FEATURE STORY BY EMILY TOMLINSON
FINISHING THE RACE
GOING TO COLLEGE IS A FORMIDABLE EXPERIENCE FOR A LARGE NUMBER OF FRESHMEN. IMAGINE BEING THE FIRST PERSON IN YOUR FAMILY TO EVER EMBARK ON THIS JOURNEY.
THE FEAR AND UNCERTAINTY of the unknown coupled with excitement can be overwhelming. However, those who enter the hallowed halls of higher education do so because they have a desire to learn and yearn for a better life.
Idalia Fernandez ’99 was one such student. The daughter of immigrants, she was the first person in her family to go to college, and she felt a great responsibility to follow through and complete her college degree.
“I had inherited the courage, work ethic and intelligence of my Latino parents, grandparents and great-grandparents, but I had also inherited their hopes and dreams of a better life,” Fernandez said. “Going to college for me was like running a relay race; my mother, having risked everything to bring me to America, had run the toughest part of the race.
“She had passed me the baton, and it was up to me to take it to the finish line.”
As someone who has always enjoyed learning, college became a place where Fernandez was completely immersed in learning and challenged not just by her teachers, but by her peers as well. It became a place where she first tested her voice, learned to express her opinions and make her own decisions.
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“My college education was a doorway that led to more choices, better opportunities and a stronger, more confident me.”
Following college, Fernandez obtained a job with a major corporation, where, because of her leadership skills and potential, she was promoted every two years. However, she knew that if she was to reach the position of director or vice president, she would need a graduate degree. Her search for a graduate program to fit her needs led her to Averett’s Graduate and Professional Studies (GPS) Program.
“I chose Averett’s GPS Program because it was very convenient. In a nutshell, Averett’s GPS Program eliminated all of the obstacles that I faced as a working adult to pursue my MBA.”
Fernandez then began looking for ways to integrate her business education with her cultural background. She specifically looked at non-profit organizations that worked with the Latino community. She discovered the Hispanic College Fund where she became a volunteer.
As luck would have it, a full-time opportunity with the organization became available as she was finishing her master’s degree. She joined a staff of three full-time people, becoming the first full-time program manager. Two years later, she was running the operations as the COO. Six years after that, she was president of the organization.
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