As a first generation college student I always considered myself to have motivation and a drive to accomplish my dreams, this trip help me realize I had slowly begun to lose my drive and helped me find it again.
As a child I always said I wanted to be someone important and to help those in my community, and as a senior in high school I would say I wanted to open a low income veterinarian but entering college and taking my first chemistry I realized that was not for me. As we began to talk to some of the staff in LHI I felt like I was like the becarios, but as we began to talk to the children and to the families I realized they had so much more they have overcome and so much more they fight to overcome.
The motivation I see they all have made me admire them some had parents who passed away and had to work several jobs to help his mom. Many have to walk 30 minutes to an hour to get to their source of education. This trip truly opened my eyes it made me see how fortunate I am to live in this country and to be attending this University. I used to think I had it hard since my family is considered low-income but the key word there was income, we have an income most families don’t. We went to many families who didn’t have money to send their children to school being as supplies and materials is what impedes them from going. Another thing that becomes an obstacle is the lack of family support. Many of the parents believe that girls shouldn’t go to school and though it has changed to become that girls should go to school and guys should only work this has caused the education of the youth to be even more valued.
I truly admired all the Agronomist students we met in Chajul they made me see that for them to be where they are took lots of work, motivation, and determination and let me see that the motivation I initially started off with was flying away. Luckily I this trip made me remember the initial reason I came to school to improve the lives of others and to become an example for my sibling just as this generation of youth is trying to do.
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