Against All Odds

First-generation Latino college students share many of the same attributes that lead to academic success, research shows.

By Veronica Mendoza

While a graduate student at Stanford University, Veronica Mendoza conducted research on six Latino students from a troubled high school in San Jose, Calif. The school, located in a crime- and poverty-riddled neighborhood, is predominately Latino. Some of the students may go on to community college at best after graduation. Mendoza found that those students who did not attend college took on low-paying jobs and ultimately lived under the same conditions of poverty as their parents. Those that attended college usually had the benefit of an older sibling who had gone to college as well. Following are the stories of three students from the study who are  beating the odds and are now students at San Jose State University.

Since elementary school, Elizabeth Chavarin’s parents have told her that education is the key to success in the United States.
“My dad always tells us you don’t want to work or end up like me, working as a laborer, having people tell you what to do,” she says. “My parents would tell me you need to go to school and get a degree so you can be somebody successful.”

Although Chavarin agreed with her parents’ advice, she says she performed poorly her first and second years of high school. However, during her junior and senior years, she realized that her grades would have to improve if she wanted to go to college. 

Chavarin’s parents weren’t the only ones guiding her down the college path. An older sister who graduated from San Jose State in 2004 inspired her with stories of what college life was like. And her high school’s Puente counselor, Irma Morales (see sidebar on Puente program) kept the thought of college in Chavarin’s mind by keeping her apprised of university admission requirements.