Stanford, by way of East OaklandFor Michelle Gómez, last spring was filled with days of waiting and wondering. It was acceptance letter season, and Michelle, then a senior at Life Academy of Health and Bioscience, had yet to hear from Stanford University. March 26 figured to be yet another day of waiting.
“I expected to hear on April 1, but the news came a week early,” she recalls. “I was in Life Academy’s College and Career Information Center (CCIC), happened to have my email open, and realized I had a message from Stanford. I didn’t want to tell anyone, because I was prepared for rejection.” Bracing for the worst, she quietly clicked open the email. “I scrolled down, and as soon I read Congratulations!, I just started crying.”
She wasn’t the only one. “Everyone in the room started crying too, and everyone in the hallway started screaming. Even some of our teachers were crying.”
But the most rewarding moment was yet to come. “When I got home I told my parents, and they were so proud,” reflects Michelle as she relives the day. “That night I was so excited I couldn’t really sleep, and from my room I could hear my parents talking. They come from a very humble small town in Mexico, and I could hear them saying they couldn’t believe their daughter could be going to one of the best universities in the country. I would be the first person in my family to go to college. I felt so proud for paying back all the sacrifices they made for me.”
What’s more, thanks to support from Life Academy’s CCIC, Michelle had applied for and earned a partial scholarship. But over the next few days, Michelle stepped back from the emotions to weigh her decision. After all, she had acceptances from seven other schools. “I didn’t want to go just because of the name,” she explains. “I wanted to go because it was the right place for me.”
She had concerns about Stanford’s diversity, but on a visit to the campus Michelle was heartened to discover El Centro Chicano, the university’s Latino Community Center. There she met the Center’s president, who was also from East Oakland.
“I really connected with her and felt that people like me can be successful at Stanford,” says Michelle. “I decided Stanford would ultimately be the best school for me. They have strong programs in all fields, and I’m going in as pre-med.”
She credits Life Academy, where she was co-valedictorian of her class, with helping her reach that point. “At Life Academy, I was pushed to become a leader. Prior to high school, I was very, very shy and would not speak in front of a crowd or raise my hand in class. At Life I was pushed beyond my comfort zone so that I could be better than I was.”
“I know my first year is going to be really, really hard,” she continues. “But Life Academy has prepared me for that and I’m not going to give up, ever. Not at all.”
Moving forward, and giving back
Fast-forward to this November, and Michelle’s first semester at Stanford. “It’s only my second month in,” she says, “but I’m really trying to be resourceful and take advantage of every opportunity.”
As with her decision to attend Stanford, Michelle is approaching the college experience with an open mind.
“I’m just trying to be conscious of everything going on. There’s just so much, so many things happening on this campus,” she explains. “Like kickboxing – I never realized you could take that as a class! And I’m taking a Humanities course called ‘Journeys,’ which explores different philosophies and journeys that people take. It’s difficult, but very enlightening.”
While she still intends to pursue a health-related career – “I want to be one of the people who reforms healthcare” – Michelle is also considering other community-based lines of work.
“I think my heart will always be in social service and Latino issues, which relates back to my experiences in Oakland,” she reflects. “Right now I’m helping out in East Palo Alto, through a Stanford program called MEChA.” (A student group “dedicated to progressive changes for the Chicano/Latino community at Stanford and beyond.”) She’s also volunteering at SPOON, the Stanford Project on Hunger, collecting food around campus and delivering it to homeless shelters.
This desire to give back is firmly rooted in Michelle’s commitment to Oakland. The first weeks on Stanford’s campus have “made me reflect a lot about high school and Oakland and living in a low-income neighborhood,” she says. “Here at Stanford you have people coming from all over, and from very rich areas. I’m really grateful to have this opportunity, and it saddens me that a lot of my peers haven’t had it.”
“I feel empowered to be in this position, to get an education from a school like Stanford, and to have a voice. I want people back home to have the same opportunities. I feel that no one should have an excuse to turn away from education.”
With her East Oakland home and current Life Academy students in mind, she is encouraging her sister, cousin, and others to join extracurricular programs and do all they can to create their own opportunities, whether their future plans include college or not. “I’ve been so happy to hear that a lot of people in Life’s senior class are so motivated,” she says. “They’re getting involved in a lot of groups and applying to a lot more colleges – some to Stanford.”
“Colleges are in desperate need of more diversity,” she says. “I’m proud to tell people here at Stanford that I’m from East Oakland. I think it gives me so much more perspective, and I think it’s important for people to stand up for issues in the community where they grew up. I love that Life Academy is here in East Oakland. Oakland has a lot to give, and I’m always going to give back to Oakland, because it’s my roots.”
An earlier version of Michelle’s story appears in Life Academy’s Lifeline newsletter.
