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215 West Illinois Street, Tucson, AZ, USA

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A personal struggle I dealt with in my first two semesters at the University of Arizona was so much pressure. My family poured all their hopes into me, to prove to themselves that not furthering their education and all the years of hardship would be worth me being able to. Being a first-generation college student means accepting that you will do a lot of things without help, such as filling out financial aid forms or arranging campus visits and going alone because your family doesn't know the first thing about applying to college. You have no money at your disposal, so you learn to be resourceful and hunt for scholarships, trying to get all the money you can for tuition. While there is a growing body of literature devoted to understanding the college choices and decisions, academic achievement, and retention rates of first-generation college students, very little research has attempted to describe the psychosocial experiences. Coming from a less rigorous high school and having lower scores affected my chance of being admitted to the University than my non-first-gen peers. My admissions essay focused on the adversities I overcame throughout my life. Raw, urgent, and painful is how I convinced the team of admissions officers that acceptance to the university will allow me to pursue my career goals.

My junior year of highschool is when I wrote that essay and during my three years in high school, the bus was my main transportation to school and work. This semester, I designed a digital StoryMap as a call to action, allowing the viewers to better understand why public transit should be free for the benefit of our entire community, students, and the earth we live on. It allowed me to expand my definition of home and brought me joy as I passed by and saw the destinations that I was so fond of with meaningful memories. In December of last year it was announced how transit fees that were paused as a COVID-19 relief effort would continue to stay in place until the end of June. With this news I wanted to share my personal experience to work towards justice and free mobility by considering those that are being excluded.

Growing up, stability was something that came and went in the blink of an eye. As a first-generation student a college degree means “stability.” This, my mother tells me constantly, is about having financial freedom with a high paying salary and a 401(k). My first semester of college felt as if I walked in blind; my “nepantla,” which represents a concept of “in-between-ness,” was being in the middle of where I live on the southside of Tucson and being apart of my community and hispanic culture and going to school at the University which was way different and a shock to me. I came with no one else’s experience or advice to come home and be bombarded with questions and try to come up with answers so I wouldn’t disappoint my family. Just as Mario Suarez shared about the good, the bad and ugly of growing up, you know that your family will always have your back. Reading his essay, “El Hoyo” allowed me to recognize the shared experiences and culture of my family that creates an unbreakable bond and ties me close to my community.

The first couple of weeks it was hard to navigate around campus; I still remember my first week as the shuttle took off without me. And the time I got dropped off to the parking lot where I parked my car and I accidentally left my keys inside the cat tran shuttle. It was pouring rain outside and I got so soaked while waiting outside for the shuttle to circle its route back to the lot. After these experiences I started to better figure out campus and get there without being left or losing my keys. In October is when things took a turn down, I started to experience symptoms and tested positive for COVID because I had been exposed. Like many students in this uncertain time, my life quickly changed. This affected me not only mentally but also academically because I wasn't able to attend my in-person courses. I withdrew from the courses of my semester at the University and this made me feel ashamed of myself. Then the second semester was about to start and I felt uneasy about returning but I have pushed myself in my English course because I’m determined to accomplish my goal of pursuing my career.

As my English course comes to an end, I have realized how much I have transformed as a writer. Compared to last semester’s English course, my time management skill has improved by submitting most assignments in a timely manner which really relieved a lot of stress over the semester and allowed me to focus better on my assignments. My writing became stronger over the course as I developed researching, revising, and communication skills. All of my assignments focus on experiences I’ve had and tell a meaningful story, which are personal narratives that I really learned more about myself from, my community, and my Latinx culture. This I measure as progress because I never considered myself a good writer or someone who was good at analyzing literature, it was also something I never enjoyed. Despite these initial thoughts, I did improve a lot more than I thought I would. With the focus on Latinx writers, I was able to learn more about Tucson and what my home means to me. This contributes to my future identity as a writer to recognize injustices and be a voice for those excluded. The course study greatly influenced the extent of achieving the course learning objectives that I was able to understand and  accomplish. All in all, I’ve learned a lot and hope to learn more as a writer.

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215 West Illinois Street, Tucson, AZ, USA

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215 West Illinois Street, Tucson, AZ, USA

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215 West Illinois Street, Tucson, AZ, USA

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U2A4: Synchronous Workshop & Reflection

The workshop I attended via zoom for the unit 2 storymap project went very well. I asked for a lot of feedback regarding the structure of my story because I used a technological app that was new to me to share my story. My peers and instructor we're able to give me helpful feedback about how I needed to develop the introduction paragraph, be more intentional using present and past tense in my writing and adding more information on the places I mapped out. This feedback helped me revise my work and I felt much more confident about my final draft. I didn't think holding a peer workshop via zoom would be very productive but this experience changed my idea on how helpful it was for me and also being able to give feedback to others and look at similar genre writings of personal narratives.

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Downtown Ronstadt Center, Tucson, AZ, USA

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Downtown Ronstadt Center, Tucson, AZ, USA

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Downtown Ronstadt Center, Tucson, AZ, USA

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U2A3: Storymaps & Cover Page

The drafting process of this unit 2 assignment was creating my digital story using the ArcGIS software. This was my first time ever using this software and there was so many interactive features I had to get familiar with and test out before I finalized how I wanted my audience to view the storymap. The purpose of the assignment was to use the fieldwork notes, research and outline to create a storymap, along with this assignment was a cover letter explaining my work and rhetorical situation. This assignment helped me experiment with a technological app for future multimedia writing projects.

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U1A2: Mentor Text Analysis

The mentor text I chose to close read was The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea. The purpose of the assignment was to analyze the text for contextual information and rhetorical moves that the author made regarding structure, style, narrative and literary devices. I was able to find research about the highway's location, and information about the author and how he is a member of the Latino Literature. This assignment influenced my future writing by being able to reflect on my mentor text by analyzing the context and what aspects I'd like to mimic or avoid. The text used a lot of imagery, metaphors and personification and this helped shape my personal narrative writing to be more descriptive and use those same rhetorical devices.

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U2A1: Fieldwork Journal

My fieldwork journal for unit 2 assignment 1 focuses on two locations that I visited for my digital story. Using the template, I titled the journals with the names of each of the locations I investigated. I included an overheard conversation, photographs and observation notes. My on-site research for both the market and the bus route were useful for my digital storytelling project. If I hadn't gone on the bus ride to investigate the site I would've never found out about the historical places all along 6th ave because many of them are no longer there and going to the market helped me focus on a sense of belonging after seeing the newly painted mural that had words painted "I am Immigrant". This assignment influenced my future writing by being able to examine these places with the focus being on Tucson and my community.

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The University of Arizona, The Education Building, Tucson, AZ, USA

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The University of Arizona, The Education Building, Tucson, AZ, USA

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The University of Arizona, The Education Building, Tucson, AZ, USA

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Papelito 7: This week we need to identify our "target audience" for our digital stories, but thinking on a bigger scale...who are the people that you want to communicate with the most, even after this course is over? Who do you want to reach? What communities (or individuals) are the ones that need your voice the most- the people you will serve with your words? Who do you really want to write for?

"My target audience for my digital story is students who come from a low income family that have to rely on public transportation to get to and from school, in my digital story I'll be sharing my personal experience. My audience doesn't have to be just towards students but anyone that relies on public transportation."

Why I kept this writing guarded is because during the time I had to rely on public transportation I was looked at different from my classmates and made fun of for writing the public bus. I always felt like I had to hide that I rode the bus to and from school because I didn't want to feel any different for just getting a ride. When I wrote this papelito I felt relieved mentally and the reason I chose to share it now is because I know how important it is for me to share my personal experiences by being a voice for those who need it the most. The course goal I acted upon in the papelito is 1E. I adapted composing practices to a variety of audiences.

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University of Arizona Libraries - Main Library, East University Boulevard, Tucson, AZ, USA

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University of Arizona Libraries - Main Library, East University Boulevard, Tucson, AZ, USA

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University of Arizona Libraries - Main Library, East University Boulevard, Tucson, AZ, USA

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Papelito 4: Discuss a technological tool or app that you use regularly or are familiar with. What kinds of things do you "compose" with that tool? What have you learned using the tool and what might you use it for in your future work or academics?

"An app I'm familiar with is canva and the things I compose with this app is my own custom desktop template for my computer as an organizer with using the features on the app that allows me to customize folders for my course syllabuses and homework. I also compose instagram stories because it was so many creative templates to choose from with graphic designs."

This papelito was guarded by being kept safe in my personal notebook. At the time I wrote this papelito, I recall being at the library catching up on homework. I chose to share the papelito now because I've yet to hear anyone that also uses this app and I feel it's important to share how a lot of the digital backgrounds people see on my computer and my social media is from the using the app Canva. The course goal I acted upon in this papelito is 3D. I effectively used variations in genre conventions including formats and design features.

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Papelito 2: Recall a time when you conducted research that changed your life.

"A time I conducted research that not only changed but influenced my writing was in elementary school. I had project for my science class to present an inventor. I became fascinated on the research of the inventor I chose who was Nikola Tesla because he invented the first alternating motor (AC) and developed technology we use till this day"

This papelito was guarded by being kept safe in my personal notebook. My mental space when I wrote this was joyful because I reminisced about the elementary school I went to and it brought me back to the day's leading up to presenting my project to the class and how excited I was. I became more and more fascinated by the research I conducted about Nikola Tesla and his inventions that shaped the advancing technology we use today. The course goal I acted upon in the papelito is 5C, I was able to assess how this writing experience influenced my future writing situations and I believe it's important for me to share this papelito because the writing project I had done also influenced my major. From elementary school to now being in college, I've always been so interested in STEM.