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The other side of the exf^erienc^
Elon students share stories
about immigrating to the
United States
Lucia Jervis
Elon News Network | @ElonNewsNetwork
Eton University sophomore Lucia
Lozano always grew up with the ex
pectation that at some point in her
life, she would leave Colombia and
live abroad. Her mother lived abroad
when she was young and wanted to
expose Lozano and her brother to
the new perspectives, values and ad
vantages one gains from coexisting
with people from different cultures.
Lozano moved when she was 12
years old.
“There was never the right time
to do it because it was going to be
a huge sacrifice, but when we did
move, my brother had finished his
first year of college there, and I was
starting eighth grade. He didn’t want
to leave, he was happy in college
with all his friends from school that
he had known for 14 years,” Lozano
said. “It just worked out that way. My
parent’s jobs were not going well,
and they just wanted to leave.”
Carla, a senior at Elon whose
name has been changed to protect
her identity, moved to the U.S. from
Mexico. Her eyes still tear up when
she shares her story of how she and
her family immigrated to the U.S. 19
years ago.
Carla and her family moved when
she was only 3 years old. When they
came to the U.S., her family started
from scratch, owning nothing and
working hard to find a better life.
Carla and her family moved into a
trailer park. Her parents worked pro
longed hours for little money. Her
mom worked mostly in the fields,
and her dad had different jobs; he
worked in restaurants for some time
and then in a slaughterhouse.
“My family’s story for me is an
emotional one even though there are
many parts of the
story I don’t know
about,” Carla said.
“When I was
younger, I guess I
didn’t understand
a lot of things, but
I just knew that
my life was dif
ferent than other
people’s. I could
see the difference
sometimes with
teachers between
us and other stu
dents in school.
I learned English
pretty fast, be
cause my siblings
taught me. But in
school, we spoke
Spanish and sometimes our teachers
would tell us, ‘Don’t speak that lan
guage, you’re in America,’ and things
like that. So I always knew there was
something different about who I was
and where I came from.”
MY FAMILY’S STORY
FOR ME IS AN
EMOTIONAL ONE EVEN
THOUGH THERE ARE
MANY PARTS OFTHE
STORYlOONTKNOW
ABOUT.
“CARU”
SENIOR
0 life in the United
Adai
States
Both Lozano and Carla moved
with their femilies to North Carolina
- a state where, according to the Mi
gration Policy Institute, 7.8 percent
of the population is foreign-born,
and 48.8 percent of people in that
group are Latinos.
Lozano’s family came to the U.S.
with more securities. Lozano’s moth
er found a good job in Chapel Hill as
a teacher before they moved to the
United States. They all entered the
country with J-1 visas, while Carla’s
family didn’t come into the country
The Lozano family hangs out during the holidays in their home.
with legal documents or job security.
However, both families had to make
a lot of sacrifices in order to leave
their homes, adjust to a new culture
and environment and restart their
lives in a new place.
“We made a very conscious
choice of wanting to move our lives
here. We are a family that had that
choice and had securities of coming
to stay with family members and my
mom having a job, us having papers.
In other words, we’ve had it so much
easier than other people who have
come here with less of a choice, with
less securities and things waiting
for them,” Lozano said. “But even
then, it’s really hard. It takes a toll,
and it’s a lot of sacrifices. And even
in the best cases, even in the places
that you have the
most waiting for
you there, it’s just
always hard.”
Since Lozano
moved when she
was 12, she was
fully aware of ev
erything she and
her family had to
sacrifice. She loves
to learn but strug
gled in school in
the beginning to
the point that she
didn’t want to go.
She wanted to stay
home, watch mov
ies and tune every
thing else out.
Lozano and her
family went through anxiety, depres
sion and hardship. They did have
some family in the US., but most of
Lozano’s family was still in Colom
bia. She didn’t have time to analyze
her feelings. She knew she had to
make it through, adapt, study hard
and make her family proud. Lozano
is still processing some of these feel
ings today.
“I’m the type of person that when
big emotional things happen, I don’t
process in the moment, I process a
month later,” Lozano said.
Carla moved at a very young age.
As she grew up, she realized she had
different lifestyles at home and at
school. She would go to school and
be an excellent student, only think
ing about her studies and how she
could give back to her parents for
all the sacrifices they’ve done for
her by being a good student. Then,
she would go home, where she only
PHOTO COURTSEY OF LUCIA ROBLEDO
Elon students attend the Collegiate Alliance for Immigration Reform in Harvard Conference Feb. 24.
PHOTO COURTSEY OF LUCIA ROBLEDO
spoke Spanish and had to sometimes
speak on the phone with relatives
she had in Mexico who she had nev
er met. She lived in two worlds at the
same time. In one, she was encour
aged to speak Spanish and embrace
her heritage; in the other, she was
encouraged speak English and fit in.
Carla had to grow a very thick
skin. She saw her parents work in
jobs not worthy of their abilities,
in places where people don’t treat
them right and in unhealthy con
ditions. Many times, people took
advantage of them, and her parents
couldn’t say anything for fear of
losing their jobs - something they
couldn’t afford.
“Being here is amazing, but I al
ways have this feeling of just being
really tired to keep seeing my par
ents go through things they don’t de
serve to go through,” Carla said, “es
pecially with everything that is going
in the U.S. currently. There are a lot
of stereotypes about immigrants, es
pecially undocumented immigrants,
and so it’s hard to see those things
happening because not only does it
attack me as a human but it attacks
my parents most of all.”
Challenges and overcoming
obstacles
One of the roughest time peri
ods for Carla was her senior year of
high school. Carla said that is when
she could understand what her par
ents had been living through during
their time in the U.S. Senior year was
a challenge for Carla because of the
college application process. Due to
her immigration status and being a
first-generation college student with
a lack of guidance, it was extremely
difficult for her to apply to colleges.
“Primarily what made it really
difficult is that we identify as undoc
umented. So I knew it was hard be
cause I had kind of seen my brother
go through that. But he was able to
get a scholarship for international
students in Chapel Hill. When I ap
plied for the scholarship, I didn’t get
it, and I was like, ‘What am I going
to do now?’ This is aU I’ve ever want
ed, and even beyond myself, I guess
for my parents,” Carla said. “I didn’t
want to fail them because they had
literally given everything up for us.”
Her college counselor helped her
as much as she could through the
exhausting process. Several of the
schools she could and did apply to
didn’t give her enough scholarships.
But both Carla and Lozano ap
plied to Elon University and received
scholarships that cover their full tui
tion every year.
“When I found out, honestly, I
just kind of froze. I didn’t know how
to feel, I just couldn’t believe it. Ail
I kept thinking about was, I’m going
to be able to go to school, I’m going
to be able to do this, I’m doing this
for my parents, I’m doing this for
my family” Carla said. “I was really
happy but at the same time it was so
surreal to me.”
Education played a big factor
in why Lozano’s family decided to
move in the first place. Carla believes
that by fully immersing herself in her
studies, she can let her parents know
that their sacrifices were worth it.
“Our parents are the original
dreamers.... They are the ones that
first created a dream for us to have a
better life than theirs, and if it weren’t
for them, I wouldn’t be dreaming to
have a better life, or to do better. I
wouldn’t be here, and wouldn’t have
done anything that I’ve done so far,”
Carla said. “In reality, they are the
ones who have made us the peo
ple that we are today and currently
we’re just trying to do our best - to
keep going but also to end up doing
something that ends up benefiting
them because they deserve more
than what they receive.”