Lack of money, English skills, health issues didn’t stop this Roosevelt High graduate

She came to the United States alone with limited English proficiency; suffered from heart and blood pressure problems and 10 hospitalizations; and lacked financial support and thus having to sell cheesecakes to subsidize her education.

These challenges didn’t stop Karen Segundo Estrada from making her way to the University of California, Merced.

Just two years ago, Segundo Estrada was living in Tijuana, México, with her mom, who worked three jobs to raise her children. When the pandemic hit, her mom lost the job and told Segundo Estrada to discontinue studying until the family could afford her high school education.

“We lasted for a year without knowing if we were going to eat the next day or not,” says Segundo Estrada.

Segundo Estrada decided to move in with her uncle, who worked in the fields, and attend high school. It wasn’t an easy choice. She had to depart from her mom, her grandparents, her culture and everything she knew to adapt to a new environment, a new language, and a new school.

“I was very afraid of not knowing English, of feeling judged,” she says. “When I first arrived, I did feel like I was alienated from people since I couldn’t find people who were in the same situation as me, migrant students or who spoke Spanish.”

Segundo Estrada didn’t shy away from the obstacles. She turned to teachers for help. She asked the instructor to explain the assignment again if she didn’t understand. She translated words and spent hours on the assignment until she mastered it completely. She used to stay in the library for two hours after school, and another two hours studying at home. She took extra classes to make up for the credits because her courses taken in México didn’t count in the United States.

“She turns struggle into triumph. Sometimes we think trauma, troubles, and a difficult life could cause someone to just give up, but these things have done the opposite for Karen,” says Billie “KC” Chhan, Segundo Estrada’s English teacher at Roosevelt High. “No matter what she was going through, whether she was sick or hospitalized, when she came back to school the next day, she would say, ‘What am I missing this time, what can I do?’ The will to want better. The will to thrive. These things make her successful school and will ensure her success in life.”

The efforts paid off. Segundo Estrada maintained a 3.5 GPA. She not only fulfilled the high school graduation requirements from having no credits when she arrived two years ago, but also took two AP classes, biology and Spanish. She was the first in her family to attend college, even among cousins. She was accepted to UC Merced.

She recalls when she approached the counselor about wanting to go to college, the counselor told her to apply to community colleges because there was no way she could attend a state university or the University of California.

“Last year I said why can’t I (go to a UC) if I have the ability,” she said. “I’m academic, I’m doing very well, I’m very intelligent.”

She attributes her success to her teachers and her family, especially her mom who always encouraged her to try harder and never give up. Motivated by her family, she set a career goal of becoming a nutritionist.

Her family is diabetic, she says. They didn’t know much about healthy food. Segundo Estrada also battles with a variety of illnesses and was most recently hospitalized in April. She says she couldn’t pay as much attention to her grades when she was in poor health. She is passionate about helping people to develop a good diet, and on top of that, helping her family to stay healthy.

Besides school, she makes desserts to sell through social media, earning $30 to $50 a day. Segundo Estrada says she is nervous about the financial challenges so she’s trying to work a full schedule during the summer to save up for the university.

Once calling her mom every day, every hour, frustrated by the challenges she faced, feeling alone, and wanting to go back to Mexico, the 18-year-old is now thriving and wants to share how she broke through all the barriers to inspire her peers in the same situation.

“Don’t be a conformist with anything, even if they put a barrier in front of you, don’t think that you can’t reach that level or you lack something, I can break the barrier,” she said. “I really want to do it, what’s stopping me from not being able to?”

Ojo: In Fresno County, 78.3% of adults 25 years and older have a high school diploma, according to the U.S. Census.

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