It turns out the family had its difficulties and the mother and father
split and separated. When the father left, he left behind his
paperwork--which was in place or at least in the process--of trying to
legalize the presence of his family, and nothing was done. It wasn't until she was in high school that this young lady realized
that she was undocumented. That creates obstacles for any young person. In her case, a special obstacle was the cost of higher education. As an
undocumented child in America, she didn't qualify for government
assistance--Federal Government assistance--and limited State
assistance. Yet she aspired to go on to school and to borrow the money,
if necessary, at high interest rates from private sources in order to
finish her education. She graduated from Rutgers University magna cum
laude and then wanted to go to medical school. There weren't many medical schools accepting undocumented students,
but there was one. I am proud to tell you that it was Loyola University
of Chicago, the Stritch School of Medicine. There were about 65
undocumented young people in medical school in the United States, and
30 of them were at Loyola in Chicago. I have met most of them. Each and
every one of them is more inspiring than the next.
Keywords matched
undocumented