Graduates spell s-u-c-c-e-s-s

By JUAN ESPARZA LOERA and DANIEL CÁSAREZ / Vida en el Valle

(Published Wednesday, June 18th, 2008 09:11AM)

When Verónica V. García was 15 years old and convinced her parents in Los Horcones, Michoacán, México to let her return to the United States for better educational opportunities, she arrived at an aunt's house in Washington with $200, a suitcase that was falling apart, and a leather briefcase carrying her birth certificate showing she was a U.S. citizen.

Last week, the 18-year-old García took one more step toward realizing her dream of going to college to major in business by graduating from Roosevelt High School with a 3.44 GPA.

Her road, however, has been anything but easy. Her uncle in Washington was religiously strict, and would not allow her to leave the house to follow her dream of being a singer. When she returned to the United States the following year, she moved in with an aunt in Fresno and had to work to help out that family.

That arrangement soon unraveled when hard economic times caused friction, said García. She then decided to rent an apartment with a friend, sometime working three jobs so that she could pay for rent and food and still have enough -- sometimes $200 a month -- to send back to her parents and two younger sisters in México.

"I started to work at a clothing store at Manchester Center when I was 16," said García. "I also worked at the swap meet, and worked nights cleaning places like Save Mart, Food Maxx and Mervyns from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m."

She worked so much, that counselors like Lupe Sosa asked her to cut back on her jobs so that she could focus on her studies.

"I didn't want to leave those jobs because that money allowed me to help my parents," said García, the oldest of three daughters born to Adán and Esther Valencia.

Those jobs helped her pay for a $500 gown for her sister's quinceañera, plus the $1,000 she sent to help pay for the party. She was also left to pay rent by herself for three months when her roommate got married and moved out.

"She's an amazing student," said Karina Santacruz, a staff member with Project Access, which works with homeless children. "Everything that she has gone through is, wow, like very incredible. Not many people her age have done what she's done."

Sosa, the counselor, is several "mothers" to García. When García needed a dress to receive the Triumph Award from Fresno Mayor Alan Autry, the proper dress was located by Sosa and Project Access.

Others stepped in to help her buy her class ring and senior photos, plus the cap and gown she wore at last Monday's graduation ceremony. Although her parents did not attend, García was joined by her boyfriend Jesús Sánchez, her clothing store boss Salvador Arroyo and her cousin who graduated along with her.

García praises Sosa for being interested in her welfare inside and outside the classroom.

García dreams of becoming a singer -- a business degree would help her run her own music career -- and has recorded a five-song demo. She had to plunk down $750 for the demo. She has performed at about five local festivals, where she is known as "Verónica la del Rodeo."

"I've dreamed of becoming a singer since I was 5 or 6 years old," said García. "They would put me on stage to sing with the mariachis or banda groups."

García participated in a mariachi class at Roosevelt and learned to play the guitar, but dropped out because the time interfered with her work.

Her goals are to travel to Italy, learn Italian, and bring her entire family to the United States. Her mother, Esther Valencia, suffers from curvature of the spine that could leave her paralyzed. And, she fears for the safety of her two sisters -- Esther and Tania Rubi -- because Los Horcones has been overrun by drug traffickers.

"My family is not involved in that, but I'm afraid for their safety," said García, who goes back to México every year for the Christmas and New Year's holidays.

She would also like her sisters to get a better education.

"There's not even a middle school in my village," said García, who remembers walking one hour to school.

García doesn't see her struggles as an obstacle.

"Life hasn't really been hard," said García. "I don't shut myself in and say 'I have no money, my mother is sick.' The satisfaction is that everything that I've gone through will be worth the pain. I'm proud of everything I have gone through."

Ian Matthew Stephens is living proof that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover.

The 18-year-old Stephens, who was born in Seattle and moved to Fresno following his parent's separation when he was 3, speaks Spanish and is proud of his ethnicity.

"Deberas. Deberas. No soy gringo," he smiled when he accepted a $1,000 scholarship from the Fresno chapter of the Association of Mexican American Educators last month.

Stephens -- who graduated from Sunnyside High School with a 4.32 GPA and is heading to the University of Pennsylvania to major in engineering -- also does not want his ethnicity to define him.

"My dad is a gringo (but) I was raised with my mom. It's kind of an interesting dynamic that my family has," said Stephens last week. "We're Mexican, but that is not what really defines us, and we don't let that define us. It's what we make with it, not something that we feel the need to sort of constantly define ourselves by."

Stephens has defined himself as a brilliant scholar. He graduated first in his class of 669, and sat in the front row at the graduation ceremony at the Save Mart Center last Monday along with other top graduates.

"It was really cool because I got to sit on the front row," said Stephens. "I had classes with them, had some of the same struggles and some of the same experiences."

Stephens was part of an Ivy League school tour arranged by Sunnyside counselor Diana Rodríquez. He heard about the program from a friend. "Hijo (son), what's your mommy's name," he recalls her asking him to make sure he qualified for the program designed for Latino students.

After that, Rodríquez became one of his biggest supporters.

"He's very sensitive to others and their needs, and will be quick to make himself available -- without making a big hoopla," Rodríguez told The Fresno Bee.

An example of that is the donation of his trademark ponytail to Locks of Love, which provides hairpieces to children who lose their hair while undergoing medical procedures.

"I had no plans for my hair -- it just sort of grew on my head," he told The Bee. "It was an opportunity to cut it without it going into a trash bin somewhere."

Stephens, who taught himself to play the guitar, credits his mother, Magdalena G. Stephens, for his success. She has spent most of her life working as a medical receptionist.

"She worked as hard as she possibly could to make sure that we had a house, a steady place to live in so that it wasn't something to worry about," said Stephens.

She also made it clear to him that his focus should be in school.

Lesson learned.

VISALIA -- Celso Macías-Carrillo contained his emotion throughout the entire Mt. Whitney High School graduation ceremony, but only until he was reminded that he would be leaving his family and best friend for college.

Carrillo thought back many years saying he was four years when -- upon returning to the United States with his family from México -- he became friends with Arturo Magallanes. The pair remained friends throughout elementary, junior high and high schools.

They were among the 278 who graduated from Mt. Whitney on June 6 at Mineral King Bowl.

Carrillo smiled throughout the ceremony, and applauded occasionally at the highlights, such as Lloyd Trout's address to the class. Trout was part of school's inaugural graduating class in 1951.

And when it was time for the traditional "charge" to the tables to receive their official diploma from one end of the football field to the other, Carrillo did that too.

When all the congratulatory hugs from classmates, friends and family were over and workers gathered chairs and other items used in the ceremony, Carrillo broke down quietly and shed tears upon realizing he will leave the warmth of home when he enters California State University, San José in the fall.

"My personal highlight was having Arturo Magallanes around the whole time. I was born here, but we went to México, then came back from Jalisco," said Carrillo, who earned a 3.8 grade point average. "It's very emotional because I'm going to San José up north and he's going to UCLA."

He will be the first in his family to attend college, and credits his cousin Cynthia Guzmán -- who earned a degree in criminology from Fresno State -- for the inspiration.

"She taught me that '¡Sí se puede!' (Yes, it can be done). She was always there to help to me and always there for me," said Carrillo.

Carrillo, 18, who will major in aviation, will rely on federal grants to pay for college.

Carrillo also participated for three years on the track and field squad.

He wants to pass along the influence of higher education to his 11-year-old sister Alondra.

VISALIA -- Lizbeth Judith Gómez delivered a welcoming address to the families and other supporters of the Class of 2008 from El Diamante High School June 4 at Mineral King Bowl.

The 17-year-old Gómez, known as "Judy" by classmates, earned a 4.1-plus grade point average. Rene from Tamaulipas, México and María Gómez (from Sinaloa) stood in amazement upon the completion of their daughter's graduation.

When he the age of his daughter, Rene worked the fields of the Central Valley. He now owns a small business in Visalia.

Gómez will major in international relations and Spanish at UCLA. She hopes to become an attorney.

"I'm very interested in law. And I want to pursue a field that deals in foreign policy," said Gómez, a mock trial finalist this year in Riverside.

"My role models were my mother, my father, my sister and my madrina (godmother, Angélica Martín) because they've accomplished so many goals over so many obstacles in life," she said.

Older sister Lizette Martínez Gómez, 22, is a senior political science major at UCLA.

Among the scholarships she has won are from Dell Computer ($20,000), Visalia Kiwanis ($500), Ruiz Foods ($1,000), Spanish Club ($500), AVID ($400), essay writing scholarship ($2,000), and a second-place speech scholarship ($1,000).

MENDOTA -- In 1998, Edilia Rodríguez Rivera suffered the tragic loss of her father who was gunned down in Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, México. The shooters, who also killed two other men that day, mistook her father.

In 2004, her mother decided there was a better future for her and her seven children in the United States.

Rodríguez, who graduated last Wednesday from Mendota High School along with her younger sister Justina, had to work to help out her mother.

"My mother began by working in the fields, and it was very difficult because there were so many of us," said Rodríguez, who thinks she could have gotten better grades had she been able to focus on school instead of working 10-to-15-hour weeks to help her family.

Her grades were good enough (3.3 GPA) to garner eight scholarships totaling more than $6,000. She will enter California State University, Fresno in the fall to major in business administration. She would like to become a bilingual teacher, preferably in Mendota.

She had to learn English quickly. In fact, she was held back one grade her freshman year.

"She never failed any course," said principal José M. Ochoa, who honored her with the principal's award at the graduation ceremony. (Her sister, Justina, was named female athlete of the year).

Rodríguez credits her mother, Elsa Rivera, for stressing the importance of education.

"She tells me I need to continue my studies because she does not want me to have a life like her's working in the fields and suffering from low wages," said Rodríguez. "She is always going to parent meetings at the school. She is always supporting and helping me."

Rodríguez also coordinates two youth programs at her church, leaving little time for hobbies.

Her friend, Fresno State student Yesenia Mendoza, has helped by pointing out classes that will be helpful.

"Education is very important. That's why we came here," said Rodríguez.

MENDOTA -- Carlos A. García Ruiz knows too well the difficulty of working in the fields, or having nothing to eat. That is why he is driven to go to college and become a computer or civil engineer.

Growing up in Oaxaca, México, García remembers times when there was no food. His mother, Ana Ruiz, decided to move to the United States in 1999 for something better. His father moved here also, but didn't like it and returned to Oaxaca.

His mother was left alone for feed and care for García and his younger brother.

"She cares a lot about what is going to happen to me," said García about his mother. "There are even moments when she scolds me for not doing my homework. She tells me I have to do it or else I'll have to go work in the fields."

García has done that during the heat of summer and the cold of winter.

"I don't like that," he said.

García graduated from Mendota High School with a 3.5 GPA, and plans to attend Fresno City College before transferring to Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo or MIT.

"I've always liked mathematics. I like to solve problems," said García. "And, you make good money. I want to help my family."

Send e-mail to: jesparza@vidaenelvalle.com or dcasarez@vidaenelvalle.com