For sisters Liz and Pamela Juarez, college education is all in the family — but it was never anything they took for granted. Only 15 and 11 when their family moved to the U.S. from Guatemala in the year 2000, neither spoke a word of English when they entered Texas public schools.
“It was so hard at first,” says Pamela, the younger sister. “I really struggled — and I cried a lot. But I had to learn English to be able to succeed in school.”
“I knew I would need to get a college education,” adds Liz. “It was important to take advantage of every opportunity we had here in the U.S. It’s hard going to college, but I knew it would be worth it to have the opportunities it would create for my future.”
Their parents were supportive of the girls’ college goals, but with two other children at home, were limited in their financial ability to pay for them. Liz took matters into her own hands by securing a LeCroy Scholarship, a DCCCD Foundation award that recognizes both leadership and scholarship and provides mentoring in addition to college funds.
“I had always been good in science and math, so I started thinking about a medically related career,” says Liz. “I was researching the community colleges and saw that El Centro had a two-year program that would let you earn your associate degree and become a registered nurse at the end.
“All of the professors in the Nursing program have been teaching for a long time, and they pretty much know all there is about nursing. They also taught us how to be disciplined — which you have to be as a nurse to provide the best care for your patients.” After earning her associate degree in nursing at El Centro College, today Liz is a registered nurse on a surgical floor at Baylor University Medical Center.
“I think I was a good influence on my sister to choose community college,” Liz says of Pamela. “I told her it’s an affordable way to get started on a college degree. Starting in community college saves you both time and money, and gives you a great opportunity to go right to work.”
“I knew I wanted to earn a college degree,” adds Pamela, “but going to a four-year university was just too expensive. I had seen my older sister do well at community college, so I wanted to follow in her footsteps.” Pamela was also selected as a LeCroy Scholar, and began taking classes at Brookhaven College before transferring to Eastfield College’s Criminal Justice program in fall 2008.
“One big advantage about DCCCD is that all of its colleges are linked together, so you don’t lose credits if you transfer from one to another,” says Pamela. “There are so many locations where you can get your degree even if you take one class here, two classes there and another class online. You don’t lose time, money or credits.”
The two sisters aren’t through with their educational goals by a long shot. Liz plans to earn a bachelor’s degree in nursing and dreams of becoming a nurse practitioner. Pamela wants to finish her associate degree in criminal justice and one day become an attorney.
Both recognize that their bilingual abilities will be an asset in their chosen fields — Liz as she works with Spanish-speaking patients and their families at the hospital and Pamela as she dreams about working in family or immigration law.
Without opportunity and the hard work to make the most of it, though, a college education would have never have been possible for either of them.
For Liz and Pamela Juarez, it all began here.