Summer melts immigrant students’ college plans

Diana Martinez looked at the large brown envelope; her hand was shaking. The return address was from the admissions office of a university, her first-choice college. She was afraid to open it. Was she accepted?

Diana is an immigrant student who has lived in California for 15 years since she was two years old. Her family life is like many immigrant families: Her mother stays home and takes care of the family; her father holds two jobs, working at a restaurant during the week and at a bakery on the weekends and evenings. She and her younger brother are hard-working students who bring home A’s and B’s; Diana’s high school GPA is 3.5. Growing up in the U.S., Diana and her brother have assimilated into American society. Diana was a Girl Scout who sold many boxes of cookies and she volunteers for an organization devoted to creating safe neighborhoods; her brother is a Boy Scout. They are bilingual. Their parents know their children must have exceptional English skills to be successful, but they speak Spanish at home because they also want Diana and her brother to keep up their native language.

When Diana turned 16, she wanted to apply for a job so she could earn money for college.  But, when she asked her mother for her Social Security card, her mother turned and walked away without saying a word.