By: Alexa Rodriguez
Heritage: Mexican + Salvadoran-American
Profession in U.S.: Student
We are moving towards an intersectional world; that’s where momentum and inevitability are taking us. There are those who fear the unknown, glorify stagnation, and are resistant to any source of “different” and any kind of “other.” Well I don’t stand for that. My existence doesn’t stand for that. I am a first-generation college student on the precipice of her college graduation. I am the daughter of Mexican and Salvadoran immigrants – I proudly carry their crimson blood in my veins. I am also a proud resident of the city that has made an art form out of resistance in the form of N.W.A.
Being a first-generation individual can mean different things to different people, which is totally fine and absolutely necessary. What matters is that we have the common goal of lifting and encouraging others to dream about the unthinkable. We’ve got to be leaders. I admit, being a leader and taking on any kind of responsibility is scary…but I argue that we all have that capacity to lead in our own unique way.
For me, I choose to lead obnoxiously. I jump at every opportunity that allows me to tell my story. I’m quite the narcissist, you see. A while ago I was given the most flattering opportunity to be on a student panel for the incoming freshmen. As soon as my small, strong hand wrapped around the microphone, my voice echoed through the walls of the building as I shared my personal background in glorious technicolor: I come from a low-income background, I’m a Questbridge Match Scholar, I am a proud Latina in a S.T.E.M field and a first-gen student intending to become a medical professional.
After the panel, I had the most beautiful swarm of individuals come up to me to thank me for sharing my background. They felt encouraged to enter this, admittedly scary, college world by the sheer virtue of the fact that they could recognize themselves in me. I empowered them, and in turn they empowered me because I realized the power of storytelling. And fellow reader, storytelling is what I do best; it’s an Olympic effort to keep this word count low. Be on the lookout for my memoir some 20 years from now.
Anyways, it’s important now more than ever to strengthen and love our brothers, sisters, and siblings. We are colliding head first into difficult times; times where we are taking two steps back. But do you know what we do best? Resist. Resist. Resist. This doesn’t mean that we have to organize marches or start petitions. This just means that we have to live unapologetically. We need to embrace our intersectionality and wear our worlds as if strung on a pearl necklace, or as though they are jewels on a crown. If someone gives you a dirty look for singing along to salsa music in Spanish, sweetheart you’d better keep singing. And hey, while you’re at it, can you sing a bit louder? I couldn’t quite hear you.
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- Alexa Rodriguez will earn her BA in Biological Sciences at Wellesley College in May; becoming the first in her family to graduate college. She grew up in a low-income neighborhood in Compton, CA and is the daughter of immigrants, and sister to one little brother. Alexa is a recipient of the QuestBridge Match Scholarship, Strive for College Scholarship, and LMSA West Cynthia Felix Scholarship. Her foremost ambition is to become a primary care physician in disadvantaged communities.
- Image courtesy of Alexa Rodriguez
- Follow Alexa on Instagram: @alelaphant and Facebook: @Alexa Rodriguez