My name is Jessica Gomez and I am a PA-S1 at University of California, Davis. I thought I would share a couple of barriers that I have overcome as a first generation student! I hope that this blog post inspires you to overcome any obstacles you face in life.
As the daughter of immigrants, I have faced several unique challenges that directly shaped my life due to the cultural hardships my family has had to overcome. For example, as a child, I was my parent’s linguistic and cultural mediator. This increased level of responsibility helped me enhance my interpersonal skills and understand the feeling of fulfillment one attains from helping others.
Being a first-generation college student is an honor and a privilege that my parents did not have. Throughout this experience, I could not turn to my parents for advice on my college applications, scholarships, or ask them for help in selecting a major.
Therefore, I struggled academically during my first year of undergrad education.
However, my parents instilled in me a hardworking diligent attitude! So, through hard work and perseverance I was able to overcome my failures. I can’t tell you how many hours I spent studying in my undergrad years to improve my GPA and taking advantage of every opportunity (volunteering, shadowing, and working as a scribe) to assure that I would reach my goal to become a PA.
No matter what your obstacles are keep at it! I deeply believe that we can achieve anything we MANIFEST in this world!
