When Thelma Carrera was a Nottingham High School student, she didn’t always see herself becoming a university graduate. She was on track to become the first person in her family to graduate from high school, but she wasn’t sure she could take the next step of going to college—one that many high school students don’t think twice about.
She simply didn’t know how to go about it, and since she hailed from a family of immigrants, her family didn’t have any background or any knowledge of the college process, either.
Carrera’s situation is a common one for immigrant students, or children of immigrants, living in Mercer County. Language barriers, cultural differences and a lack of available information leave many families in the dark when it comes to college, but a program called Futuro is looking to change that.
Futuro is a student-mentorship program run by the Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund. The program was started three years ago and aims to provide students who are immigrants or the children of immigrants in the Trenton or Hamilton Township school districts with the tools they need to get into a college of their choice.
Students receive help at every stage of the college process, including SAT/ACT prep, writing a resume, applying for financial aid and even meeting professionals in their field of interest. The program itself is free, and participants are awarded an educational stipend to go toward tuition, books and other college-related expenses.
While many students apply for the program, only about a dozen are accepted each year to provide the students with the individualized attention that they need, Futuro Program Manager Leslie Rodriguez said.
Carrera applied for the Futuro program after her mom showed her everything they offered. Now, she’s a sophomore dual Spanish and philosophy major at The College of New Jersey.
“I don’t think I’d be at TCNJ if it weren’t for Futuro,” she said. “Futuro was really the program that helped me with the process—and be familiar with it—and motivate me to want to go to college.”
Rodriguez said the program goes beyond helping students simply get into school.
“It’s a comprehensive program,” Rodriguez said. “It’s hitting all aspects of academics now and planning for later—financial planning. It’s a really a holistic program that fills in all the gaps where a lot of our families need assistance.”
In some cases, Rodriguez said parents are not even thinking about sending their children to college because their kids are working, and they can’t afford to lose that income. Even though they would ultimately make more money with a degree, families don’t always see college as a viable option, and then rule it out entirely. Futuro provides education and information for families to better understand the need of getting a degree in higher education.
In other instances, parents want to send their children to college, but don’t have any knowledge of how the process works.
“There’s just a lack of information, especially for parents who don’t speak English,” Rodriguez said. “They’re not getting their information packets in their own language. It’s just putting everyone behind the starting line and possibly not letting them compete.”
No matter the reason, Futuro seeks to help these students find a path to college that works for them.
“Futuro’s goal is to help those who don’t have the resources at home,” Carrera said. “We don’t have these resources at home. We don’t have the people with knowledge—our parents also haven’t gone to college. [Futuro] was very important, and it was a big factor of me being here.”
Deysi Martinez joined Futuro when she was a student at Trenton Central High School. Now, she’s a freshman at TCNJ, but back when she was in high school she wasn’t sure how she’d get into college.
Martinez and her family are originally from Guatemala, and she moved here about four years ago. For her and her family, the college process seemed out of their league.
“My parents and I, we already knew that college was something that I wanted, but I think without the Futuro program we didn’t know what to do to get into college,” Martinez said. “[Futuro] basically guided me through those steps and helped me get through that whole application process, which is really stressful.”
While it’s necessary to make sure students understand and hit every college application deadline, Rodriguez said for students in urban districts building up their confidence so they feel as though they can succeed is just as important.
“These kids are walking into school buildings, with bathrooms that don’t have soap or paper towels or old books that don’t have covers,” she said. “Just from these simple things day-in and day-out these kids are getting signals that they’re not expected to succeed—that they aren’t valuable—and there’s the same messages in the school system, in the media, throughout their community that they’re surrounded by it.”
The Futuro program works to cultivate strong sense of self-confidence in students, which is is important for their advancement.
“Having that drive already in place is really critical for a smooth transition into college, and a long lasting ability to succeed,” Rodriguez said.
For Carrera, Futuro instilled a drive in her to succeed that wasn’t always there before.
“My junior year, my grades weren’t the best, so first of all Futuro really put me in check and said, ‘Look, you want to go to college, you need to focus more on your grades’ so I did,” she said. “They set standards and goals for me to reach, and also I wasn’t really thinking of going to a four-year school.
Prior to joining Futuro, Carrera said she was only thinking of going to community college, but Futuro made her realize the benefits of getting a bachelor’s degree.
In addition to building up students’ confidence, Futuro also works to build up a sense of pride in their community and where they came from.
“We really wanted our students to be involved in the community that’s doing so much for them,” Rodriguez said. “The Latino community in Trenton is growing, and it’s a strong one. We felt it was important to put an emphasis to give back.”
In addition to receiving college aid, students are required to complete a certain number of volunteer activities each year. Students participate in LALDEF community events that seek to assist immigrants, most of whom don’t speak English. The events ensure immigrants have access to health care—ranging from eye and cholesterol exams to general health information—and legal and tax information.
Many of the students’ volunteer projects at LALDEF events involve working as a translator between those working the event and the immigrants to ensure everyone understands the issues at hand.
Rodriguez said one memorable community service event was when students went door-to-door with the Red Cross to install free smoke detectors in immigrant’s homes. The students translated between the resident and the Red Cross worker.
“More often than not, they were saying a lot of those families would have not received the free smoke detectors, or wouldn’t have understood what the groups are trying to offer,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said they are currently in the recruitment process to find students for this year, and they hope to be finished by the end of October.
“I’m definitely telling all my friends, and all the people I know,” Martinez said. “Hispanic people, our parents don’t know what it takes to get to college—it’s big. If it wouldn’t be for Futuro, I wouldn’t be here.”
