Acompáñame: An Inside Look Into My Life

Hi there!

I am so excited you are here! It has been quite a journey to start this blog. What started as an idea has finally taken off. Through Educated Latina: An Undergrad Survival Guide I hope to motivate and inspire other fellow Latinx students on their journey through higher education and academia. This blog is meant to be a source for intellectual enrichment beyond the scopes of what we already know to be true. Becoming a blogger was never in the plans for me until I came to undergrad. As a first-generation Mexican-American women in STEM at a predominantly white institution, I found myself questioning my value and intellectuality in the program I would be stuck in for the next four years. As the child of immigrants, my upbringing was far from those of my peers. I struggled to make connections for the first year of undergrad, which I believe is common for many incoming freshman, but especially hard for first-generation BIPOC students.

I grew up in Pleasant Grove (PG), an area located in the southeast portion of Dallas, Texas. Among many parts of Dallas, PG has one of the largest hispanic populations in the city and is known for great cultural diversity. My upbringing was colorful and diverse in more ways than one and for that I am ever grateful. I was always surrounded by BIPOC family and peers. Areas with high minority populations often have the highest crime rates and poverty - PG was not the exception.

Both my parents are immigrants from Mexico - my mother from El Districto Federal, (Mexico City, Mexico) and my father from Zimapán, Hidalgo so you can say I am as Mexican as they come. My first language is Spanish and learned English when I started grade school. Academically I was your typical Latina overachiever, always striving for success, as I knew education was my only ticket out of poverty and would provide me with the monetary opportunity to have my parents retire comfortably. Family is a major part of my identity, as I would imagine is the case for many members of the Latinx community. Having said this, I find it pivotal to mention and acknowledge that no todo es color de rosa as a first born in an immigrant household - it can be emotionally, academically, and mentally draining at times and it can get pretty lonely, especially in college.

I am a Forensic Biology major and will be starting my senior year of undergrad at Oklahoma Baptist University (OBU) this upcoming fall. You may ask yourself, what are you involved in? Let me tell you - brace yourself. I am the founder and president of the Latin American Student Organization on campus, secretary (and former president) of Alpha Mu Gamma, science and math academic mentor at the Student Success Center at OBU, senior class senator for the Student Goverment Association, and president of Mortar Board. It goes without saying - I am very active on campus. Another question you may ask yourself, why? The answer is quite simple - representation matters. As mentioned before, I struggled with my cultural identity my first year in undergrad, and caught myself complaining of the lack of diversity on campus, so I stopped to reflect and asked myself, what am I doing to change that? How am I advocating for the needs of my Latinx peers on campus and those of the community? Progression and diversity cannot coexist without desire for change. Through the leadership positions I hold, my only hope is to inspire and motivate other Latinx students to desire the same progression.

Through Educated Latina: An Undergrad Survival Guide I hope to provide a safe-place for intellectual conversations that address issues surrounding our ethnic communities while also providing my own thoughts and experience into what life as a first-generation Latinx student looks like - an insight into how life changes when in undergrad.

Educated Latina: An Undergrad Survival Guide updated every Friday

Kind regards,

Jenn Santos