“Mijo, remember school comes first.” This was something that I heard on a regular basis from both of my parents, reinforcing the goals that they had for me from a very young age. My name is Miguel Aaron López Jr. and my journey to The Ohio State University started many miles from Ohio. In fact it began in a completely different country.
My journey began in Mexico City, Mexico. I was born Jan. 26, 1986 to two very loving parents: Miguel López and Silvia López. To say that my first year of life was a struggle would be an understatement. For about the first year of my life I was in and out of the hospital, due to numerous respiratory issues, sometimes being admitted. My parents attempted to stay with me, but due to financial responsibilities, they had to work. They would take turns waiting by my incubator, often sleeping overnight. Doctors warned my parents I may not survive. Taking this news with heavy hearts they arranged to have me baptized. Throughout these difficult times my parents were strong, never left my side and never stopped believing. I am certain that the strength of my parents and their strong belief that I could pull through, led me to survive. Even at such an early age, these characteristics, possessed by my parents, gave me the tools to become the confident, driven, goal-oriented individual I am today.
After overcoming my health obstacles I again was faced with another life altering event at the age of five. Roughly two and half years after I was born, my parents had another child, Marco Antonio López. With two children now, my parents worked extremely hard to provide my brother and me with all of our living necessities. Unfortunately due to many external factors, and the lack opportunities in Mexico, my parents were struggling to get by and made a decision that would change my family’s life forever. My parents decided that one of the only ways to get a chance at a better life was to sell all our possessions and migrate to the United States of America.
It was with high hopes that my parents made all the arrangements to move to the United States. The plan was that my father would travel first and get himself situated and would then send for the rest of us. Not one month passed before my mother was unable to wait and went in search of my father. To this day, I cannot express the amount of respect that I have for my mother for what she did. She single-handedly migrated thousands of miles, with her two young children, with the hope of reuniting our family.
We entered this great country with the mentality that opportunity was around every corner, so it was bit of a shock to see where my journey took me next. At five, my family and I moved to south–central Los Angeles. Once my family was reunited we began to build a life from scratch. Again, working extremely hard, both of my parents struggled to make a living, especially after now having two more children, Charlye López and Cindy López. I quickly understood that although this land is filled with great opportunity, it came at a very high price. As I grew up in L.A., I was introduced to many other Latinos, primarily Mexicans who were also undergoing a similar journey. Some were already developing into premature delinquents, others were slackers barely getting by, and then some were like me, driven to do well in school and better their lives. There was a common theme amongst the latter of the three; that is, we had supportive and motivating parents and a strong familial structure. My parents always stressed the importance of an education, even though they themselves were deprived that right. They reinforced the notion that to move up in life one must be educated. It was this motivation and constant reminder that instilled the idea that college was not an option: it was a necessity.
Growing up in some of the worst neighborhoods of southern California did not prepare me for the shock that I would undergo when I turned 13. At 13 my father was offered job relocation with better established job security. Having my family’s best interest in mind my parents decided to relocate and my journey would take me to a completely new environment: Columbus, Ohio.
Relocating from a primarily Latino and African American environment to Columbus, a primarily Caucasian environment, was one of the biggest culture shocks of my life. Along with the new environment, I began feeling a new sense of identity. I was no longer part of the norm; I was an outsider coming in. It was during this time that my personal identification with my heritage became clear, even though I had always been proud to be Mexican. This new environment reinforced that fact. My parents continued to work hard and soon we purchased our own home. I would have never thought, based on where I began my journey, that we would finally own our own home.
Our new home was located in Newark, Ohio, and with no delay we moved once again. Attending high school in Newark was a very interesting experience, primarily because I was one of three Latinos, the others being my brother and an exchange student from Mexico. Four years came and went surprisingly fast and before I knew it I had graduated high school. I graduated from Newark High School in 2004 with honors placing 6th in my class and with a 4.1 GPA.
Soon after graduating I began to get ready to attend the biggest college campus in the nation, The Ohio State University. As I entered OSU I was filled with excitement and anticipation. Being the first college attendee of my family, there was enormous pressure on me to do well and be a role model to my younger siblings. As freshmen year went on, I soon found out that college was very different from high school, and quickly found it very hard to adjust. At the end of freshman year my grades were slightly above average but completely below my personal standards. It became such an issue that I began questioning whether I truly belonged in college.
Although my sophomore year went significantly better I still felt that I was missing something in my college life. That year I found what was missing, my Alpha Psi Lambda familia. Alpha Psi Lambda is the nation’s first and largest co-ed Latino fraternity, established here at Ohio State. I had finally found a group of Latinos on campus that was dedicated to academics, community service, leadership and cultural awareness. Joining Alpha Psi Lambda taught me time management, leadership skills and gave me a support system at OSU as well as demonstrating to me my true potential. College is a very complicated time in a young person’s life. Having a strong support network like Alpha Psi Lambda allowed me to become comfortable in my new environment so that I could fully appreciate college life. My Alpha Psi Lambda brothers and sisters shared invaluable guidance about navigating through college. They taught me how to be successful and always pushed me to do my best. Since becoming a member I have been able to become more involved at OSU fully completing my college experience.
Similar to high school, these undergraduate years have come and gone very quickly. By the time this magazine is in your hands, I will have graduated with two degrees: a bachelor of science in Microbiology and a bachelor of arts in Spanish. After graduation I plan to acquire more real world research experience and then return to school for my master’s, leading to a Ph.D. I also plan to stay active with Alpha Psi Lambda and continue to give back to the Latino community in Columbus, Ohio.
I can honestly say that I would not have been able to be here if it weren’t for my family, “A mi familia, quiero dedicarles este artículo, porque sin ustedes, no estuviera aquí. Los quiero mucho” (I want to dedicate this article to my family because without you, I would not be here. I love you!) |
