SAC Graduate Brenda Valdes Receives Full Scholarship to PhD Program at Stanford University

Four years after beginning her college career at 圣安东尼奥学院, Brenda Valdes现在就职于斯坦福大学, 拿全额奖学金开始攻读教育学博士学位. She plans to study the effect of social and cultural influences on the performance of students in high school and college.

这个主题在很多方面, 她已经是……的专家了, 在克服了许多障碍后实现了她的学术目标.  

She dropped out of school to care for younger siblings in her native Mexico. 家里其他人都没上过大学. 她丈夫不希望她继续接受教育, fearing that it would take too much time away from their three young children.

“我一直梦想着接受大学教育, 但那时我想, “好吧, 不是我干的, 但我希望我的孩子们能,’”瓦尔德斯说.

After arriving in 圣安东尼奥 in 2010, Valdes began studying English at 帕洛阿尔托学院 in 2011. While she focused on raising children, she took parenting classes and earned her GED.

上大学的愿望从未消失.

她说:“我心里一直有一团火。.

她对教育的热爱始于幼儿园. 她的父亲在附近的一个镇上找了一份学校管理员的工作. He had no car to commute, so the family was invited to live in unused classrooms at the school. 他们在那里住了五年.

“对我来说，这是最酷的事情, 因为当每个人都回家了, 学校是我们的操场,巴尔德斯说. “我们会在大厅里跑步，打篮球，爬上果树. I thought we were so privileged because we lived inside the school. 我不知道我们实际上是无家可归.”

When her father was able to afford a house in their hometown, the family moved back. 她的弟弟妹妹们在离家不远的一所学校上学, and Valdes continued to attend the school where her father worked, 每天和他一起旅行.

After her parents divorced, Valdes left school in the ninth grade to care for her siblings.

“这对我来说太可怕了. My siblings were happy – they’re happy in their lives – but for me, 我总觉得自己不完整,”她说。. “我对自己，甚至对社会都感到失望.”

这种感觉激励着她去追求自己的大学梦. 当COVID-19大流行将所有班级转移到网上时, she saw her opportunity to study at home while taking care of her family.

She applied to SAC and took the TSI, a test that measures college readiness.

她没有通过, but SAC staff reassured her that she could still go to college and enrolled her in remedial classes over the summer to prepare her for college-level work in the fall.

当学期开始时, 她准备好了, 虽然她被吓到了, 尤其是作为一个非英语母语者. 她每天凌晨四点起床.m. 在孩子们醒来之前学习和做作业.

“每次我写东西, 我不想让人们知道我的词汇量很少, 我和他们不一样,巴尔德斯说.

2022年，她以3分的成绩从SAC毕业.94 GPA and delivered the commencement address at her graduation ceremony.

Her next goal was to earn a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Texas at 圣安东尼奥 (UTSA).

在开始工作后不久, she attended a Mexican Independence Day party on campus and met the leader of UTSA Pathways, a one-year program that teaches undergraduate students to do research in preparation for graduate studies. 她加入了这个项目, which provided a stipend and a trip to Stanford University at the end of the year.

在见识了研究生水平的教育之后, Valdes wanted to keep going after earning her bachelor’s degree in May 2023. 她和家人商量了一下.

“我告诉他们我还是想去上学. 我喜欢当学生. 我想尽我所能，尽我所能，”巴尔德斯说. “我告诉他们，我相信你是西班牙裔, you have to reach very high ground so you can be seen and really make changes.”

她的丈夫鼓励她寻找攻读博士学位的机会. 这与她早年在SAC的时候完全不同, when she would hide to do homework because she didn’t want him to see her with her computer open.

多年来, her experience helped him realize that he no longer wanted to be a truck driver, working long hours that took a toll on his physical and mental health. So, with her encouragement, he applied to SAC to major in engineering. 

在与UTSA路径项目一起访问斯坦福大学时, she met with a professor who encouraged her to apply to a PhD program there. She applied and received a full-ride scholarship to pursue a doctorate in education.

Both Valdes and her husband will work on their studies from their campus apartment while their children attend schools 关闭 by. Valdes can picture herself as a university professor in psychology or education and, 总有一天, 可能像美国一样.S. 教育部长.

当她到达新的高度, 瓦尔德斯很感激她在SAC的开始, 在那里她觉得自己是个非传统的受欢迎的人, first-generation student who spoke English as a second language.

“SAC gave me the foundation for the student I am today,巴尔德斯说.

囊,