ABOUT US

     Many people take an education for granted, but when someone comes from a background where due to circumstances and/or beliefs, an education was not seen or given as an option, one learns to value and treasure that opportunity once it is given. My background, my parents' teachings, and life’s vision were my inspiration for starting the Rocha Dream Foundation and launching the Arnulfo & Jovita Rocha Scholar Award. I want to ensure that others, like myself, don't have to go through the many obstacles I have had to overcome to reach my dream of obtaining a college education. Through this award I want to honor my parents for their years of hard work and sacrifice so that I and my brothers could have a better life; and for the gratitude that I have towards my father for allowing me to go to college as it changed my life and the future trajectory of my children’s lives and the opportunities that they have had. This will have a lasting impact on generations to come. 

     My parents came to this county in search of a better life and to be able to offer their family more opportunities than the ones they had. Both of my parents worked in the agricultural fields most of their lives, working 12-14 hours a day, and my father sometimes even longer hours. Generation after generation, this had been the cycle of survival.  

     I was born in Michoacan, Mexico, and have been living in the U.S. since the age of 2. I come from a migrant, farmworking family and was the first one from my immediate and extended family to graduate from high school and attend a four-year university. I grew up in an environment where there were no expectations to pursue an education beyond elementary school as teenagers needed to work to help their family financially. For females the expectation was for them to get married and have children at a young age. Although as a child I didn’t have any goals of attending college, I knew that I didn’t want to continue this cycle and that I wanted something different. Even though I didn’t have any role models who portrayed what I was searching for, I knew that an education would offer me the key to a different world…that of having more opportunities. Despite being on track with my A-G college prep courses, taking honors courses, being a leader in high school, and having a GPA above 3.6, my counselor never spoke with me about going to college. My greatest aspiration during high school was becoming a secretary, cashier, or clerk as I grew up seeing only people like me in these types of positions. Thus, I thought that this was all I could become. I saw attending a four-year university as an unattainable dream. I thought that only the rich went to college. I was very fortunate that by my senior year, I was exposed to a new option, that of attending a four-year university. It was then, when I decided to apply to college and attend the University of California at Santa Cruz. 

     Coming from a very traditional Mexican family, being the oldest and only female, and not knowing anyone who had gone to college, letting me go to college was a very difficult decision for my parents. Additionally, not having a single family member or acquaintances telling them to let me go to college, made it even harder. My father, when he decided to let me go to college, didn’t realize that his decision was going to change not only my life but also the lives of my brothers, their grandchildren, our extended families (who followed in my footsteps) and many other people’s lives forever. 

     By pursuing a path that had been traveled by few and that many considered “unattainable”, I was able to demonstrate that there existed a new path in life aside from hard physical labor. After overcoming many obstacles, I have realized that there are no limits to achieving success, only those that you set for yourself. If a person believes in themselves and works hard to achieve their dreams, everything is possible. My father taught me to work hard for what I wanted and to never give up. My mother taught me to always challenge myself to the fullest and to strive for the best. Wherever I go, I live up to these teachings because this is what has helped me achieve success educationally and professionally. Through these efforts, we hope to change a student’s future, the trajectory of their family’s lives and that of future generations as we believe obtaining a college education will help make that happen. I have seen this in my own life, that of my children’s, and my immediate and extended families’ lives.

Maria Rocha-Ruiz, Founder