Speaker 1: Hey, Latino USA listener, here's a show from our archibos.
Speaker 2: I think when the reality reality of everything, hey, was
Speaker 2: when my dad came home early and he told me
Speaker 2: that he lost his job. It was kind of like
Speaker 2: a wake up call, but it was also fear for
Speaker 2: how long is he not going to have a job.
Speaker 1: It was a typical weekday in March when Kate Bustamante
Speaker 1: was sitting in class chatting with her friends.
Speaker 2: I remember I had my music class and me and
Speaker 2: my friend were joking about how if this actually got
Speaker 2: that bad, we'd be having skype calls for class.
Speaker 1: News had been bubbling that COVID nineteen was beginning to
Speaker 1: shut down restaurants, stores, schools all across California. Kate wrapped
Speaker 1: up her music class and headed to her next one
Speaker 1: in the newsroom on campus.
Speaker 2: And everyone's like outside and they're like, oh, we're not
Speaker 2: going today, And I was like, what do you mean
Speaker 2: We're not going today? And yeah, they told us that
Speaker 2: they were like going to close the school down because
Speaker 2: of COVID, And.
Speaker 1: Just like that, overnight, Kate went from being a full
Speaker 1: time college student to her family's main breadwinner from Futromedia
Speaker 1: and prx it's Latino USA I Maria Ino Rosac. Today
Speaker 1: the pandemic has upended and jeopardized the education and future
Speaker 1: of so many college students. We hear from one of them.
Speaker 1: The summer of twenty twenty was filled with uncertainty in
Speaker 1: the US. COVID nineteen had left more than twenty million
Speaker 1: people without an income within the first few months of
Speaker 1: the outbreak. The majority of those affected were immigrants and
Speaker 1: young workers, specifically those in Generation Z, the generation entering
Speaker 1: adulthood after millennials, with classes forced to go online. College
Speaker 1: enrollment also plunged. According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center,
Speaker 1: freshman enrollment is down by more than sixteen percent nationwide,
Speaker 1: and it's even higher for community colleges. Survey data from
Speaker 1: the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that many Gen
Speaker 1: Z students have withdrawn from classes and have delayed their graduation.
Speaker 1: While millennials came of age during the Great Recession in
Speaker 1: two thousand and nine, gen Zers were starting their adult
Speaker 1: years in a strong economy with record low unemployment. That
Speaker 1: is until COVID nineteen shook the nation's economy. Now Gen
Speaker 1: Z is staring directly into an uncertain future. Today We're
Speaker 1: going to be hearing from Kate Bustamante, who's a twenty
Speaker 1: year old student at Santa Anna College and a reporter
Speaker 1: with El Dawn, the school's award winning student newspaper. While
Speaker 1: many gen Zers who made national headlines are recent grads
Speaker 1: without job prospects, Latino USA wanted to take a look
Speaker 1: at an other side of the diverse gen Z experience
Speaker 1: and look at another kind of essential worker. Kate is
Speaker 1: going to pick up this story now.
Speaker 2: This summer, my workday has looked a lot different than
Speaker 2: they ever have been.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, do you hear that?
Speaker 2: Do you hear that?
Speaker 3: Annoying?
Speaker 2: It's a did just let's yeah.
Speaker 3: I usually only have one alarm.
Speaker 2: I'm not like the person that needs six to wake
Speaker 2: me up, which is weird because I consider myself a
Speaker 2: pretty heavy sleeper.
Speaker 3: But once I hear the alarm, I know it's time
Speaker 3: to go.
Speaker 2: Hey, I'm Kate Wista Monthe what you heard was me
Speaker 2: recording my thoughts.
Speaker 3: I've been doing that all summer.
Speaker 2: Sorry, I started cracking my fingers with them. Having like
Speaker 2: my clean room and bathroom have really made being at
Speaker 2: home a lot better because I used to not like
Speaker 2: being at home. Before this whole COVID thing, I've gotten
Speaker 2: to spend a lot more time in my little sister.
Speaker 2: We've gotten to do some planting.
Speaker 3: So we can make like a little nice gardener, and.
Speaker 2: Then she has a little succulent she's growing. The whole
Speaker 2: quarantine was kind of a nightmare for me because I
Speaker 2: prefer to be outside. This summer wasn't the easiest, not
Speaker 2: just for me, but for a lot of people my age,
Speaker 2: or at least for my friends and people I talked
Speaker 2: to Attendana College. I remember a conversation I had with
Speaker 2: a close friend who class. It was at the beginning
Speaker 2: of the summer, and we were talking about our futures
Speaker 2: as students and what that might be if me and
Speaker 2: her worrying about it, like I'm sure other students are
Speaker 2: tripping about what they're going to even do, because we
Speaker 2: were talking about like in the long run, like what's
Speaker 2: safe to study right now, Like what's safe to rely
Speaker 2: on that you know that we can get something out of.
Speaker 2: I've always felt some pressure for my parents to study
Speaker 2: something safe and practical. I'm actually a psychology major, but
Speaker 2: I think I want to do something in visual arts,
Speaker 2: maybe even graphic design. For magazines. My parents aren't documented,
Speaker 2: and providing for my parents and my little sister is
Speaker 2: important to me. I just didn't think i'd be doing
Speaker 2: it so soon. I've always worked and studied at the
Speaker 2: same time. I used to take the bus at four
Speaker 2: am to work a shift before my morning class, but
Speaker 2: it was my choice. Now I need to work. But
Speaker 2: before we get into my summer, you need to know
Speaker 2: about the city. I grew up in, Santa Ana, California.
Speaker 2: If you look at Santa Ana on a math, you'll
Speaker 2: see that it's in Orange County. But I don't associate
Speaker 2: them together. When people think of Orange County, they think
Speaker 2: of beaches and rich white people. Santaana feels so separate.
Speaker 2: It's working class. It's its own place. You know how
Speaker 2: they say like there's beauty in the struggle. I feel
Speaker 2: like that itself is a good way to describe Santa Ana.
Speaker 3: It's always busy.
Speaker 2: It's always people like going into work or going out
Speaker 2: of work.
Speaker 3: I think it's a.
Speaker 2: Lot of people just trying to make sure that their
Speaker 2: kids go to school. I think it's a lot of
Speaker 2: kids trying to leave their parents' houses. It's I don't know.
Speaker 2: I feel like growing up here. It makes you want
Speaker 2: to leave, not necessarily because it's such a bad place,
Speaker 2: but because it's hard to see your familys struggle.
Speaker 3: And I feel like that's what a lot of the
Speaker 3: people here.
Speaker 2: In sant Aana do, at least for me, like growing
Speaker 2: up in Santa Ana and seeing my parents struggle, it
Speaker 2: definitely puts it into perspective for me, like I have
Speaker 2: to work my way out of this.
Speaker 3: I have to find solutions.
Speaker 2: You know, to be more resourceful, to just be able
Speaker 2: to get to a place where I can support from
Speaker 2: my parents instead of like expecting everything to be handed
Speaker 2: to me from them. It's difficult to imagine leaving the
Speaker 2: city because it's all I've known, But I definitely don't
Speaker 2: want to have to work that hard physically for the
Speaker 2: rest of my life.
Speaker 3: So my dad came first.
Speaker 2: His first job was taco bellt like cooking job, and
Speaker 2: that was my first job, so that was cool. My
Speaker 2: mom crossed the border when she was eight months pregnant
Speaker 2: with me. She was still like working in Mexico, and
Speaker 2: she tells me that she would fall asleep at like
Speaker 2: her little store stand, and the customers would just call
Speaker 2: her sleeping beauty. It leaves you in awe, you know,
Speaker 2: because they really did sacrifice like everything just to come
Speaker 2: over here for our better futures. It's not something to
Speaker 2: take lightly at all. Is there respect to Carrie for
Speaker 2: them for life? You know? Right now, I live with
Speaker 2: my mom, dad, and my little sister. My mom's brother
Speaker 2: used to live with us, but he moved out last
Speaker 2: year and I finally got my own room. My family
Speaker 2: we get along, but I wouldn't say we're close. We
Speaker 2: don't really talk about what we're feeling. My dad's shy
Speaker 2: and my mom's outgoing and cares about everyone. They're both
Speaker 2: hard working people. I'm a little bit of both. I
Speaker 2: love that she taught me like to value people's work
Speaker 2: and like livelihoods no matter what position they're in.
Speaker 3: My mom used to read.
Speaker 2: Me like fairy tales and Spanish, so I feel like
Speaker 2: that was like a huge source of my imagination because
Speaker 2: I always used to doodle when I was younger.
Speaker 3: My parents always.
Speaker 2: Really pushed school on me, so I felt a lot
Speaker 2: of pressure to have good grades, but I also obviously had.
Speaker 3: My own interests.
Speaker 2: I definitely always saw drawing and art as an escape
Speaker 2: and escape from like that kind of pressure.
Speaker 3: I like the freedom in it.
Speaker 2: I literally has tree D's since I was in elementary,
Speaker 2: you know, so this is like I needed a kind
Speaker 2: of something that it was like up to my choice. Currently,
Speaker 2: I'm a junior at Santa Ana College. It's our local
Speaker 2: community college, which most of us just call it SACK.
Speaker 2: It's kind of like shameful to go to SACK. A
Speaker 2: lot of our counselors were kind of like against students
Speaker 2: going there subtly, but it was still like, you know,
Speaker 2: they pushed you to go to more of like the
Speaker 2: four years and other places that were outside.
Speaker 3: Of Santa Anna.
Speaker 2: I went to cap Pally Pomona for like a week
Speaker 2: because that was kind of like the expectation. Its full
Speaker 2: name is California State Polytechnic University Pomona, also known as
Speaker 2: cal Poly Pomona. It's a four year university about twenty
Speaker 2: five miles from Santa Ana, which is about half an
Speaker 2: hour without traffic in a car, but with public transportation
Speaker 2: it could take almost three hours. My parents are really proud,
Speaker 2: so I definitely felt like I had to go to
Speaker 2: a bigger school. But dude, when I got there, it
Speaker 2: was just so it was very overwhelming in the sense
Speaker 2: that I was not used to that big of classroom sizes.
Speaker 2: I was not used to that like atmosphere of just
Speaker 2: being alone. And it was just so much that they
Speaker 2: threw on you, like all at once, and just those
Speaker 2: like first three days, and like financially it was so
Speaker 2: like draining because it was so far and I didn't
Speaker 2: get accepted into the dorms so I had to like
Speaker 2: commute and I don't have my own car, so it
Speaker 2: was just so much. But I did go to like
Speaker 2: my first college party on my second day, just like
Speaker 2: a random thing that happened. The moment I realized it
Speaker 2: was too much was a few days in and I
Speaker 2: had a breakdown. I just remember feeling super overwhelmed after
Speaker 2: my children's philosophy class that I had enrolled for at Kalpolamna.
Speaker 3: There was this program.
Speaker 2: That you had to have bought to get the assignments,
Speaker 2: and I think it was like eighty dollars and I
Speaker 2: was thinking like, oh, yeah, like I can just save
Speaker 2: that for my paycheck and pay next week, but apparently
Speaker 2: we had to have it like that day. So the
Speaker 2: next day I went into class, I was missing like
Speaker 2: one assignment already, and I was like, oh, my god,
Speaker 2: I'm already missing in an assignment and it's so expensive
Speaker 2: just to be able to see what.
Speaker 3: The assignment was.
Speaker 2: And so like I just went into the bathroom because
Speaker 2: I felt real liverwhelmed, and they started crying.
Speaker 3: And I was just kind of like, I don't think
Speaker 3: I should be here.
Speaker 2: It was really like hard to like have that conversation
Speaker 2: with my parents of like, actually, like I can't be here.
Speaker 2: I think At first they were definitely skeptical, so that
Speaker 2: was like my fear, which is why like I definitely
Speaker 2: I was like dreading telling them. But after like I
Speaker 2: explained it, my mom was super understanding. She was just
Speaker 2: glad that I wasn't gonna like leave school. You know,
Speaker 2: it's just hard because they tell they put a lot
Speaker 2: of pressure, like telling you they came from where they
Speaker 2: come from so you can have a good future, and
Speaker 2: it's not something that like I'm not that I like
Speaker 2: just or I'm not completely aware of, so I don't know,
Speaker 2: it was just hard. So yeah, I was like, what
Speaker 2: if I just went to sign at college, my first
Speaker 2: year would be free. I'd obviously be able to have
Speaker 2: a job because it's close to home. I could just
Speaker 2: work around my schedule. I don't remember my first few classes,
Speaker 2: but I do remember the opportunities that came from my
Speaker 2: first semester. I had a friend who told me about
Speaker 2: this journalism writing class and then there was this like
Speaker 2: LGBTQ mural that they had on that campus, and I
Speaker 2: was just telling her, like how it was really cool
Speaker 2: that we had that, and then she's like, Okay, you
Speaker 2: come to the newsroom with me real quick, and I
Speaker 2: just go with her, and then I was like having
Speaker 2: the conversation with her, and they all just kind of like, well,
Speaker 2: you should write about it, and I was like, I've
Speaker 2: never written for anything, and they were like, no, you're good.
Speaker 3: Just go out there. You can interview them. So I
Speaker 3: talked to the mural teacher.
Speaker 2: He was super cool, easy, first interview, I got like
Speaker 2: my published and I had no idea that was gonna happen.
Speaker 2: I wasn't even part of the newspaper yet. After that,
Speaker 2: that's when I joined. The next semester, I was able
Speaker 2: to be in both the mural team and the newspaper,
Speaker 2: so I feel like that's when things kind of started
Speaker 2: making sense. I've been at Santana College for two years
Speaker 2: now and I'm still part of the student newspaper.
Speaker 3: It's called El Dawn.
Speaker 2: Psychology is still my major, but I've been leaning towards communications,
Speaker 2: specifically in the visual arts. It's made me the most happy.
Speaker 2: And before Sakshaw down in March, I was in my
Speaker 2: fourth semester.
Speaker 3: That's when everything was really going to be good.
Speaker 2: I was taking sign language, I was taking music, I
Speaker 2: was still doing the newspaper. I was planning on taking
Speaker 2: multicultural psychology. I think we only had maybe six or
Speaker 2: eight weeks left, but at the time I was just
Speaker 2: going through too much.
Speaker 3: Like my dad lost his job.
Speaker 2: I had just started a new part time job as
Speaker 2: a cashier at an organic grocery store, the kind with
Speaker 2: the juice bar, vitamins, and beauty department. It's not like
Speaker 2: any grocery store I ever went to as a kid.
Speaker 2: When the whole pandemic started, I feel that a lot
Speaker 2: of families were losing income, including mine. My dad's worked
Speaker 2: as a cook for the past sixteen years, and the
Speaker 2: diner he worked at shut down in March, so he
Speaker 2: lost his job and my mom lost work two She
Speaker 2: mostly cleaned houses. So I dropped my classes and just
Speaker 2: kept one the newsroom. My parents didn't know I did that,
Speaker 2: and honestly, they still don't know. I didn't want them
Speaker 2: to feel like they were pressuring me. And like I said,
Speaker 2: we don't talk much about what we're feeling, but it
Speaker 2: was kind of a given. I've seen how much they
Speaker 2: give up for me, whether it's their rest or when
Speaker 2: they have to work multiple jobs. I've never gone hungry.
Speaker 2: They've always made sure I was fed. So that's what
Speaker 2: I wanted to do for them.
Speaker 3: I had to.
Speaker 2: We had rent to pay, the phone, the life bill,
Speaker 2: the internet. My little sister needed it for school. We
Speaker 2: had groceries to buy. I needed to work full time,
Speaker 2: so I asked my manager. I just told him like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 2: you can get me forty hours. He's like, oh, you
Speaker 2: want to work forty hours? And I was like, yeah,
Speaker 2: I kind of need to.
Speaker 1: Coming up on Latino USA.
Speaker 2: I turned twenty this year, and I've been reflecting on
Speaker 2: the value my parents put on education and all the
Speaker 2: pressures I've been feeling.
Speaker 3: My mom and dad are both.
Speaker 2: From small towns, and they saw how people without an
Speaker 2: education were treated differently in Mexico with less respect. Even
Speaker 2: though I've learned throughout the years that someone's education shouldn't
Speaker 2: be a factor in how.
Speaker 3: You treat them.
Speaker 2: I definitely understand that they want the best for me,
Speaker 2: so no one can look down on me.
Speaker 1: Stay with us, not to buy yes A, We're back.
Speaker 1: When we left off, Kate Ustamante had just dropped all
Speaker 1: of her classes except one because overnight she had to
Speaker 1: work full time to help support her family. Her decision
Speaker 1: not only set back her education, but also the future
Speaker 1: that she and especially her immigrant parents, had envisioned for her.
Speaker 1: And Katie's going to pick up the story from here.
Speaker 3: Thank you. Wow, it's so hot, man, Let's go for
Speaker 3: my luncheon.
Speaker 2: Every day my work hours fluctuate. I'll go in as
Speaker 2: early as eight for a morning shift and as late
Speaker 2: as by for a night shift. Before I even enter
Speaker 2: the door, I have to obviously think of putting on
Speaker 2: my mask. I have to know where my apron is.
Speaker 2: I try my best to avoid customers as I'm entoring,
Speaker 2: but most of the time I'll just put on my
Speaker 2: apron after so it's usually just me passing by co
Speaker 2: workers saying hello, good morning, when is the ass?
Speaker 3: Hello? When the ass constan? Hello? What is the ass?
Speaker 2: And then I go clock in or I wait until
Speaker 2: it's my time with clocking. Sometimes I'm there like a minute, really,
Speaker 2: so I just wait until it's right on the dot.
Speaker 3: That was all the juicing equipment that you heard back there,
Speaker 3: and then.
Speaker 2: I put on my apron. I go out to the
Speaker 2: floor and I ask which you're.
Speaker 3: To come in. I am cocked in.
Speaker 2: I'm walking to Register one. I usually have to switch
Speaker 2: out with the person that's on Register one, so I'd
Speaker 2: be the register that's closest to the door, which is
Speaker 2: always the busiest register no matter what. It's the register
Speaker 2: that's dreaded by everyone. But you know, like when you're
Speaker 2: going in, most of the time you go to Register one.
Speaker 3: I sign in, I tell the customer, high.
Speaker 2: Hi, Yeah, it just begins.
Speaker 3: It's going to be thirty nine.
Speaker 2: My second day of work was chaotic, like even now,
Speaker 2: customers will tell me like, how long have you been here?
Speaker 2: And I'm like, oh, since the first day of the
Speaker 2: panic shopping because like it was just a lot. Like
Speaker 2: I know grocery stores got busy because obviously I've been
Speaker 2: to them, but I never saw anything like that where
Speaker 2: I was ringing up like six hundred, three hundred, four
Speaker 2: hundred freaking totals I've never seen someone spend that much
Speaker 2: on groceries, Like it was crazy to me. It was
Speaker 2: kind of like a frenzy where people were just kind
Speaker 2: of freaking out.
Speaker 3: And they just kind of put me on a register.
Speaker 2: And I felt really embarrassed by asking questions, but also
Speaker 2: like I had to because a lot of these people
Speaker 2: you could tell they would be pissed off if.
Speaker 3: I got one little thing wrong.
Speaker 2: And I think a lot of the customers were skeptical
Speaker 2: about the fact that I was new, so that was
Speaker 2: like an added pressure because I was just trying to
Speaker 2: do my best and it felt like they were just
Speaker 2: waiting for me to mess up. But all in all,
Speaker 2: I think I handled myself well, like compared to how
Speaker 2: irritated and annoyed the customers were. I only see you
Speaker 2: as like a means of getting their things, you know,
Speaker 2: Like it's clear they don't really see you as a person.
Speaker 2: They just see you as a worker. There's this one
Speaker 2: lady who's like a regular. She's an older white lady.
Speaker 2: So she comes to my line this one time and
Speaker 2: I said hi, and then she didn't say hi back.
Speaker 2: But I really don't I don't take it too personal
Speaker 2: because sometimes you just don't hear you know, I get that.
Speaker 2: But then I ask her, Oh, do you need any bags?
Speaker 2: And she just ignored me again. So I asked it
Speaker 2: again and she ignored me. And I know it was
Speaker 2: loud at that time too, because like, I have a
Speaker 2: pretty loud voice when I want it to be. So
Speaker 2: I just like scanned all her stuff. She was so
Speaker 2: rude the whole time. She could have acknowledged me at
Speaker 2: the very least. Whenever I'm in a situation where I
Speaker 2: feel kind of stressed out, I like to make physical
Speaker 2: changes to myself. I feel like I get bored of
Speaker 2: looking at the same person in the mirror. So I've
Speaker 2: done three sticking cook tattoos on myself over the course
Speaker 2: of this quarantine. I've bleached my hair twice. So the
Speaker 2: sticking pook tattoo is like a needle going through your
Speaker 2: skin each dot that you make, and then those dots
Speaker 2: obviously formed the tattoo or the image you choose to do.
Speaker 2: Last year, my aunt, my mom's favorite sister, passed away
Speaker 2: in a car accident. Her name was Ugana, and I
Speaker 2: grew up with her around.
Speaker 3: My aunt always had tattoos.
Speaker 2: She always really liked butterflies too, so I knew that
Speaker 2: I wanted to do a butterfly like in her honor.
Speaker 2: I think she would have appreciated that.
Speaker 3: I just felt like we had a lot in common
Speaker 3: in a way.
Speaker 2: I feel like we were both kind of like the
Speaker 2: black sheep if our family, you know, we're like, we're
Speaker 2: kind of just.
Speaker 3: Different in a way.
Speaker 2: She wasn't as traditional as her siblings and my grandma
Speaker 2: and mom a, so it was.
Speaker 3: Like refreshing to have that.
Speaker 2: Like a different perspective than like the rest of my
Speaker 2: family members. This has been my first experience with the
Speaker 2: passing of anyone that was really close to me. My
Speaker 2: family's never been very vocal, but I think for the
Speaker 2: first time in years, we were all really close. That
Speaker 2: week that she passed away, we all got together. It's
Speaker 2: been a few months since the pandemic started. Today is
Speaker 2: July fourth, and I actually had the day off. I
Speaker 2: just feel like I'm a lot more drained, obviously because
Speaker 2: I don't have Even though school was tiring in his
Speaker 2: own I did still see it as like an outlet
Speaker 2: because I had those classes that I was genuinely interested
Speaker 2: in learning. I do miss learning, and I miss like
Speaker 2: that sense of like people who I actually got along
Speaker 2: with instead of people that I'm forced to interact with
Speaker 2: every day. You know, I just think it's a sense
Speaker 2: of tiredness and exhaustion. But I'm grateful that I can
Speaker 2: provide for my parents and sister and that I do,
Speaker 2: we do still have this place to live under. One
Speaker 2: of their fears is definitely like me dropping school. So
Speaker 2: I didn't want to like give them any reason to,
Speaker 2: you know, because they'll still tell me now, just because
Speaker 2: they know I don't like online classes. And they've asked
Speaker 2: me about next semester and how that's going to go,
Speaker 2: and I've told them like, well, if it's only online,
Speaker 2: then I'd rather only take like one or two classes.
Speaker 2: But they're still like scared that I'll just leave it completely,
Speaker 2: which isn't like a plan of mine, obviously, but I
Speaker 2: think they're just worried by August. I've always worked, but
Speaker 2: I feel like I've never worked this hard or like
Speaker 2: just been this tired from a job, like mentally and physically.
Speaker 3: I think it's mostly like mentally draining because of thing
Speaker 3: going on. Even everything's super hard.
Speaker 2: I think that's something that I keep reminding myself this
Speaker 2: isn't even as hard as it could be.
Speaker 3: I don't think they're really like aware of.
Speaker 2: The fact that the semester is starting. To my mom,
Speaker 2: the goal is just kind of to finish graduating college
Speaker 2: in general, but I still have to get like a
Speaker 2: job after, you know, with even if I end up
Speaker 2: with whatever degree I choose to. She just wants a degree,
Speaker 2: but I have to do something with it for it
Speaker 2: to have been worthwhile. So I think that's a lot
Speaker 2: of pressure, but I don't I don't really know what
Speaker 2: to do so far yet. All Right, So it's one
Speaker 2: twelve in the morning of the first day of fall semester,
Speaker 2: and I'm registering for my classes right now. I like
Speaker 2: mentioned it to my coworker today that tomorrow was the
Speaker 2: first day of class, and he was like, oh, how
Speaker 2: do you feel about it? And I just kind of
Speaker 2: told him, well, I haven't even said up yet, so
Speaker 2: I've been kind of avoiding it. I'm for sure only
Speaker 2: gonna take one class. I think just like how overwhelmed
Speaker 2: I was by even trying to search up classes really
Speaker 2: just ensured myself that I should really just take the
Speaker 2: one class. My mom told me that she wants to
Speaker 2: quit her night job, which is like her biggest source
Speaker 2: of income. So that was something that I didn't expect.
Speaker 2: But I'm glad for her because they were expecting her
Speaker 2: to clean restrooms for the same amount of pay that
Speaker 2: she was already getting. And she herself was like, just
Speaker 2: because there's not a lot of work right now, it
Speaker 2: doesn't mean I'm gonna just let them take advantage of me.
Speaker 2: So I like that she knows her worth. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm just a little bit worried about the money situation.
Speaker 2: So I know that if I took more classes, i'd
Speaker 2: be worried about my availability for work, as I know
Speaker 2: a lot of students right now probably are juggling their
Speaker 2: schedule for online classes with their you know, work schedules. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I just feel a little tired by a little, I
Speaker 2: mean a lot. Some days I'm drained from just talking
Speaker 2: to people that go through my cashier line. But most
Speaker 2: days I think about how my parents have been working
Speaker 2: their whole lives and are always tired, and I don't
Speaker 2: want to be a part of that cycle just repeat
Speaker 2: like minimum wage forever. You know, I would hate to
Speaker 2: not be able to rest and to not be able
Speaker 2: to give my parents the rest that they deserve. I
Speaker 2: feel like that's the reality for a lot of people,
Speaker 2: even though they're scared to say.
Speaker 3: I'm scared that it could happen to me. I would
Speaker 3: hate to stay at a grocery store forever. I turned
Speaker 3: twenty this year, and I've been reflecting on the value
Speaker 3: my parents put on education and all the pressures I've
Speaker 3: been feeling. My mom and dad are both from small towns,
Speaker 3: and they saw how people without an education were treated
Speaker 3: differently in Mexico, with less respect. Even though I've learned
Speaker 3: throughout the years that someone's education shouldn't be a factor
Speaker 3: in how you treat them. I definitely understand that they
Speaker 3: want the best for me, so no one can look
Speaker 3: down on me. Their American dream for me is and
Speaker 3: I've heard them say this so many times that I
Speaker 3: don't struggle the way they did.
Speaker 2: It took me all summer, but I finally registered for
Speaker 2: one class newspaper. It was at the end of August,
Speaker 2: the first day of the new semester. Seeing my el
Speaker 2: down family again was really nice. I was able to
Speaker 2: go on to Zoom and it was cool because there
Speaker 2: was a lot more people than I expected there to be,
Speaker 2: like a lot of returning.
Speaker 3: People, which I was really happy about.
Speaker 2: When I spoke to my advisor, Sarah, she was very
Speaker 2: willing and understanding of the situation that I'm going through
Speaker 2: right now. I've talked to her a lot about like
Speaker 2: my personal struggles when it comes to finances and just
Speaker 2: like being an eldest daughter, it's different, you know. I
Speaker 2: feel like there's a lot of pressure on me at
Speaker 2: all times. As far as like my future goes, I
Speaker 2: still definitely have no idea what career I could choose
Speaker 2: that would be dependable and just reliable, because I think
Speaker 2: if there's one thing that this whole pandemic half year
Speaker 2: has taught me is that nothing is really ever for sure.
Speaker 2: You know, nothing is ever really guaranteed. My dad is
Speaker 2: back to working now. He's not full time, but he's
Speaker 2: working at least three days a week. My mom is
Speaker 2: also back to work. I know, if it were up
Speaker 2: to my parents, I would quit my job and I'd
Speaker 2: be going to school full time. But they need me
Speaker 2: to work right now. It's like an unspoken agreement.
Speaker 1: Our thanks to you, Kate, for sharing your story with us.
Speaker 1: This episode was produced by Janasiamoca and edited by Miel Macis.
Speaker 1: And Andrea Lopez Gruzzalo. It was mixed by Elishiba Itto.
Speaker 1: The Latino USA team includes Marta Martinez, Daisy Contreres, Mike sergent,
Speaker 1: Viktori Estrada, Renaldo Leanos, Junior Patrisa Subran, with help from
Speaker 1: Raul Berees. Our editorial director is Fernande Santos. Our director
Speaker 1: of Engineering is Stephanie Lebau. Our senior engineer is Julia Caruso.
Speaker 1: Our associate engineers are jj Carubin and Gabriela Bias. Our
Speaker 1: marketing manager is Luis Luna. Our New York Women's Foundation
Speaker 1: Fellow is Elizabeth Lenthal Torres. Our theme music was composed
Speaker 1: by Sane Ruinos. I'm your host and executive producer Maria
Speaker 1: jo Josa. Join us again on our next episode. In
Speaker 1: the meantime, look for us on all of your social
Speaker 1: media and remember lots by.
Speaker 2: Funding for Latino USA is coverage of a culture of
Speaker 2: health is made possible in part by a grant from
Speaker 2: the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Latino USA is made possible
Speaker 2: in part by the Annie E.
Speaker 3: Casey Foundation.
Speaker 2: Creates a brighter future for the nation's children by strengthening families,
Speaker 2: building greater economic opportunity and transforming communities and California Endowment.
Speaker 2: Building a strong state by improving the health of all Californians.