Reflecting on the transformative power of education, I think about it through the lens of my family journey.

I’ll start with the stories told by my maternal grandmother about the hardships of her childhood. She was born in a rural area in northern Mexico, and the only toys she had were stick and stone dolls that she made herself. Poverty forced her to forgo education, and she instead joined her family at a young age in the cotton fields as they traveled as migrant farm workers following work opportunities as the seasons changed. A deeply religious woman, she taught herself how to read through her religious literature.

Despite her lack of education, or perhaps due to a yearning for knowledge, my grandmother recognized how essential education was to success in life. This was especially true for young women like her daughter—my mother—in rural Mexico in the 1980s. Through my grandmother’s encouragement, my mother was the first in our family to attend college.

She wanted to major in chemical engineering and move to a major city to start her career. While in college, she met my father, a law student who, like her, came from a working-class family and was also the first to attend college. He had similar plans to achieve his academic dreams and practice law. My mother became pregnant in their last year of college, and obtaining their degrees became increasingly uncertain.

My father had to pause his academic career and began working full-time in the family business as a painter to provide for his new family. My mother also had to pause her studies once she gave birth to me. Despite their best efforts to juggle the responsibilities of a new baby, their economic reality and the lack of support from their academic institution made completing their degree impossible. The economic mobility of my parents stalled. They made the difficult decision to leave their home for a new country with the hopes that they would be able to provide a better life for themselves and their children.

As most recent immigrants, they found work where they could; my father relied on his painting experience, and my mother cleaned houses. My family’s story mirrors the countless scenarios faced by students all over Texas who, despite their best efforts, are derailed by life challenges that make completing a post-secondary degree an insurmountable challenge.

My parents often retold this story—part cautionary tale and part encouragement—to me and my sister. Their story stuck with me and had a profound impact on my goals. I felt a sense of responsibility to attain a post-secondary degree. Often, I wondered how their life would have been different if my father had completed law school and been an attorney instead of having to paint houses outside in 100-degree weather summer after summer. Or if my mother had become a chemical engineer instead of having to clean houses.

As a mid-career professional with a master’s degree, I cannot help but recognize the impactful difference over the course of a single generation. Unlike my forbearers, I never faced the hardships of working a backbreaking job or had to worry about making tough decisions like leaving everything and everyone I knew behind for better opportunities.

As the first of my family to complete my post-secondary degree, I am also the last to have to navigate the process without guidance from a family member. This has led to my sister and other family members now seeing college as an achievable stepping stone and joining our growing list of college graduates.

In my current role, I support organizations that address issues and challenges faced by students in circumstances like those of my parents. I now use their lived experience not as a cautionary tale but as a guide to recognize what’s achievable for students when they are given the necessary support to succeed.

I will never forget the joy on my parents’ and grandmother’s faces when I walked the stage as an undergrad and their continued pride when they placed my Aggie ring on my finger when I completed my graduate studies. I hope that through our partnership with our grantees, countless students will have the same experience of completing the dream of a forbearer who did not have the opportunity.

Jesus Perales joined Trellis Foundation in 2024 with more than ten years of experience in policy and advocacy. Prior to his arrival at the Foundation, he served as the Immigration Policy and Programs Coordinator at the Texas AFL-CIO, the state federation of labor unions. Jesus’ previous experience in higher education includes research, advocacy, and policy work at United We Dream and Young Invincibles and as a legislative staff member at the Texas Senate. Jesus earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Lamar University and a master’s degree in government and public service from the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, focusing on state and local government.