Dr. Mildred García- President, California State University Fullerton
Advice:
The best advice I can give originated with my mother. A Puerto Rican factory worker who came to Brooklyn with my father to raise her growing family, she was both a picture of class and a model of toughness. Against all odds, after my father’s death when I was 12, she somehow became even tougher, working day and night to give me and my six brothers and sisters an opportunity for the quality education that she and my father never had. “Education,” she’d often say, “is the only inheritance a poor family can leave their children.”
Growing up with such a strong Latina role model, it is no wonder that when presented with adversity, my knee-jerk reaction was to dig in my heels and fight – often metaphorically but, unfortunately in one case, literally. My youngest brother was being bullied in the neighborhood, and when I found out who the culprit was, I promptly marched over and beat him up. As proud as I was that I stuck up for my brother, when I got home, I quickly learned that my mother was less impressed. “Girls don’t fight,” she said, shooting me a devastating look.
Lying in bed that night, the sting of her disappointment gave way to a moment of clarity: My mother, who had been fighting for me her entire life, wasn’t telling me not to fight, she was telling me not to fight with my fists – she knew I was developing something far more powerful with which to battle: my education.
Today, I lead a University with a strong history of espousing that same message, as evidenced by its ranking as first in California and 10th in the nation in bachelor’s degrees earned by women. And I am so very proud that our strong, educated women graduates continue to fight for social change as leaders in their careers and communities – not with their fists, but with the power of a quality higher education.
So listen to your mothers, dream big, and be tenacious in achieving your academic goals. Believe me, it’s worth the fight, it will forever change your life, and Mom will be proud.