A brilliant young girl named Elizabeth Esteban has been awarded a full ride scholarship to study for her bachelors degree at the prestigious Harvard University, Massachusetts in the United States.
Elizabeth is a student from Coachella Valley and the daughter of Mexican immigrants. She defied the odds after being accepted into the Ivy League School, Harvard University.
She stated that acceptance is a dream come true for her as it is a dream that many young Latinos aspire to achieve and not only did was she accepted, she also won a full-ride scholarship to the university.
“No one in this community has been able to accomplish this and I feel very proud and very thankful and very happy because no one here thinks someone from here can accomplish something like this,” she said.
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Elizabeth mentioned that she lived in a mobile home in the Coachella Valley and her parents are indigenous people in Mexico who work in the agriculture fields. She said despite her parents having little resources, they have fought to give her and her siblings a better life.
“Yes, it was worth it because my daughter now has accomplished what she always wanted, her dream of an education and now with more reason, I am very proud that she is completing her goals,” Elizabeth’s mother said.
She said the fear of being a low-income student almost caused her to not apply to the university because according to Harvard’s most recent data, 40% of students accepted are white and only 5% are Latinos.
“Well, at first, I was not going to apply to Harvard because I didn’t feel like my accomplishments earned me the right to attend such a prestigious university,” she said.
However, being a member of a low-income family was not her only obstacle. She added that her high school was forced to close due to the pandemic which created another roadblock in her learning.
”I am one of the students that also has problems with the internet because I use the internet that was given to us by the district,” Esteban said.
She mentioned that because of the low connectivity in the rural area that she lives in, she missed some of her admissions interviews with Harvard. But fortunately, through it all, her hard work paid off.
“But after, I thought about myself and how I needed to keep fighting and the pandemic was another obstacle I needed to overcome,” she said.
Elizabeth said she is proud and excited about her achievement noting that despite coming from a group that believes women should only be stay-at-home mothers, she worked hard to overcome cultural norms and pursue higher education.
“I felt proud and excited, every sort of emotion, because I never would have believed that a person like me would be accepted to a prestigious university,” Elizabeth said.
“I’m part of an indigenous group that feels that women should…be the stereotypical stay-at-home mother. I just wanted to break those barriers,” she added.
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