(Author pictured above with wife Jeanette and daughter Camilla)

So how does this connect to back-to-school? Well I wouldn’t be here typing this without my education. I am a first generation college graduate from a low-income background. Like so many of the immigrant stories, my parents didn’t have high earning jobs. My mom cleaned houses, worked at factories, and was a nanny. My dad, well he worked under the table at liquor stores, oil change shops, and threw newspapers at night. If I can summarize my childhood experience, I would say that moving was the norm, evictions sucked, and the neighborhood motel was always there for us. Given all of this, I wasn’t the A+ student – far from that! I barely made it out of high school and literally failed all my classes in community college. I was interested in getting a paying job ASAP. However, my parents would ALWAYS tell me to get my degree because that is the one thing that no one could ever take away from me. I didn’t really understand that statement until I was older. Fast forward a few years, I got my bachelor’s degree from San Francisco State. Education, with a little bit of hustle, literally opened doors for me that I could never imagine growing up.

So, every August I get excited as I think of the countless scholars that walk in through our doors and let their imaginations run wild when they ponder what “growing up” will look like. For some it might be hard like it was for me, but I know that at PLN we are working hard to ensure that they see the bright lights at the end of the tunnel!