Determined high school student helping others in Modesto make college dream come true

Damaris Esquivel has a lot of obstacles in her path to college, but she’s determined.

Her family came from Mexico to the United States when she was 6 months old. They entered the country illegally in their search for a better life.

Esquivel is 17 years old now and a senior at Enochs High School in Modesto. She’s applied to 31 universities, including Ivy League schools such as Yale.

But paying for college is going to be a tough task for Esquivel, especially since some states would require her to pay the same tuition as an international student because she doesn’t have legal resident status. She also doesn’t qualify for federal financial aid.

But she hasn’t let these obstacles deter her planning. She’s applying for a federal program that will help avoid deportation.

Esquivel calls herself a “Dreamer,” a reference to the California Dream Act, which allows undocumented students who meet certain requirements to receive private scholarships funded through public universities, state-administered financial aid, university grants, community college fee waivers and Cal Grants.

And she wants other students like her to know help is out there to make their college dreams a reality. She took the lead in organizing the Dare to Dream Conference at Modesto High School last week, where students dreaming of a college education could get the help they need.

Q. Can you tell us what the college application process has been like for you, and how your personal experience might be different from other prospective college students?

A. It has been difficult. A lot of people are impressed by the fact that I applied to 31 universities, but it is not a luxury, rather a necessity. I do not qualify for (federal financial aid), or any federal help for that matter, and even some scholarships that require a Social Security number. Even in the most progressive state in the U.S., there is still a substantial amount of universities and colleges alike that are not “Dreamer”-friendly – meaning that they treat you as an international student and either require you to pay international fees, or have an extremely limited budget with which to grant financial aid. My college application phase notably differs from a naturalized student. They apply to federal financial aid; I apply to the Dream Act. As a whole, we simply do not have equal opportunities when applying to colleges, from the government or from the schools.

Q. Which colleges would be at the top of your list if you could choose any one of them?

A. My top five schools would be Princeton, Yale, American University, Pepperdine and Cornell, because they all have amazing political science majors, but mainly because they are all Dreamer-friendly. I would choose Princeton because Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is probably my greatest source of inspiration. I have read both her books four or five times, and the way she described Princeton motivated me to want to go there. I would love to go to Yale because it is an amazing school, and my interview with Yale confirmed that. I would love to go to American University, because it is in Washington, D.C., the heart of everything, and also because they have a one-of-a-kind major called Communications Law Economics and Government. I would love to go to Cornell, because they are a school that also has a major focus on government and policy. As for Pepperdine, my life revolves around God. Everything I say, speak or do, I want it to reflect God, and I believe that on top of it being an excellent school in which I can prosper academically and spiritually.

Q. How will state laws affect which college you decide to attend?

A. Thankfully, I live in California, which has the most opportunities available to us. However, it has worried me about the state laws in all of the East Coast schools I have applied to and the ones in New Jersey, Colorado, Oklahoma and Massachusetts.

Q. You don’t seem to lack energy or optimism when it comes to working toward college. Why is that, and have there been certain people who helped you develop this positive attitude?

A. My parents have ingrained in me to always do my best in everything I do, to do everything with excellence, never mediocrity. I am competitive by nature, but my parents have helped me direct my competitiveness to positive, constructive items.

Q. What would you like to study in college and what career are you considering once you graduate?

A. I would like to double-major in political science and pre-law. I am planning to go to law school after I graduate. I also want to become an immigration attorney, and then become a local judge. My all-time aspiration is to become a U.S. Supreme Court justice.

Q. Can you tell us about your volunteer work with Congregations Building Community so far and your upcoming internship with the grass-roots organization that has pushed for immigration reform?

A. I just recently started volunteering for CBC, and I love it. When I first mentioned the conference to Homero Mejia, the help I received from him was overwhelming. He and his staff, especially his communication and data manager Victoria Romo, were incredibly willing to help me in every aspect. Where it not for CBC, this (Dare to Dream) conference would have never happened. Although many Latino community leaders commit to helping the younger generation, CBC has truly put their philosophy into action by being my lead supporter and planting a seed in our future generation.

Q. What did you hope the Dare to Dream Conference could provide other college-bound students who were brought by their families into this country illegally as small children?

A. Even though I know that not too many people agree with immigration and that it is a touchy subject, I decided to focus my project on Dreamers, even though I was advised not to. Since I am a Dreamer, I feel very passionate about this topic. My desired objective is to bring discouraged students who are Dreamers and all the resources that are already available together in one place. This is all in hopes of furthering the educational pipeline and having more Latino high school graduates and college students. This conference offered information about scholarships, internships, college loans and federal programs to avoid deportation – things that I wish I could have stumbled upon early in high school.

This story was originally published January 25, 2015 at 8:33 PM with the headline "Determined high school student helping others in Modesto make college dream come true."