Entering a university as a first-generation student is like an explorer stepping onto an entirely unknown continent without a map or a guide. It’s difficult to know where to go or what to do.
For nearly a quarter of a century, New Mexico State University has empowered hundreds of students from migrant farm worker families through the federal College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP), which acts as the basecamp, the supply line and the expert guide all rolled into one. The program is available to U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents.
“I remember visiting the first family, the Santiagos from Sunland Park, New Mexico, and we were able to serve three of their kids,” said Cynthia Bejararano, Regents professor, founder and principal investigator of NMSU’s CAMP. “I sat with current state representative Raymundo Lara, who then worked in the Gadsden Independent School District, in the living room of that household of that family's home talking to them about why they should let their kids come to NMSU, and they did.”
Those seven students in NMSU CAMP’s first cohort in 2002 grew to 700 students who have benefitted from services offered by the program. To celebrate the coming 25th year of CAMP’s success at NMSU, the first of many activities over the coming year is scheduled later this month. NMSU alumnus Richard Louis Leza, a successful entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, will be the keynote speaker at the first event from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 30, at the Corbett Center Student Union auditorium.
Leza grew up in Hatch, New Mexico, picking crops to help his single mother who was raising 10 children. He was the only one to graduate from college.
“I am grateful for the time and attention that Dr. Leza will give NMSU CAMP,” Bejarano said. “Sharing his life story with our CAMP students and their families, including our campus and community partners, reminds us all that laboring in the fields and in the classroom will lead CAMP students down a path to forging their own legacies and inspiring the next generation."
Introducing Leza will be another NMSU CAMP alumnus, Manuel “Manny” Serrano, a three-time Aggie and first-generation graduate who earned his Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and Ph.D. from NMSU. Serrano serves as a senior research-and-development mechanical engineer at Sandia National Laboratory.
“Dr. Serrano is also paying it forward by inviting our students up to Sandia,” Bejarano said. “Because one of our former CAMP students is now an engineer at Sandia, our students had their first visit in 25 years. He’s opening doors to current and future generations of students.”
Both Serrano and Leza are passionate about mentoring and supporting students.
Other NMSU CAMP Ph.D. graduates see CAMP as the critical first step that nurtured their dreams for a better future for themselves and their families.
CAMP alumna Sandra Gutiérrez has two doctoral degrees, is an independently licensed clinical social worker, therapist and the founder of Strength and Hope Therapy Center in Las Cruces. She has been in clinical practice since 2010 and established her local center in 2014.
“I learned about CAMP through my school counselor in high school,” Gutiérrez said. “She knew that I wanted to go to college, and I didn't have the means to go. I grew up in Hatch since age 12, and I had never been to the university. My mom didn't want me to come to college, so my friend drove me to sign that letter of acceptance. And then by the time I moved to the dorms, my parents worked through her resistance. I really needed the program. CAMP becomes a family if you let them become your family. Now I just see that it's my role to give back since I was given so much.”
Gutiérrez volunteers to work with CAMP students at no cost. It’s a common theme for CAMP alumni to reach back and mentor the next generation of students.
Daniel Ramirez Gordillo’s path to a Ph.D. was nearly derailed before it began when his father lost his job before Ramirez Gordillo discovered CAMP as a freshman. When he started at NMSU, he was working 40-plus hours in a restaurant to help his family and taking 18 credit hours. He had promised the CAMP recruiter Larry Salazar when he was accepted into the program that he would not quit, but he was too exhausted to continue doing both and ready to give up.
“Dr. B (Bejarano) was busy, but she cancelled a meeting and I sat in her office and told her I just want to drop out of NMSU,” Ramirez Gordillo said. “I showed her my schedule, and she said ‘Danny, no wonder you're struggling. You're just doing too much.’ And so based on her advice, instead of working 40 hours, I dropped down to 20 hours. I also dropped a few classes, so I was only taking 12 hours. She also met with me once a week just to see how I was doing. Literally, I was this close to dropping out of college. But from there, I went on to graduate from NMSU with honors, two degrees and a Ph.D. in biology.”
Ramirez Gordillo is an assistant professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. In addition to teaching courses, his laboratory focuses heavily on diseases and disorders that impact the central nervous system. And if that’s not enough, Ramirez Gordillo uses his evenings to teach GED courses in the Family Literacy Program. He credits NMSU’s CAMP program with his success.
Martha Estrada, another NMSU alumna, is the director of NMSU CAMP. Her history with the program began in 2004. She spent her first six years as a CAMP academic adviser, which included mapping out academic paths for students like Ramirez Gordillo. She returned to CAMP in 2018 as the director. Her relationship with CAMP is deeply personal as she is a first-generation college student herself and the granddaughter of a Bracero farmworker from Jalisco, Mexico.
Recognized for her impact at NMSU, Estrada temporarily left New Mexico to help build similar resource hubs across the country. Bejarano, Estrada and CAMP staff worked together to secure a $2.4 million, five-year federal grant in 2022.
“CAMP is not tied to any specific ethnicity or ethnic culture,” Estrada said. “What binds us are the shared values of working the land, of being low-income and first-generation college students.”
The community is invited to the first event celebrating the beginning of the 25th year of CAMP at NMSU. The talk is free and open to the public. Additional functions are planned for the coming year.
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CUTLINE: NMSU alumnus Richard Louis Leza, a successful entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, will be the keynote speaker at the first event from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 30, at the Corbett Center Student Union auditorium. (Courtesy photo)
CUTLINE: NMSU alumnus Manuel “Manny” Serrano, senior research-and-development mechanical engineer at Sandia National Laboratory, will introduce keynote speaker Richard Leza at the first event celebrating 25 years of CAMP from 5:30 to7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 30, at the Corbett Center Student Union auditorium. (Courtesy photo)
CUTLINE: Cynthia Bejarano, Regents professor and principal investigator of New Mexico State University’s College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP). The program is celebrating the start of its 25th year of service to New Mexico. (Courtesy photo)
CUTLINE: Martha Estrada is the director of New Mexico State University’s College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP). The program is celebrating the start of its 25th year of service to New Mexico. (Courtesy photo)
CUTLINE: NMSU CAMP alumna Sandra Gutiérrez has two doctoral degrees, is an independently licensed clinical social worker, therapist and the founder of Strength and Hope Therapy Center in Las Cruces. (Courtesy photo)
CUTLINE: NMSU CAMP alumnus Daniel Ramirez Gordillo is an assistant professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. (Courtesy photo)