TEMPLATE DESIGN © Stepping stones or Stumbling Blocks? What some people may view as stumbling block others view as stepping stones for success. The outcome of the challenges we face are determined by the perspective we take and the type of attitude we chose to embrace. By Carmin S. Garnica My Background A Taste for Success Making The Difference Giving Back What The University Can Do In The End What Matters Most Those who have tasted challenges, and sometimes failure, when they succeed are eager to give back and make a positive difference. Especially for those who are walking the path they once walked. Sometimes lack of involvement is not apathy or lack of concern but rather lack of knowledge and opportunities to give back. With the Latino Community there is so much talent and potential that will go unused simply because an individual lacks the guidance and opportunities that lead to the path of giving back. I had the privilege of mentors both formal and informal who encouraged me to be involved. Who taught me and helped me to overcome my personal challenges. As a result I served as the Vice President of ALAS-The Association of Latin American Students. JPAC-Japanese, Philosophy, Art and Culture club. As well as I had the greatest privilege and learning opportunity of my life to serve as the President of the Student Senate. This experience gave the opportunity to serve my peers and represent them while learning from administrators and professors. I also became a mentor for students in a Junior college. I have found great joy and personal satisfaction in giving back. Growing up in a poor socio economic area, in school I was forced to join the Bilingual program because I was Latina. Even after my parents requested that I be placed in the regular program, their petition was denied because my parents spoke very little English. Where I grew up the Bilingual education program was nothing more than a program for children considered to have no future. The program was more like a child care center where I learned to color, cut, and draw. Even as a 13 year old in eighth grade I remember practicing these activities. It is no wonder that I struggled upon entering high school. Often I thought there was something wrong with me because I lacked the reading comprehension skills of a high school student. The Bilingual program deprived me from being able to compete with my peers in the academic arena. Being the oldest child in my family going to College seemed like a very unfamiliar adventure in which much was unfamiliar to me. Not only because my parents did not go to College but also because everything seemed unfamiliar to me. My parents taught me to be ambitious. They instilled in me the power to believe in my dreams and in the power of education. After 12 long years of intense struggle, and 60 credit hours of remedial classes, and 64 to complete my Associates, I finally felt I had begun to reach the educational level of my peers. In June 2009 I received my B.A. in Social Science. Rising above my obstacles became my quest. After class when he gave me my paper he praised me again. He told me I could go far if I choose to do so. “It will take you longer than other people to finish, but you can make it…go to college”. Those words forever stayed in my mind they encouraged me, and change my life. My Senior year English teacher last words that day, gave me my first taste of what success could be. For the first time something I did or said was being praised. Good people and Educators can make all the difference in the world. It can be a positive difference, or it can be a negative difference, depending on the person. The challenges I faced were not only language barriers. I also faced health issues which sometimes could not be resolved as a result of lack of appropriate medical services because we had no insurance. Economic challenges can be demoralizing especially when I saw my parents struggling to provide food and shelter, and knowing a pair of extra hands and an extra income could alleviate their burden. So many Latino students struggle with the choice to help their families make ends meet, or to continue in school. Seeing myself in a tunnel which seemed to have no end in my journey through education was a hard pill to swallow sometimes. The only way I was able to overcome demoralization was with an equal amount of determination to not give up, and continue to press forward even when every attempt to succeed seemed futile. People make a difference. Attitude of the individual and those around the individual also make a difference. The difference lies between involvement and apathy. Education is a journey and not a destination, in which higher learning is the path we must take. Many are the obstacles we will face as a community of first generation Latinos going to college but we can make them our stumbling blocks or our stepping stones for success. Everyone one of us can play a part and contribute to make a difference and educate those who have been placed in disadvantageous situations in education. “Higher Learning is not only a job for educators but a Social responsibility” President Maimon. In the end what matters most is how well we deal with our social responsibility because as long as we are part of the Social Community we must contribute our part. It is the only way in which we can change the world. Universities can get involved by creating opportunities for growth. Through providing leadership opportunities in which students receive mentoring and guidance students can continue to have a taste of success. These opportunities can also be learning experiences that encourage them to go out and be active in communities making a difference. My first taste of success came in high school, when I had to turn in a Senior project. I spend many hours working on my project. My grammar was terrible but somehow my teacher Mr. Haynes managed to read passed my grammar mistakes and praised my project before the entire class. He read my paper although he did it anonymously. Only I knew the paper he was reading was mine but that fact forever changed my life.