June 14, 2007

MADE IT

Teen is a success despite life’s circumstances

Carmen Lopezfaces challenges with perseverance.

By CAROLINA RUIZ-MEJIA STAFF WRITER

Serenity reigns at Carmen Lopez’s home, but it wasn’t always that way.

Her dad, Fernando Lopez, suffers from a condition similar to bipolar disease, which created a tensed environment for the family. It was caused by the stress produced by his electricity business in Mexico. The Lopez family moved to the United States 12 years ago.

The youngest of four children, Carmen, 17, talked to, and stood up to, her dad about the way he treated her mom and sisters.

Three years ago Fernando’s brain almost exploded. He almost died.

Carmen’s words, courage and her dad’s trip the hospital have changed her family’s life.

“He has gone from, ‘Take off my shoes,’ to cooking dinner for us,” Carmen said. “We’re so rich in love and happiness that the past doesn’t even matter anymore.”

Now Carmen faces other struggles.

She has taken Advanced Placement and honors classes, for which she has received a lot of academic recognitions. However, thinking about college was discouraging because her legal status hasn’t been resolved.

“I thought, ‘I can’t go to college, the whole world is against me,’ ” Carmen said. “That’s unfair. I’ve lived here all my life and this is all I know.”

Perseverance is the most important trait Carmen has learned from her parents. Instead of crying, she devoted her time to researching possible ways to go to college.

She found out that under Assembly Bill No. 540, people who have attended a California high school for at least three years can attend a community college or California State University campus paying resident tuition. These students are not eligible for financial aid.

Carmen was accepted to five universities, including UC Santa Barbara, where she plans to go in the future, but for now, because of costs and proximity, she will start at Cal State Fullerton in the fall.

She’s relying on her income and independent scholarships to pay for her schooling.

Carmen holds three jobs: cashier at a discount store on weekends, care-provider for an elderly person twice a week and a personal tutor three times a week.

In a year and a half, she’s saved up enough to cover the first semester.

Buying a house for her parents and planting the seed of education among the Latino community are among Carmen’s goals.

“Once I die, there’s no more. This is the chance to do something.”