WEBVTT - Kate's Summer 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:04.880 Hey, Latino USA listener, here's a show from our archibos. 0:00:05.360 --> 0:00:08.079 I think when the reality reality of everything, hey, was 0:00:08.080 --> 0:00:09.840 when my dad came home early and he told me 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:12.119 that he lost his job. It was kind of like 0:00:12.160 --> 0:00:14.480 a wake up call, but it was also fear for 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:16.200 how long is he not going to have a job. 0:00:16.800 --> 0:00:20.440 It was a typical weekday in March when Kate Bustamante 0:00:20.640 --> 0:00:23.279 was sitting in class chatting with her friends. 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:26.160 I remember I had my music class and me and 0:00:26.200 --> 0:00:29.680 my friend were joking about how if this actually got 0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:32.800 that bad, we'd be having skype calls for class. 0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:37.159 News had been bubbling that COVID nineteen was beginning to 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:42.480 shut down restaurants, stores, schools all across California. Kate wrapped 0:00:42.520 --> 0:00:45.080 up her music class and headed to her next one 0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:47.280 in the newsroom on campus. 0:00:46.920 --> 0:00:49.919 And everyone's like outside and they're like, oh, we're not 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:51.319 going today, And I was like, what do you mean 0:00:51.320 --> 0:00:53.559 We're not going today? And yeah, they told us that 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:55.360 they were like going to close the school down because 0:00:55.360 --> 0:00:56.680 of COVID, And. 0:00:56.800 --> 0:00:59.720 Just like that, overnight, Kate went from being a full 0:00:59.720 --> 0:01:09.160 time college student to her family's main breadwinner from Futromedia 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:13.640 and prx it's Latino USA I Maria Ino Rosac. Today 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:18.200 the pandemic has upended and jeopardized the education and future 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:24.320 of so many college students. We hear from one of them. 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:30.640 The summer of twenty twenty was filled with uncertainty in 0:01:30.680 --> 0:01:34.480 the US. COVID nineteen had left more than twenty million 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:37.920 people without an income within the first few months of 0:01:37.959 --> 0:01:41.760 the outbreak. The majority of those affected were immigrants and 0:01:42.120 --> 0:01:47.400 young workers, specifically those in Generation Z, the generation entering 0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:52.560 adulthood after millennials, with classes forced to go online. College 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:57.600 enrollment also plunged. According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, 0:01:58.040 --> 0:02:02.440 freshman enrollment is down by more than sixteen percent nationwide, 0:02:02.680 --> 0:02:07.280 and it's even higher for community colleges. Survey data from 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:10.920 the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that many Gen 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:15.560 Z students have withdrawn from classes and have delayed their graduation. 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:20.120 While millennials came of age during the Great Recession in 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:23.400 two thousand and nine, gen Zers were starting their adult 0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:27.360 years in a strong economy with record low unemployment. That 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:33.200 is until COVID nineteen shook the nation's economy. Now Gen 0:02:33.320 --> 0:02:40.200 Z is staring directly into an uncertain future. Today We're 0:02:40.240 --> 0:02:42.919 going to be hearing from Kate Bustamante, who's a twenty 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:45.440 year old student at Santa Anna College and a reporter 0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:52.080 with El Dawn, the school's award winning student newspaper. While 0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:55.960 many gen Zers who made national headlines are recent grads 0:02:56.000 --> 0:02:59.560 without job prospects, Latino USA wanted to take a look 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:02.600 at an other side of the diverse gen Z experience 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:07.840 and look at another kind of essential worker. Kate is 0:03:07.880 --> 0:03:09.160 going to pick up this story now. 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:15.799 This summer, my workday has looked a lot different than 0:03:15.840 --> 0:03:16.760 they ever have been. 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:22.000 Oh my god, do you hear that? 0:03:22.200 --> 0:03:22.680 Do you hear that? 0:03:22.720 --> 0:03:23.120 Annoying? 0:03:24.240 --> 0:03:28.960 It's a did just let's yeah. 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:30.800 I usually only have one alarm. 0:03:30.919 --> 0:03:33.560 I'm not like the person that needs six to wake 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:35.680 me up, which is weird because I consider myself a 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:36.680 pretty heavy sleeper. 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:39.840 But once I hear the alarm, I know it's time 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:40.120 to go. 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:47.760 Hey, I'm Kate Wista Monthe what you heard was me 0:03:48.360 --> 0:03:49.480 recording my thoughts. 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:51.280 I've been doing that all summer. 0:03:52.720 --> 0:03:56.920 Sorry, I started cracking my fingers with them. Having like 0:03:57.000 --> 0:04:00.240 my clean room and bathroom have really made being at 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:01.720 home a lot better because I used to not like 0:04:01.760 --> 0:04:04.120 being at home. Before this whole COVID thing, I've gotten 0:04:04.120 --> 0:04:05.600 to spend a lot more time in my little sister. 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:07.480 We've gotten to do some planting. 0:04:07.160 --> 0:04:10.200 So we can make like a little nice gardener, and. 0:04:10.160 --> 0:04:13.640 Then she has a little succulent she's growing. The whole 0:04:13.680 --> 0:04:16.440 quarantine was kind of a nightmare for me because I 0:04:16.440 --> 0:04:22.440 prefer to be outside. This summer wasn't the easiest, not 0:04:22.600 --> 0:04:25.159 just for me, but for a lot of people my age, 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:27.640 or at least for my friends and people I talked 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:33.159 to Attendana College. I remember a conversation I had with 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:35.719 a close friend who class. It was at the beginning 0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:38.360 of the summer, and we were talking about our futures 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:41.039 as students and what that might be if me and 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:42.880 her worrying about it, like I'm sure other students are 0:04:42.920 --> 0:04:44.760 tripping about what they're going to even do, because we 0:04:44.760 --> 0:04:46.719 were talking about like in the long run, like what's 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:49.200 safe to study right now, Like what's safe to rely 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:52.400 on that you know that we can get something out of. 0:04:56.760 --> 0:05:00.320 I've always felt some pressure for my parents to study 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:05.320 something safe and practical. I'm actually a psychology major, but 0:05:05.440 --> 0:05:07.640 I think I want to do something in visual arts, 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:12.320 maybe even graphic design. For magazines. My parents aren't documented, 0:05:12.760 --> 0:05:15.640 and providing for my parents and my little sister is 0:05:15.680 --> 0:05:18.080 important to me. I just didn't think i'd be doing 0:05:18.080 --> 0:05:21.279 it so soon. I've always worked and studied at the 0:05:21.279 --> 0:05:23.600 same time. I used to take the bus at four 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:26.520 am to work a shift before my morning class, but 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:31.640 it was my choice. Now I need to work. But 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:34.440 before we get into my summer, you need to know 0:05:34.480 --> 0:05:37.159 about the city. I grew up in, Santa Ana, California. 0:05:40.160 --> 0:05:42.440 If you look at Santa Ana on a math, you'll 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:45.520 see that it's in Orange County. But I don't associate 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:48.599 them together. When people think of Orange County, they think 0:05:48.640 --> 0:05:52.600 of beaches and rich white people. Santaana feels so separate. 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:57.560 It's working class. It's its own place. You know how 0:05:57.560 --> 0:05:59.680 they say like there's beauty in the struggle. I feel 0:05:59.720 --> 0:06:04.280 like that itself is a good way to describe Santa Ana. 0:06:04.960 --> 0:06:05.800 It's always busy. 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:08.960 It's always people like going into work or going out 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:09.359 of work. 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:10.840 I think it's a. 0:06:10.760 --> 0:06:12.520 Lot of people just trying to make sure that their 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:16.320 kids go to school. I think it's a lot of 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:20.640 kids trying to leave their parents' houses. It's I don't know. 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:22.680 I feel like growing up here. It makes you want 0:06:22.760 --> 0:06:25.520 to leave, not necessarily because it's such a bad place, 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:29.560 but because it's hard to see your familys struggle. 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:30.760 And I feel like that's what a lot of the 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:31.520 people here. 0:06:31.400 --> 0:06:38.520 In sant Aana do, at least for me, like growing 0:06:38.600 --> 0:06:40.919 up in Santa Ana and seeing my parents struggle, it 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:43.400 definitely puts it into perspective for me, like I have 0:06:43.440 --> 0:06:44.520 to work my way out of this. 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:47.800 I have to find solutions. 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:53.400 You know, to be more resourceful, to just be able 0:06:53.520 --> 0:06:55.760 to get to a place where I can support from 0:06:55.800 --> 0:06:58.279 my parents instead of like expecting everything to be handed 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:02.680 to me from them. It's difficult to imagine leaving the 0:07:02.720 --> 0:07:07.520 city because it's all I've known, But I definitely don't 0:07:07.560 --> 0:07:10.560 want to have to work that hard physically for the 0:07:10.560 --> 0:07:13.360 rest of my life. 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:15.640 So my dad came first. 0:07:15.960 --> 0:07:18.520 His first job was taco bellt like cooking job, and 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:20.520 that was my first job, so that was cool. My 0:07:20.600 --> 0:07:22.800 mom crossed the border when she was eight months pregnant 0:07:22.840 --> 0:07:26.080 with me. She was still like working in Mexico, and 0:07:26.160 --> 0:07:28.040 she tells me that she would fall asleep at like 0:07:28.080 --> 0:07:30.640 her little store stand, and the customers would just call 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:34.720 her sleeping beauty. It leaves you in awe, you know, 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:37.400 because they really did sacrifice like everything just to come 0:07:37.440 --> 0:07:40.240 over here for our better futures. It's not something to 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:42.800 take lightly at all. Is there respect to Carrie for 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:46.480 them for life? You know? Right now, I live with 0:07:46.520 --> 0:07:50.320 my mom, dad, and my little sister. My mom's brother 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:52.680 used to live with us, but he moved out last 0:07:52.720 --> 0:07:56.480 year and I finally got my own room. My family 0:07:57.040 --> 0:08:00.160 we get along, but I wouldn't say we're close. We 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:03.600 don't really talk about what we're feeling. My dad's shy 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:07.640 and my mom's outgoing and cares about everyone. They're both 0:08:07.640 --> 0:08:11.000 hard working people. I'm a little bit of both. I 0:08:11.040 --> 0:08:13.320 love that she taught me like to value people's work 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:17.000 and like livelihoods no matter what position they're in. 0:08:19.640 --> 0:08:20.679 My mom used to read. 0:08:20.480 --> 0:08:22.080 Me like fairy tales and Spanish, so I feel like 0:08:22.120 --> 0:08:24.920 that was like a huge source of my imagination because 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:26.760 I always used to doodle when I was younger. 0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:28.280 My parents always. 0:08:28.040 --> 0:08:30.960 Really pushed school on me, so I felt a lot 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:34.439 of pressure to have good grades, but I also obviously had. 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:35.040 My own interests. 0:08:35.320 --> 0:08:38.520 I definitely always saw drawing and art as an escape 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:40.439 and escape from like that kind of pressure. 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:43.400 I like the freedom in it. 0:08:44.679 --> 0:08:46.800 I literally has tree D's since I was in elementary, 0:08:46.840 --> 0:08:49.800 you know, so this is like I needed a kind 0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:56.280 of something that it was like up to my choice. Currently, 0:08:56.640 --> 0:08:59.240 I'm a junior at Santa Ana College. It's our local 0:08:59.280 --> 0:09:01.720 community college, which most of us just call it SACK. 0:09:02.520 --> 0:09:05.360 It's kind of like shameful to go to SACK. A 0:09:05.360 --> 0:09:08.760 lot of our counselors were kind of like against students 0:09:08.800 --> 0:09:11.680 going there subtly, but it was still like, you know, 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:13.240 they pushed you to go to more of like the 0:09:13.280 --> 0:09:15.960 four years and other places that were outside. 0:09:15.640 --> 0:09:16.240 Of Santa Anna. 0:09:16.600 --> 0:09:18.439 I went to cap Pally Pomona for like a week 0:09:18.600 --> 0:09:22.160 because that was kind of like the expectation. Its full 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:27.520 name is California State Polytechnic University Pomona, also known as 0:09:27.559 --> 0:09:31.439 cal Poly Pomona. It's a four year university about twenty 0:09:31.520 --> 0:09:34.040 five miles from Santa Ana, which is about half an 0:09:34.040 --> 0:09:36.920 hour without traffic in a car, but with public transportation 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:40.040 it could take almost three hours. My parents are really proud, 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:41.960 so I definitely felt like I had to go to 0:09:42.000 --> 0:09:45.040 a bigger school. But dude, when I got there, it 0:09:45.120 --> 0:09:48.480 was just so it was very overwhelming in the sense 0:09:48.559 --> 0:09:51.320 that I was not used to that big of classroom sizes. 0:09:51.360 --> 0:09:54.280 I was not used to that like atmosphere of just 0:09:54.320 --> 0:09:58.000 being alone. And it was just so much that they 0:09:58.040 --> 0:10:00.720 threw on you, like all at once, and just those 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:03.840 like first three days, and like financially it was so 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:06.600 like draining because it was so far and I didn't 0:10:06.640 --> 0:10:09.240 get accepted into the dorms so I had to like 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:13.360 commute and I don't have my own car, so it 0:10:13.400 --> 0:10:17.520 was just so much. But I did go to like 0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:22.120 my first college party on my second day, just like 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:31.520 a random thing that happened. The moment I realized it 0:10:31.640 --> 0:10:34.280 was too much was a few days in and I 0:10:34.320 --> 0:10:40.080 had a breakdown. I just remember feeling super overwhelmed after 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:45.840 my children's philosophy class that I had enrolled for at Kalpolamna. 0:10:46.600 --> 0:10:48.640 There was this program. 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:52.440 That you had to have bought to get the assignments, 0:10:52.559 --> 0:10:54.720 and I think it was like eighty dollars and I 0:10:54.760 --> 0:10:56.600 was thinking like, oh, yeah, like I can just save 0:10:56.640 --> 0:10:59.040 that for my paycheck and pay next week, but apparently 0:10:59.040 --> 0:11:00.640 we had to have it like that day. So the 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:02.240 next day I went into class, I was missing like 0:11:02.280 --> 0:11:03.839 one assignment already, and I was like, oh, my god, 0:11:03.840 --> 0:11:07.319 I'm already missing in an assignment and it's so expensive 0:11:07.960 --> 0:11:09.080 just to be able to see what. 0:11:09.000 --> 0:11:09.840 The assignment was. 0:11:10.600 --> 0:11:12.320 And so like I just went into the bathroom because 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:14.719 I felt real liverwhelmed, and they started crying. 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:17.320 And I was just kind of like, I don't think 0:11:17.360 --> 0:11:18.280 I should be here. 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:23.199 It was really like hard to like have that conversation 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:25.720 with my parents of like, actually, like I can't be here. 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:29.840 I think At first they were definitely skeptical, so that 0:11:30.040 --> 0:11:33.679 was like my fear, which is why like I definitely 0:11:34.800 --> 0:11:37.440 I was like dreading telling them. But after like I 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:41.120 explained it, my mom was super understanding. She was just 0:11:41.160 --> 0:11:43.480 glad that I wasn't gonna like leave school. You know, 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:49.880 it's just hard because they tell they put a lot 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:52.560 of pressure, like telling you they came from where they 0:11:52.640 --> 0:11:55.240 come from so you can have a good future, and 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:59.720 it's not something that like I'm not that I like 0:11:59.800 --> 0:12:03.600 just or I'm not completely aware of, so I don't know, 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:14.040 it was just hard. So yeah, I was like, what 0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:15.640 if I just went to sign at college, my first 0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:17.360 year would be free. I'd obviously be able to have 0:12:17.440 --> 0:12:20.120 a job because it's close to home. I could just 0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:23.720 work around my schedule. I don't remember my first few classes, 0:12:24.040 --> 0:12:26.480 but I do remember the opportunities that came from my 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:29.800 first semester. I had a friend who told me about 0:12:29.800 --> 0:12:32.960 this journalism writing class and then there was this like 0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:36.040 LGBTQ mural that they had on that campus, and I 0:12:36.120 --> 0:12:37.720 was just telling her, like how it was really cool 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:39.960 that we had that, and then she's like, Okay, you 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:42.320 come to the newsroom with me real quick, and I 0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:43.960 just go with her, and then I was like having 0:12:44.000 --> 0:12:47.280 the conversation with her, and they all just kind of like, well, 0:12:47.280 --> 0:12:48.720 you should write about it, and I was like, I've 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:52.240 never written for anything, and they were like, no, you're good. 0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:54.360 Just go out there. You can interview them. So I 0:12:54.400 --> 0:12:55.560 talked to the mural teacher. 0:12:55.920 --> 0:12:59.760 He was super cool, easy, first interview, I got like 0:12:59.800 --> 0:13:02.200 my published and I had no idea that was gonna happen. 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:05.240 I wasn't even part of the newspaper yet. After that, 0:13:05.240 --> 0:13:07.560 that's when I joined. The next semester, I was able 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:09.640 to be in both the mural team and the newspaper, 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:11.439 so I feel like that's when things kind of started 0:13:11.880 --> 0:13:20.640 making sense. I've been at Santana College for two years 0:13:20.679 --> 0:13:23.000 now and I'm still part of the student newspaper. 0:13:23.480 --> 0:13:24.720 It's called El Dawn. 0:13:25.360 --> 0:13:28.960 Psychology is still my major, but I've been leaning towards communications, 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:32.120 specifically in the visual arts. It's made me the most happy. 0:13:33.240 --> 0:13:35.640 And before Sakshaw down in March, I was in my 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:36.480 fourth semester. 0:13:37.280 --> 0:13:39.320 That's when everything was really going to be good. 0:13:39.960 --> 0:13:42.760 I was taking sign language, I was taking music, I 0:13:42.840 --> 0:13:44.960 was still doing the newspaper. I was planning on taking 0:13:45.040 --> 0:13:48.640 multicultural psychology. I think we only had maybe six or 0:13:49.040 --> 0:13:50.880 eight weeks left, but at the time I was just 0:13:50.880 --> 0:13:51.600 going through too much. 0:13:51.640 --> 0:13:52.720 Like my dad lost his job. 0:13:53.360 --> 0:13:55.920 I had just started a new part time job as 0:13:55.960 --> 0:13:59.120 a cashier at an organic grocery store, the kind with 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:02.720 the juice bar, vitamins, and beauty department. It's not like 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:04.560 any grocery store I ever went to as a kid. 0:14:06.360 --> 0:14:09.360 When the whole pandemic started, I feel that a lot 0:14:09.400 --> 0:14:15.640 of families were losing income, including mine. My dad's worked 0:14:15.679 --> 0:14:18.440 as a cook for the past sixteen years, and the 0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:21.040 diner he worked at shut down in March, so he 0:14:21.120 --> 0:14:23.840 lost his job and my mom lost work two She 0:14:23.960 --> 0:14:28.080 mostly cleaned houses. So I dropped my classes and just 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:32.680 kept one the newsroom. My parents didn't know I did that, 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:36.800 and honestly, they still don't know. I didn't want them 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:39.000 to feel like they were pressuring me. And like I said, 0:14:39.200 --> 0:14:42.040 we don't talk much about what we're feeling, but it 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:44.920 was kind of a given. I've seen how much they 0:14:44.920 --> 0:14:47.680 give up for me, whether it's their rest or when 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:50.960 they have to work multiple jobs. I've never gone hungry. 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:54.160 They've always made sure I was fed. So that's what 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:55.880 I wanted to do for them. 0:14:56.240 --> 0:14:56.720 I had to. 0:14:58.160 --> 0:15:00.960 We had rent to pay, the phone, the life bill, 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:05.800 the internet. My little sister needed it for school. We 0:15:05.840 --> 0:15:09.240 had groceries to buy. I needed to work full time, 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:13.280 so I asked my manager. I just told him like, oh, yeah, 0:15:13.280 --> 0:15:15.600 you can get me forty hours. He's like, oh, you 0:15:15.640 --> 0:15:17.080 want to work forty hours? And I was like, yeah, 0:15:17.080 --> 0:15:17.680 I kind of need to. 0:15:23.760 --> 0:15:25.640 Coming up on Latino USA. 0:15:26.000 --> 0:15:29.120 I turned twenty this year, and I've been reflecting on 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:32.040 the value my parents put on education and all the 0:15:32.040 --> 0:15:33.280 pressures I've been feeling. 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:35.640 My mom and dad are both. 0:15:35.400 --> 0:15:38.120 From small towns, and they saw how people without an 0:15:38.240 --> 0:15:42.680 education were treated differently in Mexico with less respect. Even 0:15:42.720 --> 0:15:45.480 though I've learned throughout the years that someone's education shouldn't 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:46.440 be a factor in how. 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:46.920 You treat them. 0:15:47.160 --> 0:15:49.200 I definitely understand that they want the best for me, 0:15:49.360 --> 0:15:50.960 so no one can look down on me. 0:15:52.000 --> 0:16:40.440 Stay with us, not to buy yes A, We're back. 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:44.160 When we left off, Kate Ustamante had just dropped all 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:48.400 of her classes except one because overnight she had to 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:51.640 work full time to help support her family. Her decision 0:16:51.800 --> 0:16:55.280 not only set back her education, but also the future 0:16:55.320 --> 0:17:00.160 that she and especially her immigrant parents, had envisioned for her. 0:17:00.800 --> 0:17:02.920 And Katie's going to pick up the story from here. 0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:17.040 Thank you. Wow, it's so hot, man, Let's go for 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:17.679 my luncheon. 0:17:19.240 --> 0:17:22.440 Every day my work hours fluctuate. I'll go in as 0:17:22.440 --> 0:17:24.840 early as eight for a morning shift and as late 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:28.800 as by for a night shift. Before I even enter 0:17:28.840 --> 0:17:31.199 the door, I have to obviously think of putting on 0:17:31.280 --> 0:17:34.119 my mask. I have to know where my apron is. 0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:38.240 I try my best to avoid customers as I'm entoring, 0:17:38.280 --> 0:17:39.480 but most of the time I'll just put on my 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:43.479 apron after so it's usually just me passing by co 0:17:43.560 --> 0:17:48.320 workers saying hello, good morning, when is the ass? 0:17:49.080 --> 0:17:55.840 Hello? When the ass constan? Hello? What is the ass? 0:18:00.680 --> 0:18:04.080 And then I go clock in or I wait until 0:18:04.080 --> 0:18:06.760 it's my time with clocking. Sometimes I'm there like a minute, really, 0:18:06.800 --> 0:18:09.280 so I just wait until it's right on the dot. 0:18:10.520 --> 0:18:13.320 That was all the juicing equipment that you heard back there, 0:18:14.480 --> 0:18:15.080 and then. 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:18.879 I put on my apron. I go out to the 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:21.280 floor and I ask which you're. 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:23.679 To come in. I am cocked in. 0:18:25.920 --> 0:18:34.040 I'm walking to Register one. I usually have to switch 0:18:34.040 --> 0:18:36.960 out with the person that's on Register one, so I'd 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:39.680 be the register that's closest to the door, which is 0:18:39.720 --> 0:18:43.240 always the busiest register no matter what. It's the register 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:45.200 that's dreaded by everyone. But you know, like when you're 0:18:45.240 --> 0:18:52.040 going in, most of the time you go to Register one. 0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:52.080 I sign in, I tell the customer, high. 0:18:52.359 --> 0:18:56.640 Hi, Yeah, it just begins. 0:19:00.640 --> 0:19:02.560 It's going to be thirty nine. 0:19:04.040 --> 0:19:06.920 My second day of work was chaotic, like even now, 0:19:07.040 --> 0:19:09.040 customers will tell me like, how long have you been here? 0:19:09.080 --> 0:19:10.760 And I'm like, oh, since the first day of the 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:14.320 panic shopping because like it was just a lot. Like 0:19:14.359 --> 0:19:17.120 I know grocery stores got busy because obviously I've been 0:19:17.119 --> 0:19:19.960 to them, but I never saw anything like that where 0:19:20.000 --> 0:19:22.480 I was ringing up like six hundred, three hundred, four 0:19:22.560 --> 0:19:25.119 hundred freaking totals I've never seen someone spend that much 0:19:25.160 --> 0:19:28.040 on groceries, Like it was crazy to me. It was 0:19:28.119 --> 0:19:30.360 kind of like a frenzy where people were just kind 0:19:30.359 --> 0:19:31.119 of freaking out. 0:19:31.000 --> 0:19:32.639 And they just kind of put me on a register. 0:19:33.520 --> 0:19:37.200 And I felt really embarrassed by asking questions, but also 0:19:37.320 --> 0:19:39.040 like I had to because a lot of these people 0:19:39.080 --> 0:19:40.920 you could tell they would be pissed off if. 0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:42.120 I got one little thing wrong. 0:19:42.720 --> 0:19:44.920 And I think a lot of the customers were skeptical 0:19:44.960 --> 0:19:46.879 about the fact that I was new, so that was 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:49.200 like an added pressure because I was just trying to 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:50.720 do my best and it felt like they were just 0:19:50.720 --> 0:19:53.800 waiting for me to mess up. But all in all, 0:19:53.920 --> 0:19:56.160 I think I handled myself well, like compared to how 0:19:56.240 --> 0:20:00.600 irritated and annoyed the customers were. I only see you 0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:02.399 as like a means of getting their things, you know, 0:20:02.480 --> 0:20:04.200 Like it's clear they don't really see you as a person. 0:20:04.240 --> 0:20:08.320 They just see you as a worker. There's this one 0:20:08.440 --> 0:20:11.840 lady who's like a regular. She's an older white lady. 0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:14.359 So she comes to my line this one time and 0:20:14.440 --> 0:20:16.600 I said hi, and then she didn't say hi back. 0:20:16.840 --> 0:20:18.520 But I really don't I don't take it too personal 0:20:18.560 --> 0:20:20.679 because sometimes you just don't hear you know, I get that. 0:20:21.840 --> 0:20:24.240 But then I ask her, Oh, do you need any bags? 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:26.639 And she just ignored me again. So I asked it 0:20:26.680 --> 0:20:29.000 again and she ignored me. And I know it was 0:20:29.040 --> 0:20:30.919 loud at that time too, because like, I have a 0:20:30.920 --> 0:20:33.399 pretty loud voice when I want it to be. So 0:20:33.480 --> 0:20:36.320 I just like scanned all her stuff. She was so 0:20:36.400 --> 0:20:39.479 rude the whole time. She could have acknowledged me at 0:20:39.480 --> 0:20:47.840 the very least. Whenever I'm in a situation where I 0:20:47.880 --> 0:20:50.480 feel kind of stressed out, I like to make physical 0:20:50.560 --> 0:20:53.199 changes to myself. I feel like I get bored of 0:20:53.240 --> 0:20:56.840 looking at the same person in the mirror. So I've 0:20:56.960 --> 0:21:01.400 done three sticking cook tattoos on myself over the course 0:21:01.440 --> 0:21:06.359 of this quarantine. I've bleached my hair twice. So the 0:21:06.440 --> 0:21:10.520 sticking pook tattoo is like a needle going through your 0:21:10.560 --> 0:21:14.560 skin each dot that you make, and then those dots 0:21:15.040 --> 0:21:17.760 obviously formed the tattoo or the image you choose to do. 0:21:28.080 --> 0:21:33.840 Last year, my aunt, my mom's favorite sister, passed away 0:21:33.840 --> 0:21:37.280 in a car accident. Her name was Ugana, and I 0:21:37.280 --> 0:21:38.240 grew up with her around. 0:21:39.240 --> 0:21:40.840 My aunt always had tattoos. 0:21:41.480 --> 0:21:43.679 She always really liked butterflies too, so I knew that 0:21:43.720 --> 0:21:46.080 I wanted to do a butterfly like in her honor. 0:21:47.000 --> 0:21:48.520 I think she would have appreciated that. 0:21:50.000 --> 0:21:51.520 I just felt like we had a lot in common 0:21:52.040 --> 0:21:52.400 in a way. 0:21:52.440 --> 0:21:54.119 I feel like we were both kind of like the 0:21:54.160 --> 0:21:56.160 black sheep if our family, you know, we're like, we're 0:21:56.240 --> 0:21:56.840 kind of just. 0:21:58.640 --> 0:21:59.960 Different in a way. 0:22:00.119 --> 0:22:04.040 She wasn't as traditional as her siblings and my grandma 0:22:04.160 --> 0:22:06.080 and mom a, so it was. 0:22:06.040 --> 0:22:07.400 Like refreshing to have that. 0:22:09.160 --> 0:22:10.960 Like a different perspective than like the rest of my 0:22:11.000 --> 0:22:19.359 family members. This has been my first experience with the 0:22:19.400 --> 0:22:23.080