A Dream Deserved
Printer-friendly version
First in family to attend high school, college
A college degree, a design career,
possibly graduate school. When Gerardo Rodriguez ’06
was seventeen, these were just dreams. Thanks to a teacher,
and scholarships funded by private gifts, today they are
realities.
The first in his family to graduate from elementary school,
high school, and college, Rodriguez is the son of Mexican
immigrants who moved to Hermiston, Oregon, in 1993. This
spring, he graduated with a B.F.A. in digital arts—and
an impressive resumé. While at the university,
he made the Dean’s List three times, got involved
with student groups, and volunteered with youth organizations.
‘Somebody reached out to me’
Rodriguez is working as a web designer, something he couldn’t
have imagined back at Hermiston High. “I didn’t
know what happens after high school,” Rodriguez
remembers thinking. “Do I get a job? I didn’t
know. There was no one in my immediate family that I could
ask ‘How does this all work?’ But somebody
reached out to me.”
That somebody was art teacher Pam Hefner, who helped Rodriguez
with his admissions portfolio and encouraged him to talk
about college with his counselor. Most importantly, she
planted a seed by asking him what he really wanted to
do after high school.
“She’s such a great person,” says Rodriguez.
“I started thinking ‘College might be a reality?
For me?’ I was lucky to have teachers that were
keeping an eye on me and realizing ‘He’s got
some potential.’” As valedictorian (4.0 GPA)
and cocaptain of his soccer team, Rodriguez certainly
had potential. But college also takes money.
Scholarships made it possible
“Without scholarships, I don’t think I would
have been able to do it,” says Rodriguez. “I
could only depend on my parents so much. They didn’t
have the financial ability to get me through college.”
Rodriguez received a dean’s scholarship, a diversity
building scholarship, and an Erickson Scholarship, among
others.
He still remembers receiving his award letter for his
biggest scholarship. “I read it and I thought ‘Is
this for real? I better not have just read that wrong!’
I folded it up, put it back in the envelope, set it on
the table, and walked away. I didn’t want to be
imagining things. So I came back a couple minutes later
and read it again. It made me realize ‘Oh my goodness,
I am going to college!’”
The value of a diploma
What is a college education worth? “For me,”
says Rodriguez, “and someone from my family who
has never experienced anything past middle school? It’s
huge. It’s a milestone that’s never been accomplished
before. It’s a realization that ‘You know
what? We’ve done something right.’”
Rodriguez credits his success to a strong work ethic,
something he learned from his parents. His dad works for
a manufactured home company and his mother for a produce
packaging plant.
“My parents are doing work that is hard. A lot of
people probably wouldn’t want to do it. But I’ve
learned so much from them because they’ve never
given up. It didn’t matter what the job was or what
time of day it was. They’ve given their all just
so that me and my sisters can have food on the table and
clothes on our backs. I’ve learned so much from
them. I can’t take for granted what’s been
given to me. I’ve got to give it my all.”
“I just can’t be thankful enough to everyone
who gives money for those scholarships,” says Rodriguez.
“It allows the dreams and the goals of people like
me, who never even thought of themselves as being able
to go to college, to become a reality. It changes the
way you look at the world.”
–Ed Dorsch
