Edgar O. Luna Assignment S Page

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Student Story

Four years ago, Ismael Gonzalez’s future did not seem very promising. His dream was to attend the University of Texas at El Paso, one of the most recognized engineering universities in the nation. He had graduated from high school in Juarez and had been admitted to the Tecnologico de Ciudad Juarez to study Computer Science. The economical hardship at his native city compelled him to work at different places in order to earn his tuition.

His willingness to succeed was never diminished by adversity. Even though his school grades were outstanding, it was difficult for him to have enough time to study and prepare for classes due to his rigid work schedule. Few hours of sleep characterized Ismael’s efforts to achieve his goal, get a bachelor in Computer Science. All of the sudden, his life made a dramatic twist. His family was forced to migrate to El Paso, Texas due to the financial difficulties faced in Juarez. Ismael accepted his family decision maturely even though he knew he was leaving everything behind and probably giving up his goal. Once settled in El Paso, Ismael found it difficult to adapt to a new city, a new culture, a new language and a new way of living. Despite these obstacles, Ismael had only one thing in mind, to finish his Computer Science degree he had started in Juarez. He was aware that he had to start from the bottom and work his way up in order to accomplish his goal. Ismael did not know, understand or talk any word in English which make the adaptation process even harder. He decided to enroll at Community College to learn English, however, there were times when he would frustrate himself and wanted to drop off from school and get a minimal wage job. There were even times when Ismael wanted to go back to Juarez and continue with his normal life. However, thanks to his strong family support and his determination to succeed in life, Ismael decided to go on with his new lifestyle in pursue of his goal.

Patiently, Ismael was able to learn the language and soon was able to get involved in new activities integrating himself into society. Eventually, Ismael started to feel comfortable speaking, writing and understanding English and decided to take his basics at Community College. Most of the classes that he had taken at Juarez were not validated at Community College meaning that he had to start all over from scratch. This was not an impediment to Ismael by now and became very motivated to take this opportunity as a mean to achieve his most desired goal. One of his advisor suggested Ismael to transfer to UTEP in order for him to accomplish his academic goal of finishing his Computer Science bachelor. Transferring to UTEP was not only an achievement for Ismael but it was also a dream that came true. He always dreamed to be part of the UTEP community and get a bachelor from one of the best engineering universities in the country.

On Fall of 2001, Ismael began his exciting career at UTEP. The faculty and staff were always ready to lend a hand to Ismael and he felt at home since day one. He felt comfortable at UTEP since this university is a multicultural school where he was able to interact with other people from his same cultural background as well as other people from different cultures. Thanks to the help of the Computer Science faculty, Ismael has been able to continue his successful, motivating and inspiring story as a proud UTEP miner. Ismael finally achieved his goal when he graduated from Computer Science on the Spring of 2004. Ismael is now a Computer Science graduate student starting his masters on Computer Science and is looking forward to graduate next year from one of the most prestigious engineering institutions on the United States. He also now works for the UTEP Information Technology Department and is one of the most talented individual on his department. This is one of the many inspiring stories that can be found at UTEP, only people who are willing to succeed and live their dream, just like Ismael did.

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