> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Driven SMC student is branching out - URL: https://www.smdp.com/driven-smc-student-is-branching-out/ - Published: 2006-06-12T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T18:18:02.000Z - Author: Guest Author - Tags: Education, Santa Monica, #archive-import *By EMILIE PHELPS Special to the Daily Press* Marlene Ruiz knows that achieving the American Dream doesn’t come easy. That’s why the 28-year-old student at Santa Monica College has committed to working close to 60 hours a week while pursuing her education, financially providing for her younger brothers and grandmother. Ruiz returned to her native Los Angeles five years agoto continue her education after spending 11 years in El Salvador, working on her family’s farm. At 12, Ruiz left the United States with her father, who moved the family back to his native country so he could farm on land he owned. At 16, she moved away from home and started her own business — a cheese processing and butchering operation. “My parents kept insisting that I work more time farming,” she said. “(However,) my teachers (in Los Angeles had) instructed me that to be a successful person, you need an education... So then I left home at that age, and with the skills learned in the farm, everything came naturally to buy the milk, to make business with the farmers; it was like something usual for me.” At 23, Ruiz sold her business and returned to Los Angeles “to follow my fated dream — education,” she said.“It was something that, when I was in El Salvador, I thought it was going be impossible. But I knew that returning to LA somehow... I was going to achieve that dream.” While working the graveyard shift as a security guard, a bus driver encouraged Ruiz to enroll at SMC. Though it would be far from her house in Compton, the campus was conveniently located close to her job. But her commitment to education would still require sacrifices. “The commuting process was like two or three hours to get back home, so there were times that straight from work I would start school, and from school I would go back to work, because working graveyard was hard,” Ruiz said.“When I slept, I used to sleep in the library or somewhere on the grounds. I used to leave my house around Sunday evening and return back home around Wednesday.” Ruiz also suffers from Karatoconus, a condition which obstructs her vision. “Having an eye condition problem affects a lot of my studies, but I do try to ignore that I have a disability, because I think if I focus a lot on my disability it would give me an excuse not to focus a lot in my studying,” she said. Ruiz has been a liberal studies major at SMC, and she is transferring to UC Santa Cruz in the fall, with a major in Latino Studies and a concentration in literature. The Daily Press caught up with Ruiz to discuss how she handles her busy schedule, college life and the challenges of it all. From your experience in El Salvador, what does it take to be a good businesswoman? “For me, it was a lot of communication to understand other people’s needs. Because over there people don’t have cash available right away, so I had to know them for me to give them credit and for them to trust me. Trust and communication I think are fundamental in any job.” Has your experience of moving between El Salvador and the U.S. been affected by the stigma against immigrants? “Yes, because a lot of people, due to my broken accent, assume that I’m an immigrant — that I don’t have my papers. That’s something that I learned to cope with afterwards, but it was hard at first... I learned to cope with that because being legalized here is important, but it’s not something that would keep us away from achieving anything we want to achieve, for other people who are not legalized. I’m a U.S. citizen — I was born here. However, going back and forth there were times that I did feel more comfortable with the El Salvadorian community, because of my first language. However, here in the United States I need to have a view of what is expected to be an American.” What do you think is expected of people in order to “be American?” “First, I think here in the United States, we focus on education. To be successful, a person needs to have a degree. In El Salvador, one learns to survive every day. They don’t expect you to have an education. They expect you to have knowledge to survive that day.” What are your thoughts on President Bush’s immigration plan? “That’s a hard topic to talk about, especially since I’m not that into politics right now. But my personal opinion is that if they have already been here for a long time, they should be given the opportunity to have the same benefits as people who are born here. Because they are already familiar with this culture, with this society, for those children who were raised here since the age of 2, going back to their home country would be culture shock... They would have to learn new techniques to survive in a country where they have never been before.” What is your version of the American Dream? “For my parents living in the United States, the American Dream was to have a house. My American Dream is to have an education, and give back the support that I have received. Community service and education — that’s my American Dream.” What is it like to be responsible for raising your siblings? “I have two younger brothers, one is 25 and the other one is 20 … Being a sister and trying to act as a mother is difficult...I think it’s more stressful raising my brothers from the point of view of a mother, because I need to be there if my brother needs any advice, has any financial needs... They started at Santa Monica College, so they are mostly on their own … I still take care of the expenses at home.” Will you describe a typical day in your family? “A typical day would be getting up around four in the morning, trying to get ourselves ready to come to school because I commute with my youngest brother, Jimmy, who is 20 years old. I get up first around four in the morning, get myself ready. At 4:30, I will wake up my brother so he can get himself ready, and then we will be leaving our house around five “Once in school, each of us is on separate ways, and maybe during lunch time or dinner time we will try to get together and go eat something... Then we will leave campus between 7:30 and 10 (p.m.) to avoid traffic.” How do you manage your time between school, work and family? “It was very stressful while I was working two jobs, being a security guard and working here as a counseling office assistant. During that time,I didn’t see myself as stressed; I think I was able to manage everything. Everything came naturally like a part of my routine.” What helps you when you are frustrated and keeps you motivated? “For me, sharing what I had been through was very difficult, so most of the things I learned to keep to myself. But here at Santa Monica College, through my professors, especially through Professor Gorgie who was my first English teacher here at Santa Monica, she helped me to explore myself through reading and writing. So that helped me a lot to balance myself, speaking with people I called strangers at that time, but now they’re like my family. And being part of the Latino center helped me explore more my Latino culture. Comparing what I learned with my English teacher and working at the Latino center, it helped me to balance that this is part of being a Latina, you have to work hard. It is expected of you to support your family. With my English, education is first. So I had to balance both worlds into my needs, because education is my priority for myself, however I do have the responsibility to support my brothers, and guide my brothers to the path of having an education.” What have you learned that might help other students with similarly daunting responsibilities? “Time management: Balancing the time and having to set your priorities... What helped me through was taking advantage of every single minute available. When I was taking the bus, if I was not sleeping I was studying. At work, working graveyard gave me the opportunity to study during my work periods. And in between classes taking naps and studying along the way … talking with professors, with an adult or role model: that gave me the opportunity to stay focused, and they with their comments helped me to not give up what I’m doing right now. Maybe right now I don’t see that it’s worth it, but along the way I know that I’m accomplishing something... The two people who influenced me a lot here are Professor Gorgie, my English professor, and Maria Martinez, she’s the lead counselor from the Latino center. They have been role models to me.” What motivated you to start ENLACE (a Latino student service club)? “With my friends, we decided to form this club where we could integrate our culture and community service. (It was motivated by) the need to feel that I’m doing something for the community. Right now I’m receiving a lot (from the community), but I didn’t feel comfortable with me because I wasn’t giving anything to the community.” How has the community supported you? “I have applied for and received scholarships here at SMC … My professors, the staff here at Santa Monica became like a family to me. Not growing up in a stable family created a need to belong, which was fulfilled by the community here at SMC...(SMC also provided support by) having a great library,a computer lab,that environment gave me a place to go and study more... I know that in El Salvador, we don’t have the privilege that we have here, so maybe that also influenced a lot in my school here. I used to compare my life in El Salvador where education is not free, and here we have a free public system, however our students won’t take advantage of our resources. They won’t go to the library; they won’t take advantage of computers.I think they make excuses not to continue, because they’re not at home in a comfortable place and they’re in school,so maybe that’s an excuse for them not doing well...What I see is that here in the United States children are raised more protected by law; maybe that has influences in education.” Through all the challenges in your life, you’ve continued to pursue education. Why is that? “Being a first-generation student, attending school is like a treasure that I have; no one can take it away from me. I could become disabled, but the knowledge that I have would still be there, my degree would still be there. If I continued working in the labor field, anything could happen and then I would not be able to support myself. (I am also motivated by) the goal of seeing me teaching one day, inspiring other students. I see myself giving back the support I’m receiving right now.” Where you do see yourself in five and 10 years? “In five years, maybe I would be graduating with a master’s degree, and in 10 years, I should be teaching and paying my loans. I do want to focus in the community college level. I think that students in the college environment need role models for them to see people that have achieved something — a goal, career, an education. It is very easy to get distracted, being an adult and seeing other paths. If they see someone who has had a disability and still was able to achieve an education, I think it would be a motivation for future students.” Some residents are bothered by SMC’s size, how it impacts traffic in the community, or that it’s not a “community” college because most students come from outside the neighborhood. What would you say to them? “Living in the United States gives us the opportunity to attend any community college we decide to attend. SMC gives the opportunity for students from other disadvantaged backgrounds to attend a privileged community... Since the space is available, why not open the door to other students?” *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 12, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/061206.pdf?ref=smdp.com)