Lifting as We Climb

It's been five months since I've started my professional career and I feel like the work I do makes an impact everyday. It is rewarding to see the smile (and also a sense of relief) that I can bring to students. I feel the difference I make every single day and that feeling lets me know that I am doing what I am meant to do.

My reason for going into higher education isn't something I hide, but something I am proud about. It is mainly about my mentors: their challenges, their support, the opportunities they gave me, and for all the times they pushed me out of my comfort zone. They helped me to realize (and appreciate) who I am.

Starting my journey at FIU, this is the reason why I came here. I wanted to help students with the same challenges I faced and I could only hope to be a good role model to them. I've been fortunate to be able to have this opportunity to share with students and have them think beyond what they can see right now.

It is moments and students like these that drive me every single day.

"Lifting as We Climb" is a phrase I first heard when my mentor told me about a site called Latinas in Higher Education. As soon as I heard that phrase, it stuck to me and I really wasn't sure why. It made me think about having a responsibility to the people who come after me. While I just started my career, there are people who are still in high school or undergrad or searching for grad school and--even though I'm not too far ahead--it still makes a difference to lift as we climb.

I realize it is what my mentors did for me. I always wondered why. Why did they pick me to give these opportunities to? Why did they pick me to mentor? What was so special about me that I had people constantly pushing me up up up? Why me?

I look at some of my students and now I know why. Because--they too--are facing some of the challenges that I faced. Whether they know it or not, I see myself in them...and I know what they can become. Even if the experiences are different, it's the principle of overcoming what we sometimes feel we may never overcome and becoming what we sometimes feel we may never become.

That is why.