Migrant Workers’ Children Leave Fields for University

An independent sort, Hilda Tapia lied about her age when she was 12 so she could get a summer job harvesting squash.

“I had to say I was 16 years old,” Tapia said. “My parents have the bills at home, and I really prefer earning my own money.”

The following summer Hilda was out in the fields planting watermelon seed. Then for two summers, she donned a hair net, tied a kerchief over the lower half of her face and gathered grapes.

Now an incoming freshman at UC San Diego, Tapia, 17, is glad that with the help of the federally-financed College Assistant Migrant Program (CAMP), she has left her hometown of Brawley in Imperial Valley behind her.

“When I heard about this CAMP program I thought, ‘Here’s my opportunity,’ ” she said. “Without college, there is just no way to get ahead.”

Fifteen Imperial Valley students are attending UCSD with the help of CAMP, a program designed to encourage students who have farm-labor backgrounds to attend universities. CAMP, which operates in six states where there is a high percentage of migrant workers, has had a program in Fresno for several years. The program is in its first year at UCSD.

CAMP works as a liaison between the university and the Imperial Valley students, Gomez said. CAMP encourages the students to attend UCSD and then makes sure they complete the application process.

Ophelia Gomez, the program’s coordinator, said she also has persuaded UCSD admissions to accept some students even if they are missing a few college preparatory courses.

To qualify for CAMP, a student or a student’s parent must have worked as a farm laborer for at least 75 days in the last two years. Students entering UCSD must also meet the school’s entrance requirements, which include graduating from high school with a “B” average.

Dario Gavilan, 18, barely caught the bus that transported CAMP participants from the Imperial Valley to UCSD. Gavilan was driving home from his grape-picking job in Fresno just a few hours before the CAMP bus left El Centro at 5:30 a.m. Friday.

“I was helping my dad and mom find a job, because we haven’t been working for the last few weeks,” he said. “My dad’s still in Fresno, where he’s trying to find work.”

Born in Lima, Peru, Gavilan has lived the last four years in Holtville. The eldest of six, he is the first in his family to attend college. “My father wanted to bring me (to the United States) to see if I liked it over here. He has always told me the educational system was better than in my country.”

Dina Hernandez said her family spent one summer month picking grapes in Coachella, 85 miles northwest of her home in Brawley. The family made the four-hour round-trip every day, she said. “It feels good to be here,” Hernandez, 18, said. “My parents didn’t even get to graduate from high school. They had to work.”

Many of the CAMP participants are the first in their families to go to college, Fernando Esperanza, the program’s co-director, said. “One of the realities of a migrant family is that economics is the first priority and education is a second priority,” he said. “Parents find out that tuition costs $7,000 and they think ‘Where are we going to get that?’ ”

Twenty-four Imperial Valley students were admitted to UCSD, but some decided against going because their families put pressure on them to stay home and earn money, said Gomez, the program’s coordinator.

“Parents encourage their son or daughter to work and contribute to the family income, understandably so, because these families are from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Every penny they can bring in counts,” Gomez said.

Gomez said during the school year she met with parents to tell them, often in Spanish, the importance of their children attending college. In addition, one of CAMP’s biggest tasks was helping students fill out financial-aid forms.

Not all parents were opposed to their children attending college. “My parents are proud of me. They just want to see me do well,” said 18-year-old Gina Silva, from El Centro.

Angela Villarreal, also 18, said her parents were happy for her. “My dad does farm work. He feels very happy because he just went to the third grade, and he wants all of us kids to get a better education than he did.”

Villarreal’s mother, Matea, said she was feeling conflicting emotions the day before her daughter left Holtville for university life. “I’m happy to see her continue onward,” she said. “At the same time, no child of mine has ever left home to go far away. I’ll have to see if I’ll find the courage to be here without seeing her.”

CAMP participants needed to find courage, too, as they rolled into the dormitory parking lot at 7:45 a.m. Friday. Most said they were a little fearful about leaving home to attend UCSD. “This is the first time I’m really going to be on my own. This is it,” Tapia said.

“A lot of students, when they enter the university, especially from rural areas, are kind of awed by the whole environment,” Esperanza said. “It takes a quarter or two for them to handle it.”

To prepare them, CAMP participants are among 200 students attending UCSD’s “Summer Bridge” program, a four-week intensive course that emphasizes math, science and writing skills. During the program, which began Friday, students also have the opportunity to attend self-confidence workshops.

“They develop a support system and a way of coping, so when the semester starts they have an edge, a competitive edge,” Gomez said.

CAMP students are grateful for the summer bridge program. “I really do need a lot of help in my English. My reading level is not that good,” said Villarreal, who was born in Mexico.