ALC Hilda Bautista speaks to immigrant students at Lee College

May 28, 2009

My name is Hilda Bautista I have just completed my third year and am about to enter my fourth and final year at the University of Texas at Austin. I am majoring in Human Biology with a minor in Social aspects of Health and Disease and will be applying to medical school upon graduation next spring.

I am going to share with you a little bit of my background and why I am here tonight. I come from a large family, five children and two parents make seven and am the oldest of my siblings with a ten year difference between my youngest brother and myself.

I was born in Mexico and I have been living here in the United States for a little over 18 years, so the United States is truly the only country I have ever known. I grew up in West Houston, jumping around from one apartment complex to another, but luckily remained in the same schools growing up and teachers always gave my parents good remarks about how I was doing in school. Doing well in classes really prompted my goals to do well in school and I aspired to be a doctor. Yet, no one ever really told me how that dream could be accomplished. How would I go from being the “little Rocio” as my family would call me, and become the respected doctor I aspired to be?

Back then I didn’t have a clue. In middle school all of my friend’s parents had gone to college or had some type of formal education. Their parents were professionals, they went to schools like UT and Texas A&M, and were engineers, business. . I didn’t even know what “UT” was. So I knew that I somehow had to get to college if I ever wanted to achieve my dreams. But I had no real guide as to how to do it or what that meant to “go to college.” How would I apply? Who pays for college or is it free? And I that time I was too young to know which where the questions to ask. . . .

. . . So in some ways I have beat the odds. I stayed on track throughout high school knowing that their would be a light at the end of the tunnel, a light held by my mentors and teachers, and graduation, a sort of liberation into the real world, or the real world of college in my case.
It is important to know that from my high school, not many students attend a four-year college. Surely, a handful more go to community college but still transfer to a bigger university to pursue their professional goals. but there are many more that go into the minimum-wage work force, which we know today, is unstable and insecure and at best pays to make ends meet. A handful of my friends settled down and started families, even. And that is a great responsibility that I personally could not handle, not yet. They have made decisions that have changed their whole lives. But so have I.

After sending out applications to 10 Colleges and Universities, I got waitlisted in a handful and rejected from a couple, and accepted at the state universities. My final decision of which to attend was a financial one, . . . I had visited the campus and saw the diversity among the students, a diversity that I was excited about. My parent’s were on board with my decision. If they had any hesitation about me attending UT, it was under my radar. Once I got settled in Austin at the University, I was excited to be out of Houston , ready to explore the city and take advantage of it as a student. I was eager to study hard to get good grades, which I needed not only to maintain my scholarships but also to be a competitive applicant when Medical Schools applications came around. Now a little bit about College life.

College life is tempting. I am not going to lie to you there are many invitations to socialize in college. There’s independence that I didn’t have back at home on top of the many new friends and the city itself, full of night life, was overwhelming and if I would let it, a huge wave that would suffocate me in all of its glory. There are those who sink, the ones who unfortunately flunk out the first semester, and those that ride the wave safely to shore, the students who succeed academically and are safe for one more semester, or until the next wave comes in. There were many nights when my friends were going to watch a movie, hang out, go to a party, but I knew that I couldn’t, that I had to buckle down and finish my homework or study for an exam. I had my priorities and keeping a focus throughout the semester allowed me to not be on the line when finals came around at the end of the semester. Fighting temptations that can consume your nights and your wallets (let’s face it, going out can add up), but having friends that would study into the night always made it easier to fight desire to go out. However, once I had a routine down, I knew when I could make time to study and time to play.

College is challenging. The professors introduce the material in class a lot of times talking about theories and other things that can be way over the student’s head and then You are responsible to figure out the problems. Once in a while you are lucky enough to get a professor that not only gives you examples in class and makes the material tangible and enjoyable. I have had classes, that no matter how hard I tried, the material was just too challenging. But there are always resources. There Tutoring centers and the professors are almost always willing to help you during their office hours. . . .

. . . I know that I have one more year to go, and have to yet start my career, but know that I am here representing only a sample of the many career opportunities that are available in college. There are anthropologist, geologists, engineers, accountant, historians, writers, poets, mathematicians, just to name a few. But the thread that holds us together is higher education. Higher education is the only passport we need to navigate the intellectual world. We are young and full of potential and the world needs us to give back with our ideas, our experience, and our skills. It is up to us, up to you, to make a difference and that begins with you and your education.
It is always important to remind yourself the purpose of doing what you are doing. My parents came to America hoping for a better future for their children and I am going to school because I have younger brothers that need a role model in school. But in the bigger scheme of things, I am doing it because there is a community out there that needs us to go into professions where we understand their problems and background. And demonstrate “que si se puede.”