By Meredith Barrett

Gazing at her iPhone and with a speed in her step, Candice Garza walks into her room at the Office of Minority and Diversity Affairs located on the University of Washington Seattle campus. With her office decked out in purple and gold memorabilia, it’s obvious she’s passionate about her school.

Garza, the Hispanic and Latino Recruitment Outreach Coordinator for the undergraduate program, is one of the main college-prep mentors for high school students. Since 2011, Garza has traveled to high schools throughout Washington to talk to Latino students about college.

“I’m trying to find those brilliant, smart, really dedicated students to want to attend the University of Washington,” Garza says.

Having grown up in Othello in Adams County with a population of approximately 7,500, Garza understands what some Latino students are facing when planning their future.

Both sides of her grandparents were migrant farm workers from Mexico. They moved to the United States to work at farms in various areas and settled in Othello in the late 1950s to work and build families. When she was accepted and received scholarships to universities upon graduating high school, Garza’s parents insisted that she first get a two-year associate’s degree to show she was serious about college.

“As the oldest in my family and being a first-generation college student, I had to come up against that barrier of showing that it’s good to pursue higher education, and that I could do it.”

Garza attended Columbia Basin College in Tri-Cities then transferred to University of Washington where she received a bachelor’s in English in 2008. After, she remained a Husky and earned a master’s degree in Intercollegiate Athletic Leadership in 2010.

Garza says she is one in a handful from her graduating high school class that has earned a college degree. And one of even fewer with a graduate degree.

While the Latino population in Washington state has increased to 11.7 percent, Latinos are still underrepresented at the University of Washington. Only 6.2 percent of the students on campus are Hispanic. Garza hopes that the number of Latinos on campus will increase. She wants students and families to understand how education can benefit them in the long run.

“I think the idea is starting to gain some traction, but it’s not to the point where we want it to be. I want higher education to be a natural next step.”

Garza supports this natural next step for everyone, whether the students are U.S. citizens or have migrated here from other countries. In fact, she is completely unaware of the students’ immigration status all together.

“In admissions, that’s not something that we take into account in their acceptance or denial. It’s not even necessary information that they have to report,” Garza says. “I could have helped hundreds of students and had no idea because it is not something we factor into admissions decisions.”

To create a natural transition to college, Garza builds relationships with high school students and parents throughout Washington. It must be “all hands on deck” including parents, high school staff, and the university itself to encourage Latino students to pursue a college degree, she says.

For Yadi Mendoza, a Latina University of Washington student from Wenatchee, the dream of college was planted in the seventh grade when she attended a field trip to see the Seattle campus.

Mendoza, a first-generation college student, received a lot of guidance and assistance in preparation for college and during her time at the university, both with services at school and her family at home.

When accepted to the College Assistance Migrant Program, a one-year program that provides students from migrant and seasonal farm families resources, including financial aid counseling and mentorship, she found a place during her freshman year to connect back to her roots. CAMP, along with several other groups on campus, allows minority students to congregate, share meals, and create a family away from home.

“All of these groups allow us to come together and be a part of our own community, but at the same time we are able to go back and live in a different kind of world,” Mendoza says.

Regardless of background, Garza hopes the students will find a home on campus with organizations like CAMP.

“I think at the end of the day, that’s what unites people of all races – it’s advocacy, support, unity, and all those things that make us human.”