Crafting her story and the building blocks of life

Escrito por: Dulce Ortiz 🇬🇹

Headshot of Salma Gonzalez Ramirez. (Ashley Neyra)

A través de sus intereses y metas profesionales, la creatividad fue integral en la historia de Salma Gonzalez Ramirez.

From a young age, she had to learn to navigate her world. As the first in her family to pursue an education past middle school, she regularly faced the unknown through school experiences, homework, and college applications. Siempre estuvo orgullosa de la migración de sus padres de México a los Estados Unidos, lo cual la llevó a buscar su propio camino en la educación. 

“Making the conscious decision to leave your country when you’re so young and going somewhere you don’t know what’s in store for you—you don’t know the language in the country, you don’t know what you’ll find on the other side of the door,” she said. “That was a big risk they took, and I think it’s something I will always be grateful for.”

Sus padres hablaban sobre el valor de estudiar y como vio que era importante para ellos, también era importante para ella.

“I'll never forget my parents being like 'tienes que estudiar, ponte las pilas'. For them, that was constantly something that they drove into my head,” she said.

Gonzalez Ramirez found her dad’s construction job fascinating, and in high school, she enrolled in creative courses such as one on floor plan drafting. 

She started community college in the applied sciences track under nursing, pero al pasar los años, empezó a cuestionar su decisión. 

“Deep down, I knew it was something that I don't think I was going to be fulfilled in fully, so I feel like I lost that passion, that energy, that drive, and eventually I kind of was like, I don't think I want to do this anymore,” said Gonzalez Ramirez. 

She took a break from studying and spent her time working in the construction field, sparking her profound interest in architecture.

“I really enjoyed watching the construction process from start to finish, and it was something that really was exciting for me. And I think that that was basically the moment where I was like, okay, I need to just fully focus on pursuing architecture and this is what I'm going to do,” she said.

Family of Salma Gonzalez Ramirez. (Courtesy of Salma Gonzalez Ramirez)

Se inscribió en Prince George's Community College antes de trasladarse a la UMD para seguir su pasión.

She built incredible relationships and took that to an extra level when she, alongside her friends, created Latinx Architects United, a social organization for Latino students in the School of Architecture. Como presidenta del club, siente que el programa le ha dado la confianza como estudiante para aprender más sobre su cultura mientras la universidad nota la presencia Latina en su escuela. 

“Not having that immediate place where I could branch out with other Latinos was something that was difficult at the beginning,” she said. “That really played a major role in why we ended up starting our organization in the School of Architecture—because that really opened up a place to create other relationships with people.”

Now, at 27, Gonzalez Ramirez hopes to work at an architecture firm before pursuing graduate studies to become a licensed architect.

“En esta vida, todo se logra con esfuerzo y corazón. Siempre échale ganas.” - Gonzalez Ramirez’s parents