In this episode, you'll hear from Elizabeth (Liz) Vargas, a first-generation college student, an Alfie Scholar, and a Social Work major at Seattle University. She was born and raised in Aguascalientes, a city in Central Mexico and grew up with four other siblings. Most kids in her neighborhood dropped out of high school due to the high cost of education and lack of transportation. She feels lucky to come to the U.S. and recalls how she was particularly drawn to the Hollywood image of bigger classrooms and more books unlike the "tiny section in the corner of probably 10 or 20 books, and they were all so worn out." One of the biggest challenges she initially faced in the U.S. was the language barrier and how to navigate the ignorant comments that she'd received from her professors about her identity. In 2018, she received her associate's degree from Highline College and chose to come to Seattle University because she "fell in love" with the small campus community and the one-on-one connection with her professors. She hopes to use her Spanish-speaking skills to encourage young children to go to college.  

Additional resources:

2019 La Unidad Latina Foundation Scholarship: https://www.lulf.org/