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American Dream can be elusive

April 30, 2008

A big part of the American Dream is access to higher education leading to greater opportunity in life. Many leave their homes and come to the United States in search of this opportunity.

But language and cultural barriers, along with unfamiliarity with the system, can make that dream elusive.

Here’s one Incline High School girl’s story:

By Karen Duran

”What are you going to do after high school ends?” It’s a question often asked. Well, for me the answer for that question is, “I’m going to college.”

My junior year, I finally realized that I had to start thinking about my future. As my senior year rolled around, I was thinking this is going to be a breeze.

I figured out later that it was going to be a category 5 hurricane.

Applying to college was where everything started. I didn’t know what to do.

It was a new thing for me. My parents could not help me in the process because it was new to them too. I did not know where to even begin.

I called the only person who I thought could help me and that was Katie. Katie was like a mentor to me. I had participated in a leadership program that she had created. It had been about two or three years since I had participated in the program, but we had stayed in touch. Katie save me from the confusion I was in.

Katie ended up telling me about Emily. Emily was the college master. She knew where to start applying for college and how to write a good essay.

Emily taught not just me but my parents about applying to and paying for college. Coming from a hurricane to a calm, sunny day of now having more knowledge of what to do.

Related posts: [ Telling their own stories ] [ Student overcomes obstacles to go to college ] [ Freshman sets sights on graduation ] [ Site set up to encourage Hispanic participation ] [ Talking about immigration ] 

Written by Teri Vance · Filed Under Voices 

Comments

One Response to “American Dream can be elusive”

  1. Dina Ross on July 17th, 2008 4:04 pm

    This is not a comment about immigration, Latinos or anything controversial. I am a teacher and this is an assignment. Please respond only if you are willing to share.

    I wonder how many people of other nationalities are attending University of Nevada at Reno. This is an assignment for the Reynolds School of Journalism. Please let me know if you are either an international student or faculty…. or anything else.

    FYI: I am attending a summer institute with ASNE (American Society of Newspaper Editors) at UNR. Thank you for your input.

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