I have and will continue to disprove the stereotype

My name is Larissa Molina and I’m a senior here at SPU. I’m originally from Guatemala, and I moved to the U.S. around the age of four. My story begins with my grandmother who moved to the U.S. after her husband left her and her children in order to provide for them. She sacrificed raising her kids in order to give them a better life, however it left my mother, the oldest of the children to raise herself and her siblings. Eventually my mother and her siblings ended up moving to the U.S. and got her papers, while my father still lived in Guatemala. I was shuttled back and forth between Guatemala and the U.S. for about five years while my parents were separated because of documentation limitations. Eventually though, our family became whole and has remained whole since then.

Growing up, I recognized that I didn’t look like the stereotypical American girl. I have a darker complexion, I come from a different culture, and my first language is Spanish, amongst other differences. Over time, I recognized more and more that the “immigrant” stereotype was assigned to me, and I couldn’t escape the consequences of it. The event that shaped how I viewed myself was when I was in high school at a parent/teacher conference with my mom. The teacher sat us down and asked about what my future looked like. I told him that I was going to graduate high school and attend a four year university at the very least… and he just looked at me, clearly surprised, and laughed. He oozed skepticism and blatantly told me that we couldn’t afford it, that even with scholarships I couldn’t do it because I wasn’t smart enough, and that I was better off going to a community college. This experience changed my perception of “success” and what it means/looks like to be successful. I started to believe the stereotypes attached to my ethnicity, and believed that the only thing I could do to others believe that I could be successful was to white-wash myself. I put away and tried to hide all of my Hispanic heritage. I started only hanging out with white friends, I dressed differently, refused to speak Spanish and put on this facade that I thought would make myself appear more successful in society’s eyes. I wanted to do everything I could to prove that teacher wrong, and I did.

I am a first generation college student. I will be graduating from a four year university this year. I will be attending graduate school to become a child psychologist for children living in lower SES areas, and I already have experience doing research with children who have autism and other mental disorders. I have and will continue to disprove the stereotype that, that teacher attached to me, but I’ve come to realize that I don’t need to deny who I am in order to do that. Coming to college, I am learning to embrace my heritage and culture. It’s a process trying to undo all of the behaviors and perceptions that I have been taught and practiced in my life. I used to believe that because I was an immigrant nobody would believe that I could be successful. Now, I believe that you can be successful so long as you believe that you can be, and as long as you work hard for it; I hope that in the future I can inspire children to embrace their identity and their heritage and know that they can still succeed despite the persistent stereotypes.