Rodrigo Guizar Jr. is the son of Mexican-American parents, but he never finished high school.
In September, the 18-year-old will head to Columbia University to study civil engineering on a full scholarship. He graduated from Cibola High School in Yuma in his May with a near 4.7 grade point average.
Rodrigo will join his older sister Esperanza, 19, who is already a student in psychology and public health at Columbia University. Two young people from the same working-class Latinx family will be attending Ivy League colleges in New York City as first-generation college students.
Given that Latinos across Arizona have lower college admission rates than whites, let alone attend the most prestigious colleges, it’s easy to paint Rodrigo as an exception.
But experts say Rodrigo is part of the state’s large Latinx student population, who make up nearly 50% of the state’s K-12 student population and thus a sizeable portion of the state’s future workforce. It is an example of how much of the academic potential of science is still untapped.
“In my view, Rodrigo is no exception. Rodrigo is an example of what Arizona can do as a state,” said Paul Luna, president and CEO of the Helios Education Foundation, which is committed to expanding educational opportunities. said Mr.
Luna said all students face obstacles to get into college. But students from low-income families with parents or non-college-attending parents often face additional hurdles, but with support, he said, they can overcome them.
“I think what you’re seeing with Rodrigo is an example of a student who has additional challenges and barriers that not all students have,” Luna said. “But given the same opportunity to succeed,” they can overcome those barriers and challenges.
Rodrigo’s mother, Imelda, is a Mexican immigrant from Mexicali, a border city across from Calexico, California. She attended school only until middle school. She currently works as a food manufacturing worker making tortillas. Rodrigo’s father, Rodrigo Sr., is from Calexico. He dropped out of high school before graduating, but later earned a general education diploma. He works as a carpenter.
Rodrigo said his parents wanted their children to have more opportunities in life than they did. He said that despite their lack of education, they instilled in them a passion for learning and getting good grades.
“They emphasized the importance of pursuing education and opportunities,” Rodrigo said.
He and his sister also received important instruction through College Knowing and Going. This program helps schools foster a college-going culture. It also guides students like Rodrigo through the complicated college application process. The statewide program is funded by Helios and operated by Education Forward Arizona.
Rodrigo was selected as an ‘Ambassador’ of University Knowledge and Academic Advancement during his senior year. He received his $2,000 college scholarship, which is the requirements for how to write an effective college essay, how to apply for a college scholarship, and whether a college student is eligible for financial aid. Received training on how to complete the Federal Student Aid Application known as
In return, Rodrigo agreed to spread the information he learned to other students. He had to help 10 students apply to college, 10 students apply for scholarships, and 10 students fill out his FAFSA forms.
According to Ramona Loa, who coordinates college knowledge and academic programs at high schools in the Yuma area, including Cibola High School, students are often afraid to ask teachers and counselors for help with college admissions, rather than asking their peers for help. Say you’re comfortable. She was also attended by Mr. Rodrigo.
“They don’t want to think they don’t know. So when they have a peer who goes through the process like Rodrigo and gives them the tools, the students come to him and use those resources. I will ask,” said Lore.
Cibola is one of 30 Arizona high schools participating in the College Knowing and Going program. Helios has invested more than her $9 million in the program since 2015.
Rich Nickel, president and CEO of Education Forward, said the program aims to get more low-income high school students into college in an effort to increase the number of students from working-class families who attend college. He said it started as an effort to get people to take the ACT, an exam. The state of Arizona currently administers this program.
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The program has since expanded to work with schools serving low-income communities to develop a culture that encourages more students to pursue college or other post-secondary education after graduation. said Nickel. That culture includes offering a rigorous curriculum that includes advanced career courses, he said.
“What we are doing now is forming teams in high schools across the state that are primarily focused on low-income neighborhoods and asking them what a great college-going culture looks like in high school and how It is about helping them think about what the practices and programs of said Nickel.
In 2016, dozens of Arizona agencies and organizations, with the backing of then-Governor Doug Ducey, set ambitious goals. To provide businesses with educated workers and ensure the state’s economic success, by 2030, 60% of working adults in the state between the ages of 25 and 64 will be It is the acquisition of a secondary education degree or qualification. That percentage was 43% at the time, according to data from Education Forward Arizona.
Currently, 48% of the state’s working-age population has a higher education degree or qualification. To reach this goal, the state needs an additional 500,000 people to obtain a post-secondary degree or certificate. Given that Latinos make up nearly 50% of Arizona’s K-12 student population, Mr. Nickel said, increasing the number of Latino students earning post-secondary degrees would be impractical. said it would be possible.
Yuma, where 60% of the population is Latino, appears to be paying off in efforts to increase the number of high school graduates attending post-secondary education, compared to about 32% of the state as a whole. About 53% of Yuma’s Latinx students enrolled in post-secondary education in 2021. This is consistent with the county-wide proportion of students pursuing further education, regardless of race or ethnicity.
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But statewide, Latino students lag behind white students in post-secondary enrollment. Data from Education Forward Arizona shows that more than half of white students across Arizona (52.7% as of 2021) are enrolled in higher education opportunities after graduating from high school, compared to 41.3% of Latino students. That’s right.
Rodrigo said it was in fourth grade that he realized he was less fortunate than other students at his school. His school asked parents to either volunteer about 30 hours a year or donate $10 for each volunteer hour they missed. However, his parents struggled to participate in volunteer work because they worked long hours just to make ends meet. And he couldn’t afford to donate $300 for the volunteer work he couldn’t participate in.
Rodrigo said the experience motivated him to work harder in school.
“At that point, I was more inspired to pursue my education so that I would no longer be obsessed with money again and pursue what makes me happy,” Rodrigo said.
In high school, Rodrigo took 13 AP courses and 6 dual-enrollment classes to earn college credits while in high school and boost his GPA to 4.0 or higher. He also worked about 15 hours a week at the school’s bookstore.
In his sophomore year, Rodrigo attended the National Summer Transportation Laboratory at Arizona State University. Her week-long program, funded by the U.S. Federal Highway Administration and the Arizona Department of Transportation, inspired Rodrigo to study civil engineering with an emphasis on hydrology.
When he visited his grandparents in Baja California, Mexico, he saw that they had no access to clean water. In Colombia, he will participate in the Engineers Without Borders program, which works on water projects in developing countries. After graduation, he plans to return to Yuma, an agricultural hub, to work on a sustainable water project to combat the Colorado River crisis.
“Farming has been employed for generations of my family and I want to keep that option open for generations to come,” Rodrigo said.
Daniel Gonzalez discusses race, equity and opportunity.please contact him daniel.gonzalez@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8312. follow him on twitter @azdangonzalez.
