Pushing yourself can change everything

Escrito por: Emely Miranda-Aguilar 🇸🇻

Headshot of Paola Hernandez Aguirre. (Ashley Neyra)

Many immigrant parents expect their children to do well in school, get into college, and have a better future. The same applied to Paola Hernandez Aguirre, who was born in Apaseo el Alto, Mexico, and moved to Maryland with her family when she was seven years old.

There was no doubt she was going to college. It was more about how it was going to get done.

A big part of Mexican culture for Hernandez Aguirre is helping out others, being close to your community, and valuing those close to you. When choosing a university, Hernandez Aguirre focused not only on which schools had the best programs but also on affordability for her family.

“One of my biggest accomplishments is getting a scholarship to study here. My sister is two years older, so she was going to college around the same time as me. Like paying for two colleges would have put a financial strain on my family, so taking the burden away was a really good thing,” Hernandez Aguirre said.

Hernandez Aguirre faced some difficulties before her college career in understanding the application process. Not many people in her family—at least who she was close with—had gone to college. She relied on her sister to show her the process and guide her through everything, such as figuring out scholarships and essays.

Eventually, Hernandez Aguirre received full-ride or nearly full-ride scholarships to multiple universities, including the University of Maryland, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Maryland, College Park. 

She chose the latter, majoring in computer science and minoring in linguistics. After graduating, Hernandez Aguirre plans to work as an innovation developer but is also interested in software engineering.  

Family of Paola Hernandez Aguirre. (Courtesy of Paola Hernandez Aguirre)

“I kind of realized I did want to stay close to home, and [having] a big college was a big motivator for me to just get out of my comfort zone,” said Hernandez Aguirre.

Hernandez Aguirre has always been proud of her Mexican and Latina heritage. Upon coming to college, Hernandez Aguirre realized she wanted to bond with more people and avoid feeling as isolated as she had in high school. She began developing friendships with her roommates and classmates and prioritizing her mental health.

“I feel like I started opening up to people just like in general, being more open about my feelings and so on,” Hernandez Aguirre said. “Mental health... like Hispanics [are like] ‘oh, we don’t believe it’s real.’ But it was something super heavily emphasized, like taking breaths, and something that I hadn’t really allowed myself to do a lot of. So after forming good friendships and that sense of belonging, I started letting myself trust more.”

Hernandez Aguirre doesn’t feel alone on campus. She’s spent the past four years surrounding herself with more women in STEM—because “it’s not a very welcoming environment”—regardless of ethnicity and race. Nonetheless, Hernandez Aguirre continues to believe in helping and connecting with others and is glad to have found people with similar values.

“Es más diablo el diablo por viejo que por diablo.” - Alberta Aguirre