Diana Gomez was a first generation Latina student attending college, 45 minutes from home. Her parents supported her emotional desire to attend college but could not help financially. Diana went to school full time but also worked three jobs as a nanny, student assistant and clinical tech to make it work.
Diana, like many Hispanic female students, faced what seemed like conflicting messages from her parents.
They supported her dreams of a college degree, but they also needed her at home to help raise her younger siblings, help clean the house, run errands for the family. Diana struggled her first year of college trying to establish herself academically and develop new friendships while running home every weekend to keep up her family’s expectations at home.
It was the summer before her sophomore year that Diana made a very difficult but brave choice to tell her parents she would not be able to come home as frequently, and she made herself and her classes the priority. Though Diana felt the decision was right, it did come with feelings of guilt. Family was so important to Diana, but she knew she would fail if she continued the path she was on. READ MORE
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