Alondra Palomino didn鈥檛 know if she would ever go to college. The daughter of Mexican immigrants, Palomino鈥檚 family was supportive of her academic pursuits but, like many immigrant families, lacked familiarity with the U.S. college system and knowledge about the college application process.
鈥淧arents are supposed to be the people to guide you,鈥� she explained. 鈥淏ut for me, this was really hard.鈥�
Raised by her godparents in Thornton, Palomino听maintained a close relationship with her siblings and mom in Aurora. Her听mom valued education for her daughter, but had stopped her own schooling after seventh grade and wasn鈥檛 sure how to help her daughter make attending college a reality. Her godparents were also supportive and motivating, but they, too, lacked the information needed to guide Palomino toward听her college dreams.
Fortunately for Palomino, who is now a and junior majoring in integrative physiology, she joined the program at Horizon High school in Thornton that helped her figure out what she needed to do to be the first in her family to attend college. As part of the SOAR program and in collaboration with CU听Boulder鈥檚 -- an academic enhancement program designed to motivate and prepare first generation middle and high school students to pursue their higher education goals -- Palomino听came to CU听Boulder for five weeks when she was in high school,听staying听in the dorms and taking听classes.
"I had a lot of support from the SOAR program and peer mentors,鈥� she said. "But kids who don鈥檛 have a program like this don鈥檛 know what to do."
Finding her passion听
Nationwide, far fewer Latinos receive bachelor's degrees than students of other racial and ethnic groups. The Pew Research Center reports that 24 percent听of all youths in Colorado aged 16 to听25 are Latino, most born in the United States. However, while nearly听all Latino youth听and older adults agree that a college degree is important for getting ahead in life just under half of Latinos aged听18 to 25 say they plan to get a college degree.
Palomino is committed to changing听that.
There are many reasons why Latinos might not be applying to four-year colleges and universities. But in Palomino's experience as a first generation college student, one key factor stands out: Latino parents need more information. As a Puksta Scholar, a program of听that听provides funding and support to students so they can tackle multi-year public service projects, Palomino听is working to inform Latino parents in Colorado about how to support their kids in getting into college.
"At first, I wanted to reach undocumented students here at CU,鈥� she said. "But once I started looking into the experience (of first generation and undocumented students), I decided to start doing parent workshops focused on the basics of college - what parents need to know about college applications, financial aid, applying for loans, the difference between subsidized and unsubsidized loans, the index score. I started teaching them things like how, to get into CU, a student needs three consecutive years of a second language. These are things parents should know but might not know."
Palomino said听that doing the parent workshops "pushed me out of my shell and got me to be better at public speaking."
"It was good for me,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey asked me when I was having other workshops."
She gave her first parent workshop in Aurora in the fall of 2015. Her mom, who volunteers with Aurora West College Academy, helped her publicize the workshop via word of mouth.
What parents want to know听
Palomino said questions from parents related to the cost of college are the most common. When she shows the slide about the cost of attending a Colorado university, parents 鈥渇reak out,鈥� she said. But Palomino听tries to calm their fears by breaking down the different ways that people pay for college, discussing financial aid options, scholarships听and loans.
鈥淢ost of the questions are about the cost, and also about things like whether or not students have to live in the dorms or if they can live somewhere else less expensive."听
Her goal is to find a way to make the parent workshops a self-sustaining CU听Boulder program before she graduates. She and her听Puksta Scholar partner听Emma Piller are听thinking through the best ways to create a new student group on campus. Ideally, the group would be comprised of mostly immigrant and first generation students, where the students would train each other on how to deliver the parent workshops and figure out how to move this program and other related work forward.
"I want to get parents excited for their students鈥� futures, so they can help them to keep going.鈥�
"At first, I wanted to reach undocumented students here at CU,鈥� student and Puksta Scholar听Alondra Palomino听said. "But once I started looking into the experience (of first generation and undocumented students), I decided to start doing parent workshops focused on the basics of college - what parents need to know about college applications, financial aid, applying for loans, the difference between subsidized and unsubsidized loans, the index score. I started teaching them things like how, to get into CU, a student needs three consecutive years of a second language. These are things parents should know but might not know."
