Student Work
Through their personal narratives, our scholars share their unique first generation insights and perspectives on navigating the college path.
Eduardo
PB Graduation Speech
I am very proud of myself and my family for my college success and graduation. The moment I heard Class of 2024’s students’ names shared on my UC Berkeley graduation day, I walked across the stage enthusiastically into a cheering crowd. I told myself, I am a first- generation graduate from the best public university in the world.
I’d like to share my story with you all today. You see, I was a kid who was scared of everything. This is no exaggeration by any measure, as these fears and insecurities interfered so much with my day-to-day life that I was in and out of therapy for the vast majority of my younger years. My mental health professionals believed I would live the remainder of my life afraid and never living outside of my comfort zone. However, they forgot to consider a single factor: Diamonds are made under pressure. I can guarantee that we all would not have accomplished such milestones without a tremendous amount of resilience and hard work. We all know: Failure is not an option.
As a child, it did not take me long to notice that six to seven days a week, my father would be working tirelessly, be gone for most of the day and exhausted upon his return. As a result, I spent most of my time with my mother, where I’d ask why this was the case, and she would always remind me that it was necessary so that I could enjoy a better life than my parents did. This ultimately became the first of many frustrating moments where I knew wholeheartedly that my parents deserved more than life was giving them.
I was plagued with self-doubt. But there was one person who was my strongest defender, my mother. She was the one person whom I knew I could share my dreams with. She never challenged or questioned my dreams. If I told my mother that I could fly, she would still be the first person to believe I could do it, in a metaphorical sense. I really did take flight right in front of her eyes. I worked on my self-doubt and questioning voices. And, I made sure that I picked myself up from my bootstraps and kept moving forward.
My confidence today is because of my parents. I earned it. And, each of you today celebrating our big college graduation milestone earned it too. Today, we will scatter to continue chasing the goals we spent the last four years of our lives preparing for. Some of us will continue higher education and others will join the workforce. Regardless of your path, promise yourself, your family and anyone that is rooting for you that YOU will be your best supporter.
Without Peninsula Bridge, there would be no celebration today. Peninsula Bridge taught us all to have structure in our lives, to be curious, practice discipline, and remain ambitious. My dreams only became bigger with every engagement and interaction I encountered through Peninsula Bridge’s many connections.
By instilling the motto, “Dream, Believe, Achieve” in our heads since we were just ten-year old kids and providing us with the skills and mindset we need to to be successful professionals, we all know that there are no dreams too big to achieve. Congratulations to each of you!!
Analissa
Student Essay
I have been thinking about college since I was eight years old, mainly because I frequently pondered my mom’s words that college was my “way out,” which motivated me to be an avid learner in school. The older I got, the more I understood what “way out” meant. She was referring to independence as a woman, financial stability, and infinite possibilities for me to choose what I want to do with my life. However, for myself, I now see college as a “way in.” I am committed to a rigorous education that will sharpen me and widen my perspectives for my future career, my understanding of myself and the world around me, and how I want to positively influence my community. I am immensely grateful for this opportunity that will give me the “way into” doing work that addresses the issues I care about. College will be the “way into” a new trajectory for my family, where higher education is a very real possibility and so is reaching one’s highest potential. It is a “way in” for other Latinos, first-generation college students, and low-income individuals, as they see more people like them leading, learning, and holding positions where they are currently underrepresented. Along the way, I have had so many people believe in me, whether it was my advisor in Peninsula Bridge, my family, or my teachers at school. I am so grateful that so many people have gone out of their way to help me learn and succeed, and with this opportunity, I want to ensure I make the most of it by pursuing higher education and using it to better my community.
Melanie
Freedom to Ride
I never thought that learning to ride a bike would be such a privilege until I first learned to ride one when I was 8 years old. Growing up in a Mexican immigrant household, nobody knew how to ride a bike, due to not having the privileges and access to a bike back in Mexico. So, when my uncle first taught me, I never would have thought that such a small act of kindness by him would lead me to discover so much about myself.
I remember the scorching summer heat, and in the evenings when all the kids in the neighborhood would come out and play until the first street lamp at the end of the block would light up. My parents had recently separated so my mom had to work a lot for me and my brother. I was spending all my time at my aunt and uncle’s house. Sometimes I would trudge to the laundromat and help my aunt fold her microfiber towels for her house cleaning business. Most days I would spend time outdoors with my cousins, playing soccer and cooling off with shaved ice from the local street food vendor. What I will always remember the evening when my uncle returned from work on his white racing road bike that had the skinniest tires I've ever seen. He showed all of us how to ride that wobbly bicycle that had foot brakes and felt massive to try to ride. After a few frustrating days of practicing whenever I could, pushing myself to keep getting up when I toppled over, I finally mastered it. I can still feel that glow of accomplishment inside that it gave me immediately.
Now in high school, I have my own red mountain bike to go everywhere: I ride freely to the store, the park, the library, to school, and use it to visit my cousin and friends. I even go mountain biking with my uncle and sometimes even try to race him. My bike is more than just metal and wheels; it represents the freedom and independence that has come to mean so much to me. On the bike, I get to focus on my inner thoughts, blocking out the noise around me and savoring a moment as the air hits my face to reflect. The bike is where I get to take a break from everything going - the challenges of dealing with the economic inequalities adding more obstacles to my daily learning environment, the pressures I put on myself to succeed in this rigorous school as a Latina.
Whether it's working through the complexities of equations in engineering class to calculate our balloon launching to space in my engineering class, or mulling over the effects of racial inequality in my ethnic studies class, or thinking of how I can support both my flag football and basketball teams on and off the field. My time on the bike becomes a meditative and personal space for me.
In the evenings, I head back home to my family. Refreshed from my time on the bike, I pitch in right away with chores, lend a hand to my Spanish-speaking mom, and help my little brother with his homework. My home life motivates me to strive for a world where I won’t worry about the ongoing challenges my family faces.
Learning to ride a bike and having a bike to ride, has been an empowering experience. Not only does it enable me to travel to friend’s houses, to practices, to social gatherings, and other commitments, it makes me feel like I belong in a much bigger sense - to my peer group, to my school community and to the whole world of bike riding teenagers.
Learning to ride a bike was not just any other childhood milestone; it was a gateway to independence, perseverance, and self-discovery of who I am now. It has shaped my character, teaching me to confront challenges head-on and to use my newfound freedom to achieve the dreams that were born since the first day I got on those pedals.
