What Being a First Gen Latina Taught Me About Living

Graduation season is my favorite time of year. Not because of the ceremonies or the caps and gowns, but because it means another round of first gen students is stepping into something most of our families could never have mapped out for us. I get genuinely excited every single time.

I graduated high school ten years ago and college six years ago. I am 28 now and I am still figuring things out. Still learning. Still in awe, honestly, of how different my life looks from the one I thought I was heading toward. And every graduation season I sit with that for a minute, because being a first gen Latina is not something that ends when you walk across a stage. It is something that reshapes the way you see everything, for the rest of your life.

My Mom Woke Up Before the Sun So I Could Have a Life She Never Got to Imagine

I asked my mom recently what the hardest part of raising kids was. She said: supporting them. She said it simply, the way she says most things. She worked from five or six in the morning until eleven or midnight. During the week she cleaned houses, which is physically brutal work. On weekends, when most people rest, she baked cakes for 12 to 14 hours straight.

On special occasions, like a graduation, she would wake up even earlier, finish as many cakes as she could, and then give herself three or four hours at the end of the day to show up. To be there. That was the deal she made with herself, over and over again.

Today my mom cannot work. Her body gave out from the years of physical strain. And that is what I knew life to be, growing up. You work as hard as you can so you can survive. You put food on the table, you keep the lights on, and if you are lucky you catch a few hours for the big moments.

When I look at my life right now, it is completely unrecognizable to the 18-year-old version of me. And I owe a lot of that to college.

College Did Not Just Give Me a Degree. It Changed What I Thought Was Possible.

For first gen students, going to college is not just about getting a diploma. It is about fundamentally redefining what success looks like for an entire family. It changed the way I saw life and the way I thought about living it.

The education I got gave me access to opportunities, resources, and eventually, time. Time to stop living to survive and start chasing the best version of my life. I can invest in myself now. I can think about my health, my happiness, my future. And the best part is that every step of the way, I get to bring my family with me.

In college I discovered the concept of mental health. With the resources available at my school, I was diagnosed with depression and ADHD and finally got the tools to treat both. The greatest gift of that was being able to share it with my family, who had been struggling with the same things their entire lives without knowing there was a name for any of it, or that help existed. Several of my family members have since sought support. They are living happier, healthier lives because of it.

The Coaster From Portugal. The Chopsticks. The Little Things That Changed Everything.

There is a coaster on my desk that I brought back from Portugal. Every day I look at it and it reminds me that I now live a life where I can not only imagine a big world but actually go out and see it. I learned Portuguese in college. I can communicate with a whole other corner of the world because of that.

Every trip I take, every culture I get to learn, I bring back to my family. Last year I went to Mexico and although my mom grew up there, I was able to take her to parts of the country she had never seen. She experienced her own home in a completely different way. That was priceless in a way I do not have words for.

But it does not have to be a grand trip to feel the weight of it. Last summer my dad visited me in New York for the first time. I took him to my favorite Szechuan restaurant. I was excited to show him something new, but halfway through dinner it hit me: ten years ago, I did not know how to use chopsticks. I learned in college. I tried Szechuan food, Thai food, Indian food all for the first time in college. These are mundane things for me now. Completely normal. And that is exactly what makes them extraordinary when I stop to think about it.

The first gen Latina experience is a gift that keeps giving, long after you have the degree.

I Am 28 and I Am Still Learning. That Is the Whole Point.

I am still building my confidence. I am still learning new things about my parents' experiences, about the world, about myself. I learned how to do my makeup for the first time recently. I am learning how to swim. Every month it feels like I discover a new industry, a new career path, something I had never considered before.

There are so many things I did not get to experience as a kid that I am still catching up on now, and I have stopped framing that as a deficit. It is just more living ahead of me. More table to sit at.

So if you are a first gen student graduating high school right now and getting ready for college, or if you just finished and you are stepping into your career: congratulations. You might be the first in your family. But you are not alone. There is an entire community of first gen graduates who are rooting for you, every single step of the way.

I am proud of you. And as you step into this next chapter, I hope you carry everything you come from with you. Honor it. It is the best part of who you are.