Immigrant parents motivate Latino graduates

Editor’s Note: This article was written for Mosaic Vision, an independent journalism training program for high school students who report and photograph stories under the guidance of professional journalists.

Children from immigrant families often see their parents work hard to overcome barriers in their lives and make a living.

That inspires three newly minted Latino high school graduates as they are starting post-high school programs this fall. These San Jose students share how their parents have served as role models in their daily lives.

All three credit their achievements to their immigrant parents, family members who have come to this country for a better life.

Daniela Flores, an 18-year-old graduate of Silver Creek High School, is attending Stanford University and plans to double-major in political science and psychology, then attend law school after college.

Flores’ mom is a former elementary and middle school teacher, and her dad is an adviser at Silver Creek High who also teaches high school math.

“They’ve served as inspirations because they love what they do,” she said, explaining that this is what motivates her. “I’m focused on school to get to a higher point, so that I’m doing what I love.”

Both of her parents attended college. Her dad was born in San Jose, and her mom was born in Piedras Negras, Mexico, then immigrated at a young age.

“They taught me how important education is, and especially with both of them being teachers, I think they have such a passion for what they do,” Flores said.

Her mom also taught her the importance of being kind to those around her.

“She just wants me to be a nice person, honestly, and to be friends with everybody,” she said. “A lot of people are going through things that we don’t realize.”

Daniela’s mom, for example, stopped teaching to take care of her own grandparents. Even though she loves what she does, she’s spending her time taking care of her loved ones.

Flores said her high school experience was difficult, because as an athlete, she had to focus on maintaining good grades.

“I was doing at least one sport every season, so learning to balance those two was a struggle at first,” she said. “But it was something that I enjoyed because I think I love keeping myself busy.”

In the end, her hard work paid off when she walked across the stage at graduation to the loud cheers of her parents.

“They were the loudest people there, I promise you,” she said. “It was crazy.”

Madelyn Martinez, an 18-year-old graduate of Cristo Rey San Jose Jesuit High School, is attending University of California, Santa Cruz this fall. She plans to major in psychology but is also interested in social work and law.

“My parents didn’t have the opportunity to pursue higher education in Mexico, so they only went to elementary,” she said.

Her parents weren’t able to get many of the jobs they applied for because they didn’t have higher education or citizenship.

“They would sell strawberries, fruit, flowers, movies – like, out on the street,” Perez said. “And that was pretty difficult to watch. It’s made me quite sad seeing them not being provided with the same opportunities as every other parent that has an office job and is getting paid more.”

Seeing such struggles prompted her to be a role model for her younger siblings, she said. “I’ve also learned how to stay really strong for them,” she added.

Perez has persisted in her goals by always keeping her parents in mind throughout her high school journey.

“I did this for them and I did it because of them,” she said. “I just always had them in mind.”

Perez added, “I’m the first to graduate high school and go to college, so I felt pretty proud of myself.”

Jaime Zamora, a 17-year-old Latino graduate from Oak Grove High School, said this summer he was planning to attend the Silicon Valley Career Technical Education program in the fall.

He is studying electricity and hopes to earn a business associate degree, then open his own home remodeling business.

His dad, who has his own construction company, motivates him, he said.

“He only went to school to eighth grade, but seeing that he still has his construction company and he still was very successful really inspires me,” Zamora said.

Zamora’s mom was born in Guanajuato, and his dad was born in Jalisco. They’ve faced many challenges in coming to the U.S. from Mexico and only knowing one language.

When he was younger, Zamora wasn’t fluent in English, so he had a difficult time translating for his parents. His mom, who went to college in Mexico, inspired him to persist.

“She graduated from the University of Mexico with a nursing degree,” he said.

Zamora also saw his dad’s perseverance pay off when he got his citizenship papers after 18 years of trying.

“I’ve never seen my dad cry, and that might have been the closest I’ve seen,” he said.

Persistence and perseverance also played a role for Zamora when he walked across the graduation stage, feeling all sorts of emotions.

“It was like an emotional roller coaster,” he said. “It felt really nice, but it also felt happy, stressed, a stress reveal, all sorts of emotions.”

Persistence and perseverance continue to motivate Zamora. Work hard for what you want in life, he said, and never give up. “Always believe in yourself, because if you don’t, no one will.”

Scarlett Lopez-Rodriguez is a junior at Cristo Rey San Jose Jesuit High School. She wrote this article for Mosaic Vision, an independent journalism training program.