by Claudia Martinez
Beatriz came to the U.S. with her family when she was five years old. She thought they were on vacation, but the reality was that her father lost his job in Mexico and, like many immigrants, brought his family to the United States to find a better life.
It wasn’t until Beatriz became a teenager that she began to encounter the obstacles of being undocumented. She tried to get her driver’s license but was unable to get one. When she started to apply to college, she found that she could not apply for federal student aid.
To get herself through school, Beatriz found a job at a restaurant and saved every cent she could. She enrolled at the College of DuPage and began to open up to others about her immigration status. “The hardest part,” she says, “was getting people to understand what being undocumented actually meant.”
After completing her general education requirements, she applied to different universities but was ineligible for financial aid. Beatriz continued applying to different schools and was finally accepted to Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). With Beatriz successfully becoming a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) student, IIT was able to provide financial assistance to continue her education.
Beatriz decided to major in business since she was working at a restaurant and doing marketing for them. But to get to class, she spent an hour and a half on the Metra and then took a bus. The commute back home was up to two hours. “There were times,” she says, “when I was too tired to do homework. I didn’t feel motivated.”
After almost missing an exam because of her commute, she finally shared her frustration with classmates. One of them was a La Casa resident who recommended she look into La Casa.
She applied to La Casa Student Housing and was accepted. She convinced her parents to let her move into La Casa, and was able to cut down on her commute time. Now she had time to do homework without being exhausted.
The time saved on commuting didn’t just help her focus on her studies: it also allowed her to become more active in school. After being a member of Latinos Involved in Further Education (LIFE) and Hispanics Alliance for Career Enhancement (HACE), she decided to take on a leadership role in both after seeing a need for improvements. Drawing from her experience at the restaurant and from her business studies, Beatriz became a Marketing Director for both organizations.
“Student participation was dying down,” she explained. “We only had about seven active members and now we have at least 20. Our e-board has also grown to eight people.”
The main source of her drive in everything she does is her family.
“I want my family and to be proud of me,” she says. “I want to give back to the community.”
She is thrilled to be graduating this semester because she is the first of her sisters to get a bachelor’s degree.
“It’s a lot of pressure,” she says, “but that is what keeps me going.”
To learn more about La Casa Student Housing, visit www.lacasasstudenthousing.org.

Return to Nueva Vida November 2014 here.