Finally.
After years of what college students deem "the struggle," it is finally all over.
My undergraduate years haven't been easy, but in retrospect, the ability to become as self-sufficient as I am today is a blessing.
I've learned what real hunger is. I've learned what it's like to be stripped of every resource and every person you've taken for granted, and I've learned how to appreciate the bare minimum life gives you - even if that's just a friend and a Celeste pizza for one.
I also learned the broke diet is the best way to lose 20 pounds in two months, but I would never recommend it.
I learned to love, embrace and share my culture because it won't always be at my disposal or around me. In 2011, Latinos were named the largest minority in college, with 2 million students enrolling, according to a study by the Pew Hispanic Center. However, a study from 2010 deemed Latinos the one demographic with the fewest degrees.
Although Latinos are making strides in getting their young people into college, we (and by "we" I mean Latinos) must make sure they stay in school, obtain their degrees and use those degrees to help the United States and our cultures prosper.
While I was never an active member, I commend the Latin American SA and PODER for keeping the community tight-knit and educated, and we need to make sure this continues and that education trumps socialization.
UB is diverse, and I'm not saying Latinos need to fit a certain mold or attitude, but no matter where you come from, it's nice to have a common ground with people who were raised with the same traditions, food, ideals and tribulations you did.
It's humbling. It's home.
And while I do consider myself stronger than yesterday, I wouldn't be where I am without the strong-willed women, friends and family that carried me when I was too lazy or too torn to do it myself.
Veronica Labrador and Margaret Bryner were the two women to introduce me to higher education. And while I strayed from the university they introduced me to, the journey I've embarked on since has taught me so much about myself and about adulthood. Thank you, ladies.
Physically, I've been alone on my undergraduate journey. I made friends, I lost friends and sometimes I really just preferred not having anybody around. But even then, the ghosts in my iPhone's contact list made sure I woke up after a nightmare of a day. My mother, my father, Beto, Olga, Jackie, Erika, Jeannette and Jensi: gracias.
And although I have considered myself a loner on campus, my strength off campus always sent me to school with a joke, rap lyric or piece of tough love stuck in my head. My roommate, best friend for the last five years and the person I've been blessed enough to have show me the Queen City in all her glory, Devonte, thank you.
The Spectrum has been my only tie to UB and aside from the illustrious Barbara Bono and Hershini Young, it holds the only positive memories I've made here. My time here will be what I take with me in my heart, my resume and my mind and if I could go back I would only apply myself more but nothing else.
It's been a real four years, Buffalo. Thank you for all the food, the ratchetnesss and the amazing people who've come in and out. I'll pay you back, someday.
P.S. I wish I had gone to Stony Brook
Email: elva.aguilar@ubspectrum.com
