Interviewer: Lux Darkbloom & Jimena Prieto Andrew
Interview Subject: Jade Ventura

Lux: So let’s begin with just some basics. We’ll have you start out by introducing yourself. So if you wanted to tell us about, like, just a little bit about your background, when you were born, where you grew up, any personal interests, stuff like that.

Jade: Hi, my name is Jade Ventura. I’m originally from Panama, but I mostly grew up here. I went back a lot for health concerns and other reasons. I grew up kind of everywhere. Yeah, I knew most of Utah from Utah County all the way to Salt Lake County. I don’t know. Right now I’m studying biochemistry. I’m highly involved in community engagement. So, like, I’m the partner liaison for UAF Legacy, where we do, like, we administrate or help to administrate for free STD testing through UAF Legacy. Yeah, I don’t know. I really enjoy community service. Growing up, I did a lot of folkloric dancing, so I danced and performed in a bunch of conventions. I also grew up as a competitive figure skater. So I did that for the vast majority of my life, to the point where, like, I went to nationals and whatever, but because of injuries and stuff, yeah, I wasn’t able to continue. But yeah, that’s a little bit about me. 

Lux: Thank you. So you mentioned you’re a biochem major. What year are you in school right now?

Jade: I’m a second year biochemistry major.

Lux: And are you going full time or part time?

Jade: I’m going full-time.

Lux: Cool. So what would you say initially really motivated you to pursue higher education?

Jade: I think being first-gen and, like, an immigrant to this country, I think we’re kind of expected to go to higher education. So I think, I don’t know, I always grew up with this, like, “You need to go to higher education,” but not always knowing what that meant. For the vast majority of my life, I thought I wanted to pursue law. However, I was able to shadow some lawyers and attorneys, and I realized that wasn’t my path, which was very stressful and very scary. It was the year I was applying to university where I realized that law isn’t for me. And yeah, I don’t know. Yeah, higher education, I think, has always been kind of an expectation for me, personally.

Lux: Yeah. Like, do you feel like that’s, like, an expectation that you’ve put on yourself or more like one that comes from other sources, like family or friends or maybe a combination of those things?

Jade: I think it’s a combination of those things. My parents, right, we traveled a lot just to get here and to have a better life. And typically having a better life means getting a degree. Even though they didn’t know what that meant, they knew that that’s something that is kind of expected. Also, with the people I revolve myself around, I also wanted to pursue higher education. The schools I went to, I always took honors courses, advanced placement classes, international baccalaureate courses. So I think it was always just an expectation for me to attend.

Lux: That makes a lot of sense. Could you talk a little bit about what it was like when you first started on campus, even your first semester?

Jade: Honestly, I think I remember coming the day before because I met a student by chance and they said, like, “Oh, just recognize what buildings to go to.” If I’m being honest, I didn’t really realize that my classes were not in just one building until like a week before classes started, which kind of freaked me out. And I remember being in a panic and I had a close friend come with me and we walked around campus. Yeah. And we were just trying to navigate where buildings were. My first semester was just very kind of scary for me, right? Because you’re in a new environment. You don’t know…Even though I always took concurrent enrollment classes, I graduated with my associates, I don’t know. I still felt so lost and out of place, despite having a lot of qualifications to go to university. So then I started creating a diary or journal of lessons I’ve learned in college. So I call it “The College Package”, and it kind of shows, like, classes, like majors. And I kind of show that now I’m a First-Gen [Scholars] mentor. So I show that to my students and all the resources I’ve started learning about. So, for example, I just came from a meeting with one of my students, and I was kind of talking to them about navigating scholarships and work study and how there’s, like, opportunities to actually work at the campus–as a researcher or even just as a custodian. There’s so many. So I have accumulated a big package of data from just all my learning from it. But, yeah, initially it was very terrifying, but I kind of turned it into something that could help others.

Lux: That’s really cool. And I can so totally relate to how difficult it is to navigate the campus. You’re definitely not alone in that. 

Jimena: I did the same thing. I had my dad drive me one day before because I was like, “What do you mean my classes aren’t in one or one of two buildings?” But to me, that was wild. So he took me to every single building. Keep in mind, me being first-gen, we didn’t know what we were doing, but we figured it out. So I get it.

Jade: No, yeah. No, yeah. I don’t know. I don’t know why I thought…like I have an older sister, but she went to college 20 years ago, I think? And so I don’t know. She would not tell me anything. And I just went in there, and I’m like the first. So we’re kind of split into generations. It’s my sibling, my older sister’s first, and then it’s me and my brother. And so I’m, like, the one to go to college after that 20 year gap. And so I was kind of like, “What is happening there?” I don’t know, just figure it out. I don’t know. Realizing it’s like, “Oh, everything is not in the same building. You might have classes in buildings that aren’t corresponding to your college.” Like that was so confusing to me in navigating it. But yeah, I know I had a close friend take me and walk me everywhere, which is so kind of them. But yeah…

Lux: That is a really smart way to go about doing it, too.

Jade: I didn’t even think about it, honestly, until I was like, “Oh, you know, you have like a bunch of walking.” Like what? Walking? What?

Lux: Yeah, it’s one of those things that until you get to the campus, it’s so unpredictable. And yeah, you never know what you’re going to get until you get there, right? It’s all new. So you mentioned biochem, how did you go about choosing your major? Like what were some of the factors involved in that?

Jade: Biochemistry was kind of a little bit of a crazy story. So as I mentioned, I always wanted to pursue law, getting small internships with law firms, interning with lawyers. I don’t know. Everything was all aligned for that. And so I never looked into STEM. Yes, I finished like all my STEM courses early on because I hated math. I hated science. I took biology once. I was like, that is the stupidest class I’ve ever taken. And yeah, so I just didn’t want to pursue science at all. I went to a STEM school, my first year of high school. And then I think I took chemistry and I thought it was so hard, and I despised it. But it also intrigued me because I feel like I’m kind of a masochist in that sense. Although it was very difficult, I found it very interesting. And so I took AP chemistry and that was really hard. And then I realized like, “Oh, like this is kind of interesting.” And then I took human anatomy because I wanted to go to malpractice law. And I found the chemical processes of the human body fascinating. And that’s kind of what intrigued me. I’m like, I don’t really love the chemistry aspect, but I like the biological aspect to the chemistry where chemistry is applied in biological beings. And so I started talking to people like, “Oh, like, what are you going to study?” And they’d say these things. Honestly, I didn’t even know what engineering was. I didn’t know what anything was really…And so, yeah, biochemistry, it was more out of like doing something that was difficult for me and pursuing it further. 

Lux: That is so cool. I think a lot of folks start out with a very different major in mind and then wind up changing it as they get into different classes and explore a little bit. So it’s not such a crazy story. [Laughs] I think that’s a really cool story, actually. So you’re working right now. Yes?

Jade: Sorry?

Lux: You’re working while you go to school right now, yeah?

Jade: Yeah.

Lux: Are you working part-time or full-time? 

Jade: I work part-time. I work about 19 to 20 hours a week.

Lux: What kind of work are you doing?

Jade: So I work with Utah Reads through the Bennion Center. So we help with one-on-one tutoring, improving literacy scores. Yeah, it’s an awesome experience because most of my students are also immigrants or children of immigrants. And so we’re slowly teaching them… some of my students, I’m teaching them how to read in English, which is fun. But then I also participate with their after school program, where I have the opportunity to teach them some things so I do some STEM courses with them. Like we did like a job course. So it’s a lot of fun being involved with that community. Yeah.

Lux: How did you get involved with that organization? Like, where did you find the job, or how did you decide to pursue it?

Jade: So I believe it was through my LEAP course. I took LEAP, and they were sharing some resources of volunteering. And I was like, okay, like I don’t know anyone. And I think volunteering is a great, great way to get into the community. And then I accidentally talked to the wrong person, who was Alex Griffin, who’s in charge of Utah Reads. And yeah, so I got involved through that by accident.

Lux: That is a great, happy accident.

Jade: So, I also do research, and that was also an accident. I walked into the wrong class, and I stayed not realizing this is such a strange class. I mean, I don’t remember this being in this class. And yeah, so I got involved in research by accident by walking into the wrong class.

Lux: I love that. That is so great. It’s like, man, an opportunity comes along and you take it. Apologies if my cat continues to put his face into frame. It can be a little distracting.

Jade: I understand. 

Lux: So as far as the work life slash school life balance, how do you manage all of those different priorities?

Jade: I don’t know. Honestly, half the time I don’t really know if I do. I guess I stick to the schedule. I have certain hours of when I should study. For example, like on weekends, I try to get ahead of things, get notes read, try to understand the following lectures so they’re not as difficult to understand. Yeah, just trying to manage everything, prioritizing my schooling, obviously. But also, like, to pay for school, you need to work. So that’s also something important for me to continue going on with that.

Lux: Yeah, [I’ve] been there. So as far as financial aid and stuff goes, did you have any factors that influenced your ability to pay tuition or anything along those lines?

Jade: Like this school or like in general?

Lux: Just generally. Okay. Well, like me having a quarter life crisis so having that switch from law to chemistry sciences, I didn’t know if I would even pursue higher education. I know it was always an expectation, but I got nervous because I’m like, why should I apply if I don’t know? What am I going to do? I didn’t realize you didn’t need to know what you needed to do. Like I didn’t know undecided was an option in college. So I delayed my applications until the very last day you could possibly apply. And so that was like February, I believe…Although I was in all these higher education classes like IB, AP, no one really sits you down and talks to you like, “Hey, you can still apply. Hey, this is still an opportunity that you can do.” So out of a whim, I was going to miss the year because I didn’t apply before December. “I’m not going to get merit because I didn’t apply before the day I was supposed to. I’m not going to get like…I forgot what it’s called…Utah something. I don’t know. I’ve never heard of that.” 

Jimena: The For Utah scholarship.

Jade: The For Utah scholarship. I didn’t hear about it, even though I qualified for it. So it was all just like, yes, I’m in the right courses, but I didn’t have the right resources. So that influenced my ability to go. But yeah, I don’t know. I just quickly realized, like, “Oh, my gosh, school is really expensive.” And I said, like, “Okay, what can I do?” So I started looking into scholarships, started talking to people about scholarships. And so I started working my part-time job. I do like 20 hours a week, and then I do business with my dad. He works with trailers. So I helped unload cars from California or, like, I’d go to California and load cars. So I did a bunch of side jobs just to pay for my tuition. And so, yeah…but fortunately, I was gifted, I think, three or four scholarships for the upcoming school year. So although it was a lot of hard work and a lot of editing and essays and freaking out, trying to understand what I should write about, what prompts I should write about because I was kind of new to that process as well, although I know how to write. I just don’t know how college scholarships kinda work. But so I was able to not do that. But I knew that like either way, one way or another, I had to go to attend school.

Lux: So it does sound like, working with multiple jobs, it’s almost like the equivalent of a full-time job at certain points.

Jade: Yeah, sometimes.

Lux: Yeah. It’s a lot of work so I just want to give you props for that. That’s so much effort and time and commitment. And yeah, it’s just really impressive.

Jade: Thank you. I don’t know. My parents always said that the only thing you’ll leave this earth with is your knowledge so they always prioritize school with that. So, yeah, I don’t know. Although it’s very costly and maybe costly in labor–social or whatever–I think it’s always going to be worth learning.

Lux: Yeah. So moving into a slightly different direction, the next few questions, I’m going to focus more on like support networks. So starting out, I was wondering what has had the biggest impact on your academic success?

Jade: Can you elaborate a little bit? 

Lux: Yeah. For example, like when I started school, I did concurrent enrollment, and I didn’t have any support at home for school, navigating that process so my social networks there, like this small group of friends I made, we leaned on each other and helped each other to figure out that system, like how to come up with a college schedule and how to figure out the parking situation, all of that kind of stuff. But it can be anything.

Jade: Okay. In terms of academics, like study groups or that, I never have been in study groups. It’s always very independent for me. Yeah. That’s, I think, partially why I was so closeted from everything, because like I’m so used to working alone. In high school, like, again, I was in the IB program, but it’s very independent. It’s very independent, like all of your huge projects are independent. So I’m used to that. And so I think academically, I was prepared for college, but everything else with resources, scholarships, basic socializing, it was kind of difficult. I think what helped with it, though, was my second semester, spring semester, kind of joining First-Gen [Scholars]. And kind of like, it was honestly the snacks. I came for the snacks. [Laughs] And then I met some really cool people and started forming a little friend group. And through that, yeah, now I can ask my friends for help and also provide them with help.

Lux: Nice. Do you feel like being first-gen has had any kind of impact on your academic success?

Jade: In terms of grades and stuff, my ability to take notes and stuff? I don’t…maybe not knowing how to do certain things, but at the end of the day, you figure it out. Yeah, I think it just made me ignorant to resources.

Lux: I feel like that’s…yeah, I don’t want you to feel bad about that. That’s, like, the student experience. I think that the university isn’t–and this is just my opinion–super great at marketing a lot of the resources that we have. So it can be really, really hard to figure out like, “Okay, this is what I need, but is there somebody providing that resource or service?

Jimena: And then just remember that there’s so much your first semester with everything being bombarded…you’re like, “Well, what do I even utilize?” Like Lux said, it’s like, what resources are there even? Like, what does this do? Who’s this person? There’s so much. So the more you get into your semesters, you kind of understand like, “Oh, this is where I go for X, Y, and Z and all of that stuff.”

Lux: I talked with another first-gen student who said that she had been really surprised when she took a scholarship essay to her academic advisor. And she’s like, “Can you read this for me and give me some feedback?” And the advisor was like, “No, we don’t do that here.” And she’s like, “Well, who does do that?” So pretty typical experience. It’s always really hard to navigate that stuff. Like when, especially like Jimena said, in your first year, you kind of get bombarded with information. How would you describe your experience in connecting with faculty?

Jade: I think fairly well. With larger classrooms, I think it can always be more difficult. Like, for example, I’m taking o chem [organic chemistry] right now, and there’s like, I don’t know, 400 of us in just that lecture hall.

Lux: No way!

Jimena: That’s a lot of people. Oh, my gosh.

Jade: If you don’t come early–like I come 20 minutes early–and if you don’t come 20 minutes early, you’re not finding a seat. You don’t get a seat. You’ve got to stand up.

Lux: That’s crazy.

Jade: It’s a little crazy. So with that, like this year, I felt a little more disconnected from all my professors. Last year, I felt a lot more connected with them. I was able to go to more of their office hours. But since there’s larger lectures, they have only 15 minute office hours, which I’m like, oh my gosh, that’s nothing. That’s practically nothing. So definitely this year, I felt very disconnected. Last year, I felt rather connected. I got, like, two letters of recommendation from two professors, one in mathematics and then the other in my leap class. But to be fair, in those classes, it was like 20, 30 students. It wasn’t the big thing. But yeah, yeah.

Lux: I cannot believe there are 400 or so students. That’s incredible.

Jade: It gets hot. Like it’s crazy.

Lux: Seriously. Like I knew there were large classes, but I didn’t realize they were that large. And having to get there so early, too. So this is totally off-script, Jimena, but this does relate to the new initiative that the university is introducing about parking and changing schedules.

Jade: Aren’t the majority of the classes going to be offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays?

Lux: I think they’re trying to have folks take courses that are outside of primetime hours, which are between 9:00 and 2:00.

Jimena: Yes

Lux: So it’s a pretty controversial initiative, and they’re saying that it’s…I can’t remember the rationale, honestly. [Laughs] But I believe they were saying it was to reduce scheduling issues or something like that for classrooms. Do you recall?

Jimena: Yes, it was something about scheduling issues and then having the flow of traffic flow better, whatever that means. So it was very controversial. I think it ended up reaching the news and all these articles came out about it.

Lux: Yeah, it’s a pretty hot topic right now. So I don’t know if we’ve just introduced you to it or not. 

Jade: I thought it was just a rumor, if I’m being honest, because I heard people kind of talking about it. I had some friends kind of talking about it. I was like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, yeah, for sure. They did that.” I don’t think that actually…are they actually going to do that next semester?

Lux: I think they’re in a place where they’re floating the idea, but they have gotten a pretty serious amount of criticism about it. And, you know, in my opinion, totally legitimate criticism because that is putting more barriers in front of students.

Jimena: Yeah. Even in terms of students that work maybe after hours, you know…it’s just there’s so many things to think about. So, yeah.

Jade: Yeah. That seems so inconsiderate because I don’t know, like I come, like say my class today started at like what? 9:40 and I’m here by 7:30. I like to be here earlier. So I just don’t feel like that’s going to do anything for students like me who come earlier to prepare for class, to study for class, or just be on campus earlier to eat. I don’t know. That seems kind of inconsiderate. Interesting.

Lux: It’s definitely not the most popular announcement the U has made recently.

Jade: I thought that was just a rumor. I thought they were just making that up.

Lux: I did, too. And then I ended up checking the university’s social media and they had…I think they had done an initial announcement and had gotten so much negative feedback that they came back with a second announcement, trying to give a kind of rationale for it. But what I think it means, though, is that it’s going to limit the number of courses that students can take between 9:00 and 2:00. I’m not sure what the cap is on the number of courses, but they’re encouraging or mandating that fewer courses are taken during that period of time. So, I don’t know, like with your classes, I don’t know how frequently upper division classes are offered for your program. So, this could potentially be a major impact, you know.

Jade: Yeah. Oh, okay. I’ll have to look more into what that means in terms of my classes. Yeah. Interesting. I don’t know. I think I’m going to…I’m finishing up my 2000s and starting 3000s next semester and for the following 3000, 4000 courses. So, I don’t know if that impacts me too much because we’re a much smaller class. I don’t know. We’ll see.

Lux: Certainly is, it’s an interesting time. We’ll put it that way. That’s like the most neutral thing I can say, maybe. Yeah. So, let’s see, where was I? Oh, I was wondering if in your classes, even the huge lecture-style courses, do you find that your faculty talk about different campus resources and services much?

Jade: No. No, not really. Not often. I mean, my physics teacher is probably the best one out of all of them. However, she has a class about what it means to be a scientist, like the human side of being a scientist. So, she’s really in touch with the humanities side. She always promotes what is called the Central…CDA, I think. Is that the Central Disability something? I don’t know. But she always gives us resources. But my other professors, no, just her.

Lux: Have any of your faculty ever said like, “Hey class, I’m first-gen. And for those of you who are also first-gen…”

Jade: No. No.

Lux: That’s wild. We do have a group on campus that is for first-gen faculty, but I don’t know that they interact a lot with our programs that have been designed for first-gen students. I was just curious. Have there been any specific role models or mentors who have supported you? And that could be like on campus or off campus.

Jade: I think Hector for me. Hector, he works here at First-Gen [Scholars]. I don’t know. I met him last year while I was a First-Gen [Scholars] student. I talked to him a lot and he helped me navigate a little bit more of the resources and kind of pushed me to go to other people. I think another faculty that has highly impacted me is my primary investigator for my research lab. It can be kind of frustrating. We’re 15 students in total in that research lab so we’re a lot of students. I am the only person of color there, which at first was kind of like…I felt so out of place just being there. I knew I was intelligent enough. I knew I’m probably ahead of these kids in some of these courses, but I still felt like, “Oh, I’m like I’m not supposed to be here.” So there’s like an immense amount of imposter syndrome there, but she really helped me talk through that. And the same with Hector. He kind of like, “It’s OK. This is why we’re here. Remember, this is why we’re here.” So that was really kind. So, like, those two people really impacted me.

Lux: I’m so glad to hear that. That’s amazing. Would you say that being a first-gen student had any kind of impact on your social or emotional well-being at the U?

Jade: I think I was just always nervous. Yeah. Yeah, no, I think I was highly anxious. Like I had to prove myself always. Like I was expected to get good grades. I was expected to do this. Yeah, I think just emotionally, it just gave me a lot of like, “You need to do this. If you’re not doing this, why are you here?”

Lux: That makes a lot of sense. Yeah. So feeling a sense of belonging in college is, according to a lot of research, it has a really significant impact on students’ academic success. So we have about I want to say we have around 25 percent of our 25,000 undergrads are first-gen students. And like you mentioned, there’s this really significant difference in racial and ethnic identity between students and faculty to where we have a pretty homogeneous faculty where upwards of 80 percent identify as white only. Do you feel like that lack of first-gen faculty, or faculty of color, or any of the racial slash ethnic differences you see in your classes and around campus have had an impact on your sense of community?

Jade: Like the faculty specifically or like the courses?

Lux: Any part of it. Just any part of it at all.

Jade: So I’m part of the Honors College. Like even in the Honors College, I think that 15% of us are first-gen, the rest are not. Um, 15 or 16%, I cannot remember. But with that being said, right now I got accepted to the health minor. I’m going to go to South Africa next summer, and that will be so much fun. I’m very excited for it. However, when I went into the class, I saw and everyone did not look like me. There’s not a single person of color. Again, I think those moments are when I feel really out of place. And it’s like, okay. And speaking to some of them, they tell me, like, “Oh, yeah, the U’s really cheap.” And I’m like, “You think $8,000 a semester is really cheap? What do you mean?” So I think within the community, within the Honors College, it feels very out of place. But it’s kind of nice having the space like the first-gen space because you go back and you’re like, “You know what? There’s other people who are also doing hard things, hard majors, and are just as qualified as you.” So it kind of just keeps you going with that. Yeah, no, I found a lot of community here in First-Gen [Scholars] and doing community service through the Benion Center. So that’s just awesome ways that I’ve kept in community, kept community engagement. Yeah.

Lux: Yeah, community is truly hard to find sometimes. I’m so grateful for First-Gen Scholars. So to wrap up, and this will be questions more about personal reflection and then thinking about the future. So what program or resource or service would you–if you had all of the money, skills, expertise, anything you needed to create a program, a resource, or service to help students with their needs–what kind of support would you create?

Jade: Like a club? Like what do you mean?

Lux: Anything at all. It could truly be anything like…

Jimena: Think of this as something that, you know, sometimes you find yourself thinking like, “Oh, my gosh, I wish there was this on campus. It would really benefit me.” But it isn’t available, you know, something like that. So it can be literally anything, like Lux was saying.

Jade: I don’t know. So like within the College of Science, I know that there’s the Curie Club, which is like women in STEM, which is awesome. But I don’t know. I wish there’s more Hispanic or people of color because like, I don’t know, when I go to the classroom–physics or chemistry, o chemistry–like I look around and there’s not a lot of diversity. Like it seems like the more advanced in classes I get, the less diverse there is. So I wish there was some sort of, like, diversity, [or] science–people that were together so that we could study together so we can kind of relate with each other and more the chemistry side.

Lux: Yeah, I think that’s a really great idea. Like a cohort kind of. Yeah.

Jade: Kind of like maybe like first-gen Hispanics–or they don’t even have to be first-gen. But like kind of just, I don’t know, sometimes you feel out of place and yeah.

Lux: Yeah, no, I’ve heard that from a lot of students of color, too, and faculty of color. The dominant culture here is very, very white, and historically and ongoingly. It’s a thing that I think that a lot of our faculty and administrators could use some insight into how alienating our campus can feel, you know.

Jade: I don’t know, I think I’m just so ignorant that there are actual people who are faculty who are first-gen. I wish they could maybe, like, involve themselves a little more within our community, like, “Hey, I did it.” And it’s kind of like, “Oh, okay.” But yeah, in my community, like I’m the eldest, right? In my church group and my little community, like I’m the eldest. So everyone’s asking me like, “What do I do?” [or] “Read my college essays.” Like, okay. And so it’s kind of like, oh, I don’t know where the end of the tunnel is, but I’m just going through it blindly sometimes.

Lux: Yeah, it’s like you’ve become the expert for your, like, your community that you mentioned, like you’re the eldest in your church group. And yeah, where does the expert go when the expert needs support, right? I think that’s a really valid question that a lot of us on campus are not prepared to answer, you know? What kind of support do you wish that you had had as a student or wish that in the future you will get from the university?

Jade: So kind of what I do now for my students as a mentor is I give them all the resources that you can possibly need. I pose questions to them, like, “Do you have your tuition covered? Do you know that there’s ways to get your tuition covered? Do you know there’s study abroad? Do you even know that’s a thing?” So I start posing questions to them because sometimes what are you supposed to ask when you can’t even question it, when you don’t know the subject matter, which I feel like a lot of the times I couldn’t question. I couldn’t ask because I didn’t know what to ask or who to ask or whatever that means. And so  I don’t know, what I kind of do for my students now is I, again, like that little diary journal of notes I’ve compiled. Yeah, so I share that with them because I, I don’t know, I wish someone were to tell me like, “Hey, this is very general information.” And then kind of going to a mentor that was very niche within my needs. So like when I was a student for First-Gen [Scholars], no one was–at least like in my cohort, like my Friday cohort–there was maybe one STEM mentor, and I did not get them. And so it was kind of like, “Oh, which one was the STEM? Oh, shoot.” And so all of them were business. All of them were doing their thing, and they had these amazing opportunities. And I was just like, I don’t know. I felt kind of blindsided, like, “Okay, I wonder if this exists for me or what would even exist for me?” So, yeah, I don’t know. I like to do the extra mile and research and then teach them how to research these resources. And to this day, I continue to ask other people like, “Hey, I just learned about–what’s it called? The center, the CCEE…I just learned of that. I have it written in my little notes for my students.

Jimena: Is it in the union on the fourth floor?

Jade: Yeah

Lux: it’s like the Office of Community and Engagement. I don’t know. Like the acronym is CCEE. I can look it up. Yeah.

Jade: And so I’m slowly learning about this information, and I’m like documenting it, and researching into it. And I’m like, “Okay, these are some things that you can do. Look further into it.” So that’s kind of what I implement into my students. But I wish I had someone who kind of did that for me. “Hey, just because you missed that deadline for applications to qualify for merit scholarships doesn’t mean scholarships don’t exist anymore.”

Lux: Yeah. Yeah. That’s a big one, too, because none of this is intuitive, right? Like all of the documentation around that stuff is very much written in technical language, almost like legalese, you know. So it’s never intuitive. It’s so hard to navigate.

Jade: No, yeah, I have a million tabs on just one big Google Doc, and it kind of talks about like, “Hey, some parking. Hey, maybe you can’t pay for the parking permit, here’s free parking. You can do this to get free parking. You can park here, and you’ll be fine.” So I kind of just accumulated this information to…I don’t know. It’s like, in a sense, mentoring myself. Yeah. Like yourself.

Lux: I love that. That was a really great way to think about it. I love that. You said, you’re in your second year now. Is that right?

Jade: Yes.

Lux: OK, so looking back over the past couple of years…or you’re starting your first year, so the past year, what do you feel like you are most proud of from your time in higher ed so far?

Jade: I think community engagement. Honestly, I think that’s probably my most proud achievement…I feel like I’ve always been in the academic side of things so I wasn’t able to always fully engage with my community. I always did folkloric dancing, I think I mentioned before, so I taught kids folkloric dancing just for fun. And so we would present all around Utah County dances during Hispanic Heritage Month so starting now to November. And so, yeah, I’d work with the team and we’d make shows. I’d coordinate with people from different countries to buy me costumes and then export them to me. So I have a bunch of suitcases full with costumes for my kids…But with college, like I always thought that wasn’t going to be possible. So I kind of stopped that. I was very much more limited than I used to be able to until I got into the Bennion Center by accident. I learned about community partner programs. And yeah, so I started volunteering for an STD clinic. And I started tabling with them and then went to Pride together. It was just so much fun. And just being involved with that was a lot of fun. And through Utah Reads as well, I’m able to get involved with a lot of like Hispanic community with Title One schools, which is awesome. So like just a couple of weeks ago, I did a carnival with them. I volunteered to do a carnival with them. So I just love being around my people. And so I think that’s always so nice to go back to that. Through that, through the Bennion Center, they offered me, “Okay, you should apply for Utah Serves.” I’ve never heard of it, but I applied for it anyway because I was like, “Oh, like it must be a cool opportunity.” And so I got into it, and they kind of explained like, “Oh, you’re going to do a capstone project.” I’m like, what does that even mean? Like what? But yeah. And so now I’m starting to get my project up and going. So they’re giving me a small grant to help a community. And yeah, right now I’m figuring out what I should do. Maybe I’ll go back with my students, or maybe I’ll end up in health care. We’ll see what happens with that. But yeah, I don’t know. I think involving myself a lot with the community, yeah, it’s probably one of my greatest achievements so far throughout higher education. Saying that it’s not just about educating yourself, but educating other people, but also still maintaining that community and doing service for others.

Lux: I love that. Congratulations, by the way.

Jade: Thank you.

Lux: That’s such a huge accomplishment.

Jimena: Yeah, congrats. That’s amazing.

Jade: Thank you.

Lux: So to wrap up, I have one last question for you. Unless you’ve got one, Jimena, that you want to…

Jimena: No

Lux: So thinking about the folks who are in high school right now, who are thinking about being the first in their families to go to college or future first-gen students, what kind of advice would you have for them?

Jade: I guess learning how to research your resources and learning how to time-manage. And you don’t necessarily have to have a path already paved out, but always involving service while you’re pursuing higher education. I think I learned a lot more while I was doing community service. So I think, yeah, probably learning how to research by just questioning everything and everyone because there’s no dumb question. Like I don’t know. Going back to my PI, I didn’t know what a PhD was. I didn’t even know that was a thing. I talked to her and I was like, what is a PhD? I thought master’s was the highest you could get. It’s like “master.” That sounds big. Right. And so when I’m like, oh, doctor of philosophy of English or I don’t know, chemistry, for example.nI was always kind of confused with those little letters at the end. So I asked her, like, “What is that PhD in the back of your name?” She kind of explained to me and explained to me the process of a PhD. And so I’m like, “Oh, that kind of sounds like something I want to do.” So it’s just…I don’t know. I think, yeah, probably just questioning everything, learning how to research everything, and just always maintaining some sort of community, whether that be service or just within your little community.

Lux: That is really beautiful. Thank you for talking with us.

Jade: Thank you!

Lux: This has been so great.