started CommunityCollege, did you have your
parents support financially? No, no, no, I paid all that.
I paid all that and then the this is embarrassing but I would
go every semester to see what classes I needed to take and
they can't giving me classes andgiving me classes.
(09:00):
I graduated from a Community College with 92 or 96 credits to
Yaka Sierra Una. Bachelor Yaka S120.
Bachelor's yeah. And they never told me to stop.
So I think it's important to, to, if you know somebody who is,
(09:22):
who's gone through some, you know, gone to school or, or you
feel like you're a little not that as knowledgeable on how to
go about it. Talk to, to someone, a mentor,
pick up a mentor that you can trust it.
You know, I always tell the young people I'm here to help
and guide you in and, and encourage them to go to school
(09:45):
because the reason I'm saying this is because like I said, I
graduated with 9296 credits. Can Can you imagine that if I
would have kept doing that, theywould, I would have never
graduated. I would have been making that
school filthy. Really spending their money on
no final degree of any sort. None at all.
(10:05):
So I was pretty upset about that, but it was it was my
fault. I don't know if it was my fault,
but I think it was like. Well, I think that's a struggle
of a first Gen. a first Gen. person like you don't know.
Sometimes you don't know. Yeah.
And so it's really, you know, itwas hard.
(10:26):
It makes it doesn't make me, it just makes me like, Oh my God,
how can other people be so cool?And that help a young person
with ambition to to, you know, to succeed.
So, but, but once I get to to the university, by then I was a
little bit more savvy about education and I was offered to
(10:49):
go into the Latino program and Irefused to, not because I didn't
want to learn about the Latinos or the opportunities we had.
It was because I didn't want I felt like I was an American and
I felt like I could do everything anybody else could do
(11:12):
without having to go into a special program.
Like you felt like you were getting like, pigeonholed into
something. Yeah, and and I didn't want to
do that. I I think because I am
frustration pretty much aware ofmy culture.
And it's also, it's so easy to, to learn about your culture if
you really want to, you know, you don't, I don't feel we need
(11:33):
that much guidance for that because our parents and our
families continue to carry our, our traditions.
And, and, you know, we, we, we celebrate certain things.
We, we keep our families very dear, you know, So those are the
things that that at least that's, that's how I looked.
(11:55):
At it. And as Latinos, I think that we
need to have presence in other things and then and a lot of
other things or else they're notgoing to give us the position
that we that we deserve, you know?
Yeah, like, like example, like example, when I was in in high
school, I think I was in my junior year or something, and
they put me in ESL classes. Yeah.
(12:17):
I was not able to learn literature, You know, I felt
cheated. You're being held back.
Yeah. Yeah, I was cheated.
I was being yeah, pull back. That's why I think 1 was so
determined. Like, you know, I had to do the
I had to do what I wanted to do the way I wanted to do it
because I believed in myself. I believed in what I could do.
(12:40):
I know it was a struggle. It was a great struggle, you
know, not to say that I'm super smart because I'm not, but I did
it the way I wanted to and nobody can tell me, oh, that's
because you went to a Latino apartment or something.
Today, yeah. You know, Yeah.
So tell me about yours, Jessica.Well, education was always in
(13:03):
the forefront in our house. My mom and dad always said
Escuela, escuela, Escuela. There's the Chiquitos.
Like, like the goal of my parents coming to this country
is to give their kids the best, the best position possible,
right? So I always had my parents
(13:25):
support in verbal support. I went to a very good high
(13:50):
school called Trinity High School out in River Forest, IL,
the Poros Mujeres Catholic School.
But all again, like I had to do the FAFSA on my own.
I had to figure out my schedule on my own.
Like it's not like I could rely on my parents.
(14:12):
So do those things. You know, I there's a
applicaciones and registrations and all of that crap on your own
as a first Gen. person. You know, we're translating for
our parents at a very young young, I guess it's
responsibilities that fall on usto try to to try to help them.
So I was always, you know, quickwith with all of that.
(14:34):
I ended up going to Michigan State University and I got my
bachelors in at go green and I got my, as I said in episode 1,
I got my degree in Agri businessbecause, you know, I come from
an agriculture family. So I always thought initially I
wanted to be a veterinarian. I was like, oh, me, this
business side of things. So then I went into the business
(14:56):
side of things and I ended up getting my my degree in that and
I graduated my parents siempre MI tiero mentos estate en les
cuela nosotros espagamosto. So my parents financially always
assisted in that way. I think that it was very hard to
(15:18):
go from living on the outside ofChicago going to East Lansing,
MI. I think that it was like a
culture shock for me. I logo mas loco lo estudier,
like every business era era, proranchero huerto, like Poro, like
Mexicana in my in my field at that moment or Isabel photos,
(15:40):
because I you know, I follow Michigan State on different
things and I love seeing todos Latinos, Kevan, you know pero
cuando. It was like rough.
Like you like, like there, you know, like you didn't.
Fit in? No.
Yeah. No, I was.
(16:01):
I was obviously now not Americanenough para Los huertos Y logo
avia Latinos. There's a Michigan State has a
big migrant program, OK equals of migrant workers like they
come from Texas, Florida, even from something places of
Michigan you have escape and seasonal workers and things like
that. But I wasn't like that Mexican
for them cuz I wasn't a migrant worker.
(16:23):
My parents are not migrant workers, you know.
Yeah, a lot of people. The other thing is, like those
Mexicanos creating from like, Texas or like northern Michigan,
like, so in Como, like what we call like, you know, Tejanos
cablan, Mas Ingles, you know, Mas musica tejana.
And I wasn't like, into that either.
Yeah. So it was hard to find my group
(16:43):
when I went to college. Yeah.
And I, I didn't do the greatest,honestly, I didn't do the
greatest that first year. I struggled.
I struggled a lot. Like it was a culture shock.
Like I come from predominantly Caucasian schools.
Yeah. But I always lived with my
family, Los Amigos Mexicanos, and I lived on the outside of
Chicago Mexicanos. I buy less Mexicanos.
(17:08):
You go to East Lansing, MI? Yeah.
Yeah, some little club out in Lansing to say I'm all.
Lucky I. Think they ended up shooting up,
shooting up the place. Yeah.
In my room in it, yeah. But I was a.
(17:28):
But I think that that's what I Ifound the hardest.
Yeah. I found the hardest and that's
something that I see with my daughter Aura Ke Yavan Pesar in
the fall to go to college, like me, had not to work as the FAFSA
form on her own as a poquito. We had a meeting with her
advisor, we picked all her classes.
I went on her website. She didn't have to do any of
that alone. It's good, though, you got you.
(17:51):
But I understand that we that's the beauty is like we, but I'm
glad that we, we are there for our children.
And that's what I'm saying is that we should be there for each
other as mentors, for our family, for our children, but
also for for younger Latinos, because it is a struggle.
(18:12):
I wouldn't want somebody to go to what we went through.
You know, it's, it's, it's sometimes it's really hard.
I used to cry too, Jessica. I used to cry because I didn't
understand. I mean, I spoke English and
everything, but I wasn't able toexpress myself like I wanted to.
And that was very difficult for me.
(18:33):
You know, I was stuck in Englishand in Spanish.
I was going back and forth. It was it was hard, but you
know, like you said, it's an awesome.
Experience. Yeah.
No, he like my parents, you knowwhat I mean?
Like like they had. Hard work to send us all like
(18:59):
it's difficult. Like there was no other option
for me other than to finish. That was it.
Yeah. You didn't want to let him down.
I know. Yeah, it's hard.
I didn't want to let my pocket down.
Yeah. Aside from that, for years after
(19:23):
graduation, which is another issue that's going on in the
government and, and all that shit because it's an arm and a
leg to, to go to school. You know, honestly, like
Latinos, look, look, I said one way or another, like even if
it's not a four year degree or you know, maybe it's like a
trade job, maybe it's better something that, you know, that's
(19:44):
gonna skill, something that's gonna set you up for something
in the future. No, no.
And don't forget, you know, I mean, let's not forget where we
come from and always give a handto our fellow.
Latino, you know, we need to help each other and unite
(20:06):
together. I was looking up that back in.
This is just a little bit of info.
Back in the early 2000s, there was the increase of Latino
graduate students was at 60%. Today it is 80%.
Yeah. So it's increased 20%.
(20:27):
So that's an awesome thing that to see that and to know that
that we are becoming our names, you know, Gonzalez, you know,
Martinez, these common names arecoming up now and they're
filling positions that that represent us, that understand
(20:51):
our culture. It's so, so important that that
we see our our fellow friends and and ethnicity group of
people that that we come from that are rising.
You know, it's just no more an Anglo dominant professions.
(21:14):
You know, it, it's a it's a large, it's becoming diverse.
So I think that's that's the most beautiful thing.
We continue to press on and pushforward, you know, as Latinos.
Yeah. And, and I can't even, you know,
I'm a person that would just love to meet with younger people
and, and talk to him really about our, about the struggles
(21:38):
that maybe we don't express as young people what we're going
through because we don't want tobe embarrassed or, or, you know,
you don't want to be point, you know, somebody pointing finger
at you. They, oh, you didn't know to do
this or that while other people,it comes so easy.
But you know, we don't know. Like I said, my parents, we, we
(21:59):
came here and my dad worked. My mother never worked.
It was five of us. It was a lot.
It was a lot, but we made it through, you know, and and you
know, you just got to remember why you came here.
You, you didn't come to take anybody's job.
You came to be a better person and to grow.
(22:22):
And for your next generation, your offspring scoot to to grow
and to be to have better opportunities that you did.
And to better every every generation.
After us or after? You know, in my case, like after
my parents, like my parents haveelementary school education and
all of us, it's four of us, we all have undergrads.
(22:45):
My brother has a masters, my oldest sister has 3 masters.
You know I. Mean that's what that's that's
the goal of what they came here for yeah now imagine our next
generation hopefully they're going to be even more better off
than us for. Yeah, absolutely.
We just going to make that like they say, break that that glass
(23:05):
ceiling and and come above, you know, and make sure that we're
known as educators as well as professionals.
And like I said, don't ever forget where you come from and
remember we can always mentor a young Latino that's just Kim and
(23:26):
are trying to better themselves,you know, always give them a
hand and then. To keep in mind that not
everybody has the same path, like graduating high school, go
to school. This is Pasan Kosaske.
They set you back, you know, without you wanting that to
happen. Biddle I don't want people to
lose focus on it's never late togo back.
It's never late to do something for yourself.
(23:47):
It's never late to better yourself.
Take that course, take, you know, find that better job, find
go back to school if that's whatyou want, but it'll always
bettering ourselves, especially right now, you know, control of
esta Pasando. You know that they're they're
meddling with the student loan system, they're meddling with
the education system. They're, you know, everywhere
(24:11):
and it feels like they're tryingto hold us back.
They're trying to for us to not have some piece of that pie and
we can't. We can't let it happen.
Nope. We cannot let it happen.
We cannot allow it to happen. And the more powerful, and you
know, what did they say? That's the same.
(24:33):
Knowledge is power. The more we know, the less power
they have and the more we know we're able to maneuver through
do whatever they may throw at usat that time.
You know, we're just going to keep focused and, and you know
what, it's true. My son is didn't want to go to
school after high school. He's doing OK.
(24:55):
He's he's I, I've ever since he was a little kid, he was an
entrepreneur. He would make cards and sell
them in the kids school. He had his T-shirt business and
then he ended up making a hoodieor a sweater.
Well, I helped him, but he had a, a, a rapper wear it and it's
(25:19):
on YouTube. I don't know the rapper.
He told me, but I don't remember.
But you know, he has that mind and it's, you know, he wants to
do more than what he's doing right now.
And that's, that's, that's OK too, you know, But like I said,
strive, strive, strive, work, work, work.
Make your goals, make your dreams come true.
(25:40):
It's OK to dream big. It's OK to, it's awesome when
you reach them. And I mean, it's so satisfying
to reach where you want to go. You know, it doesn't matter.
Not everybody's made for school.Not everybody's made to do just
sit behind a desk. You know, not everybody's for
that. But I guess what I would like
(26:02):
everyone to take from this conversation is, is don't give
up and. If you don't see somebody that
resembles you at the main seat at that table, then maybe it's
got to be you, right? You got to move
(26:30):
towards that. It's it's much, yeah, yeah,
it's, it is. There's, there's no limit.
(26:53):
The Sky's the limit, you know, and that's right.
There's so many people, you know, a lot of people say, oh,
restaurant business is, is such a commitment.
It's so hard. It's, you know, this and that.
But that's how we come. We come, we share our food, you
guys turn every corner. There's no more too many
hamburger joints, all right, Youknow, our culture is so rich
(27:20):
and, and so wanted by so many people.
And that's great, you know, and with that, we can use that to,
to, to build whatever we want inthis country because we have
been here for a long time. So we should build ourselves,
(27:41):
our families, our, our, our Latinos, you know, and, and
always be mindful and respectfulto the people, even if they're
not Latinos, because we don't want to be like them.
We don't want to be cruel. We don't want to be pentejitos.
They don't want them walking allover us.
Yeah. No, no, no, no, you know.
But we're kind people. Yeah, we are.
(28:02):
We're very kind. And so, you know, just remember,
you know, manners and respect and, and treating people with
respect is important. But if they don't treat you that
way, it's time to walk away. And I get near those folks
because they're going to break you.
(28:22):
So, you know, and you are powerful.
You're, you're, you're here to do the best you can in your
education and, or in anything you want to do.
Like I said, doesn't necessarilyneed to be education.
It could be anything, could be askill, it could be a Carpenter,
electrician is the plumber. You know, my father had a, a
(28:45):
small construction company, you know, he did well, you know, and
he came with nothing. He came with five kids, five
kids and my, my mom, which totalof seven people all on his back
to, to make us a better, to giveus a better opportunity here.
And so, you know, it can't be done.
It's just a lot of work, a lot of dedication.
(29:07):
Yeah, it depends how bad you want.
It. Yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely, and it's nice to seethat and.
(29:30):
It's nice to hear that they graduate from from school,
whether it's any program, you know.
Anything. Yeah, get a certificate in
something. Yeah.
Yeah, it's an honor. It's an.
Honor, it's like in terms of studio, we went to studio like I
(29:53):
hope to one day go back and get my masters.
Hopefully it's something that maybe I see myself achieving one
day, but for sure right now it'll it'll to try to push her
(30:14):
and and get her through her undergrad because you know, you
and I know how difficult it is sometimes that you see La Mehtas
a little bit farther. I think that having that
support, hopefully it makes it easier for her.
Yeah, you achieve it. You can also like a ton
difficile commos amaze for me. Yeah, yeah, cuz it could get so
(30:36):
hard. I remember, I think it was in my
junior year, I wanted to quit and, and I said I can't, I'm too
far off almost to the end for myfor me to quit.
And I pushed and I, I searched in my soul like in what I wanted
to do. And I pushed and I pushed and I
(30:58):
made it through. And then my daughter went
through the same thing and she was mom.
I can't do it. And I go, no, you can do it.
It's just part of the struggle of education because education
is hard. They start to have a CVN light
and then they go. On you.
They're laying on. You, yeah.
It's really hard. Yeah.
(31:21):
No, You know, if you're like me,I used to get embarrassed and
scared to talk in front of people.
You know, I would just sweat theworld, the world.
And then the classroom was, I was teeter tottering, you know?
But be confident you know it canbe done.
(31:43):
Yeah. Yeah.
In graduation season, a lot of graduations coming up as you
Conejos La Vic. So to all of our Latino
(32:13):
graduates out there, we see you.You made it through a system
that maybe wasn't built for us, but it'll you did it anyway.
We did it. Anyway.
And don't let anybody tell you that it wasn't worth it, because
it was. This is a victory for your
family, your community, and mostimportantly, for you.
Absolutely. When you have that education,
(32:34):
education is one thing that nobody ever can take it away
from you. Never.
That's so true, Jessica. Any last words, Barta?
And so on.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.