“Moving to NY and being a CUNY student has been a wonderful experience, where I have been able to form part of several organizations that have helped me to grow as an individual and as a leader ....I hope that my perseverance and determination to continue my education would influence and serve as an example to others, to continue their education as well.”
My name is Isaac Montiel. I was born in "La Ciudad de Los Angeles" (The City of Angels) Puebla ,Mexico. In 1999, my life changed completely as I began an unexpected journey. It all began with my family’s economic situation. We did not have much and was not the best for reasons that were beyond my understanding at the time. Reasons that left my mother with no other choice but to migrate to the United States with the hope of making enough money to paid the debts that were threatening the place I called home. Unfortunately, things did not come out as planned. We lost the house. Four years later, just couple days before my 14 birthday the unexpected journey began and soon enough I was on my way to be reunited with my mother in the so-called “dream land”- The United States of America. The tears of joy of being next to my mother blinded me as we celebrated my first birthday in the United States. As my mother wiped my tears from my face, I started to realize that my life had just made a 360-degree turn; a new country, different language and everything and everyone I knew was left behind. In my new life, I was living in New Haven Connecticut.
It was hard at the beginning, but by the time I graduated from high school I realized that I had no choice but to accept my new life. I also realized that a bigger challenge was yet to come. I graduated from high school with honors and top of my class thus, I was eager and anxious to start college, but my hope and dreams were crushed when my guidance advisor told me that I was not going to be able to go to college, because of my legal status. I didn’t qualify for financial aid or grants. That was the moment when I understood the meaning of being undocumented. I was not ready to give up on my dream, and I searched for help and got informed about my rights as an immigrant and what probabilities if any I had to be able to get financial help to go to college. During the process, I came across an activist group “Unidad Latina En Accion” a grassroots organization that defend the human rights of immigrants and workers. I took a leadership position in the group and in 2007 I helped put together an event attended by more than 300 people. The event took place in Downtown across from City Hall. During the event, I was given the opportunity to share my story and talk about the importance of making higher education affordable for undocumented students by allowing them to paid In-state tuition and giving them access to the financial aid system. After the event, I was interviewed by a reporter and my story was published in the Hartford Courant News Paper. I would like to believe that my efforts made it possible for undocumented students to get access to in-state tuition as it was finally approved by the Connecticut legislature in 2011. Unfortunately, while I waited for this opportunity, my family couldn’t afford to pay for my college education. I had to put my education and my activism on hold.
Then, in 2012, I was granted DACA. I became extremely familiarized with the application process as I applied for it by myself and help others with the process as well. Being a DACA recipient gave me the opportunity to get a better job, allowed me to save money and attend college part-time. Therefore, with determination, DACA and hard work in 2014 I earned an Associates in Computer Engineering along with two certificates; Electronics and Computer Technician from Gateway Community College. Unfortunately, my mother and her husband have not been as lucky as I. They both lost their jobs and my mother’s husband had to return to Mexico. Since then, it has been hard to keep up with the bills. My mother is my role model as she set up a DayCare in our house, and that is currently helping us with the bills. Motivated to give my education a chance, I applied to TheDream.us scholarship. I summited my application to The New York City College of Technology, and I got accepted. Thus, I decided to move to NY.
With hard work and motivation, I’m pursuing a Bachelors in Computer Systems Technology. I am living a new journey and still face hurdles as I have an out-of-state tuition status and TheDream.us scholarship only covers half of my tuition. However, it is still less than what I would had to pay for in-state tuition in Connecticut. Moving to NY and being a CUNY student has been a wonderful experience, where I have been able to form part of several organizations that have helped me to grow as an individual and as a leader; The National Society of Leadership and Success, The Malave Leadership Academy and CUNY DREAMers. I hope that my perseverance and determination to continue my education would influence and serve as an example to others, to continue their education as well.