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To get to where I'm at now, I'd say it was pretty difficult. I was at a point where I was like, I don't know if I should do this. I don't know if I'm good enough for college, because I've always had that doubt of like I'm not smart enough. So I put a lot of pressure on myself. I don't wanna let the people that have supported me down. All right, so today, I have class. Today's class for biodiversity, so we'll be joining that right now. It's pretty entertaining, the professor is pretty cool, [MUSIC] Let's get to it. [MUSIC] My name is Jorge Ramirez. I'm 19 years old, I'm a freshman second semester. And I live in Sacramento State at the University of Sacramento. Growing up, it was pretty difficult in the situation where I was. Rent wasn't something that we could be able to afford. It was always that thought of what's gonna happen tomorrow? Are we gonna be able to buy groceries? There was always that thing of constantly worrying as a kid, worrying about what's gonna happen. And the place we stayed, they call it The Projects, it's a term that a lot of people use in low income neighborhoods to describe places where there's a lot of violence and drug abuse. Being there, I think, really put me in a spot where I was able to understand that this life isn't for me. A lot of my family didn't go to school, they probably got to sixth grade maybe. I guess, for me, the expectations that they had were probably always get a job, put money in your pocket and you'll survive. It's hard because once you're living in that type of place, people bash on you because they might say you're not gonna make it. And I had those words come at me from a lot of people or even family members that it's gonna be impossible for you to get to college or whatever. And so now I'm proving that wrong. Miss M is my teacher from high school. When I met her, she was new to the school and I thought she was a pretty mean teacher. I was in her class my junior year and I was talking to her about I don't wanna go to college because of this and that. She knew that school, at least for me it was important because school was an escape. I started talking to her more, and late junior year, I was like, okay, I think college is for me. And I want to get my degree to get a pretty good decent job, at least a job that I want to do. M became that mother figure for me, to be always on my stuff, to get as much work as I can, to apply and get as much financial aid as I can. Because she started realizing that it's something that I want to try to achieve. It was something pretty big. I guess the financial route of getting to where I'm at now, it was obviously FAFSA, grants and stuff like that. That put a lot of hope into me because I was getting money to be able to afford college. And I started looking through majors and I started looking into social work. My mom had a social worker and the social worker helped with a lot of things, especially getting money for the kids and for food. I believe I could help my community. Especially in my neighborhood, kids don't believe in themselves, I'd say. They think that because they live here and they don't go to good schools, they won't be something, so they had to turn to sell drugs or something like that to put money in their pocket. So I would like to help any kid that's going through situations that they don't believe in themselves. I grew up hearing a lot of negative things around me, negative words and seeing negative habits, but I've always wanted to put my mind to be positive, because I know being positive in life, it gets you further. And I'm working on it, I'm still not there. But if you think positively, you'll have that better version of yourself every day. So, I'd say that's a big thing I wanted to get into, be more of a positive person in life. [MUSIC] 

Jorge grew up in the projects, and he knew from a young age that he wanted to build a better life for himself. But high school didn’t immediately click for Jorge—until he met a teacher who believed in him, became his mentor, and went above and beyond to help him successfully get into college. Now a freshman at Sacramento State, Jorge is still adjusting to college life. But with the support of his mentor, he’s found a major that really connects to what he cares about.

Jorge Ramirez, Sacramento, CA

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