Luis Moreno and Cruz Ríos
Seeing that your success in college is possible: At StoryCorps, Paraguayan Luis Moreno and his mentor, Cruz Ríos of south Texas, share stories about their backgrounds and experiences as first-generation students at Texas A&M.
- [Luis] I come from a family where we don't have a lot. Our financial background isn't extensive. Both of my parents immigrated from Paraguay, and they didn't have much growing up, and they wanted to give us a better life. Now here at Texas A&M, as a first generation college student, I've been able to see that success is possible.
- [Cruz] I come from South Texas, the border area, the Valley, as we call it, over there. I didn't feel different, I felt like everybody else. And I moved here, and that's the first time I've ever felt like a minority. I didn't have a strong sense of what diversity was like, or what moments of insensitivity were like. I didn't experience those things, so I didn't know they even existed. As weird as it sounds, I didn't know that racism existed. But I really had a sense of how that operated when I moved to this area. And there was times when I first moved here that I was mostly hiding my Mexican American identity, but I felt like an other, so I didn't share that. I work in multicultural services, so most of the work that I do is with Latino students, but also just students of color in general. And I soon realized in the work that I do, especially working with Latino students, that I would lose opportunities for people to see me for who I am. So authenticity, that is one big thing that I've learned, that I need to be me.
- [Luis] My freshman year, I got an opportunity to just kind of walk around the Memorial Student Center. And I noticed that there was some Spanish music being played in the background. I was like, that sounds very familiar, I kinda grew up around that. I decided to kinda just check it out and the first booth I see is two guys from the Latino Males United group and they're like, "Oh, this is Cruz, this our advisor." And I got to shake your hand and talk to you a little bit, but I remember that first interaction was definitely important for me. Because I didn't initially think I was gonna find people that look like me here on campus. And it was really cool to see that there were groups that either identified as I did or did things that I also like to do. I was pretty surprised but also very thankful, because I saw an opportunity to join a group where I could be around other Latino men that also aspire to do greater things.
- [Cruz] Through the years I've really seen you mature. You're really knowledgeable, caring, loving and you really care about community but you do care about humanity as a whole and I'm really happy about that.
- [Luis] There's been times where I've needed somebody that's older that I can reach out to. There's been emotion, there's stress at times, there's been tons of excitement and I've been able to just kinda bring all of that to you, and you've been open to receive that. And so I'm very thankful for that. I'm definitely a better person because of this program. I'm definitely a better man because of this program. And so I'm definitely thankful for that Cruz and I just gotta give you that shout out.
- [Cruz] Yeah.
- [Luis] You did a good job so I can agree.
- [Cruz] No, I appreciate that.
- [Luis] What would you advise first generation students here at Texas A&M University?
- [Cruz] Students being involved is very important. I hear students talking in some focus groups were like, man my first year I felt alone. They could go home, but they didn't understand what I was going through. And sometimes they didn't wanna worry their parents, because they didn't wanna add extra stress. So finding your community is very important. Every student has that transition period. Sometimes it looks different for a first generation, just because they don't know the ins and outs of the university. But I feel like the more they can put themselves out there will be important.
- [Luis] First generation college students make a difference and it's because you are setting the trajectory for your family. Future generations will benefit from your hard work and your persistence, because of the step you took to get a college education.