SELF-DISCOVERY THROUGH EDUCATION

Step by step, Leslie Salazar has gained confidence in her ability to follow her dreams as they come to her. In the process, she has migrated to the United States, survived a deportation order and become a U.S. citizen, and has spent the past 27 years pursuing an education at MHCC that wraps up with graduation next month.

Salazar, now 47, reluctantly came to the U.S. from Guatemala as a teen in 1989. She had to bring her 5-year-old niece to America, acting upon her older sister’s orders. She explained that in Guatemala, older siblings have more authority over younger siblings, so she felt she had no choice but to bring her niece to the states.

“I told my sister, ‘Okay, I’ll do it. I’ll bring your girl, but then I’ll come back (to Guatemala) again. I don’t want to leave my country.’ And she said, ‘Yes, you can do that. You will absolutely do that.’ ” But when Salazar arrived with the 5-year-old, her sister instead ordered her to stay, and begin working to support their family.

Not long after coming to the U.S., shewas caught by immigration officials and faced a deportation order.

“IT’S NEVER TOO LATE. IT’S HARD, IT’S NOT EASY, BUT YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE IN YOURSELF AND YOU CAN MAKE IT, NO MATTER WHAT.”

– LESLIE SALAZAR / MHCC STUDENT

“Around the same time I had the deportation notice, people were fighting for the immigrants not to be returned to their homes, but to keep them here,” said Salazar. “I was able to get into a program that would support me from not being deported.”

Safe in the Beaverton area where her sister lived, Salazar grew more connected with some of the volunteers she met through the anti-deportation program. They led her to Beaverton Christian Church, where she was first able to start taking some very basic ESL (English as a Second Language) classes.

Eventually, Salazar moved to a house in Troutdale with her husband. MHCC was nearby and offered ESL classes. Salazar’s husband tried taking some classes first, but when he decided it was too much for him, he suggested she try it out. After having worked in housekeeping for a few years, she hesitated at the thought of pursuing an education. 

She told her husband, “I don’t think so, this is for American people only, for white people, for those who speak English only.” Her husband responded, “Why don’t you go try? Why don’t you go learn the language? You can have a better job.” So, she did.

In 1992, Salazar started taking ESL classes at MHCC. Then, she got her GED in Spanish, and continued into IECC (Intensive English for College and Careers) classes.

Her GED instructors sat her down after her GED graduation and told her she needed to move on and join the Transitions/Transiciones program at Mt. Hood to prepare her for a college education.

“When they talked to me they were so serious. I found something in my heart – not even my parents did that to me. I never had the chance to get an education in my country, and my parents never taught me to get one. They only taught me to go and work for your food and your clothes. That was all I had in my mind,” said Salazar.

Hesitant to leave the comforting environment of her ESL classes, Salazar joined Transitions and took her first class that was in English. She said that taking classes in English meant doubling the time it took for the average student to learn the material because it was in a language that was all still so new to her.

“I felt very uncomfortable, and a mix of emotions. Being around white people, it was intimidating. I was intimidated by my classmates, by my instructors, taking English classes. It was so hard. I almost dropped,” said Salazar.

Then, one of her classmates gave her hope. Every day, her classmate Donna Rae Gregg would sit with her to make sure she understood what they were learning.

“She was on my side,” said Salazar. “I keep calling her my angel because she always (would) hold my hands and said, ‘Honey you will make it. I will help you. If you need anything, if you don’t understand a concept, if you don’t understand the homework, please tell me, I will help you.’ ”

With perseverance and support, Salazar completed the Transitions program and is now a mentor in the program, along with Gregg. Completing Transitions gave Salazar the push she needed to continue furthering her education, she said.

“After I graduated I felt something like, ‘I can do more than this,’” said Salazar. “I finished my GED, my ESL, and now Transitions, and everything I learned: how to go to college, how to go to academic advisers, learn the vocabulary that I never learned before. I was like ‘Okay, I think I can make it, I think I can do it.’ ”

Her husband continued rooting for her and supporting her in any way he could. She found more and more people on campus who were willing and open to help her whenever she needed it.

Still, whenever asked what she wanted to do and be, she hesitated at the thought of working towards an associate’s degree – a reluctance similar to the one she had before coming to the U.S., before taking ESL classes, and before joining Transitions. But this time she began to recognize she really could do more, particularly with her interest in social work.

“I started praying to God and I said, ‘God, please help me. What am I going to do? I don’t want to keep cleaning houses anymore,’ ” said Salazar. “By that time I felt something strong in me that I can do more than that. I can learn skills that I didn’t know.”

Then, she had a dream, a vision.

“In my dream, I saw the Mental Health, Social Service program and I saw what I was going to do, and I believed in that. I said, ‘Okay, God, if this has come up for you, if this is really for me, please provide me with the money,’ ” explained Salazar.

Having learned about FAFSA and scholarships in Transitions, Salazar obtained a scholarship and financial aid that would fully cover her school expenses.

She applied for the mental health program, went through the interview process, and then waited. When she wasn’t hearing anything vback, she prayed again, and had another dream. She saw her name on the acceptance list to the program. Two days later she received her congratulatory letter in the mail.

Next month, Salazar graduates with her associate’s degree as she sheds her hesitancy to build a better life for herself. She will transfer to Warner Pacific University in the fall to study social work. She no longer cleans houses, but instead helps families sign up for Oregon Health Plan coverage, makes home visits, and helps families find the resources and support they need – support her family never had when she was growing up poor in Guatemala.

“I want to help immigrants because I came up with a very hard situation and poor family, got caught by immigration, faced a deportation order that I fought because a group of people came together and they fight, they fight, they fight, they kept me here,” said Salazar. “It took me about 15 years to become an American citizen and work hard and pay so much money.”

Now, she wants to be a role model for other Latina mothers. “The numbers of Latinos in universities is very, very small, but if the parents go to college, then they will understand the kids. They’ll be able to understand and know the process, know the language, especially the college vocabulary,” she said.

Salazar’s 18-year-old daughter graduates high school this year, and her son is studying journalism and photography at the University of Oregon. 

“Parents have to demonstrate, parents have to show the family, parents have to show the kids, ‘I made it, and you can make it too,’ ” Salazar said.

“It’s never too late. It’s hard, it’s not easy, but you have to believe in yourself and you can make it, no matter what.”