An Education, ‘en Español!’

My parents grew up in Mexico and moved to the U.S. when my siblings and I started school. They fundamentally believed that although they did not have much to give us in terms of material things, they could give us one of the best investments out there: an education – both academic and cultural. While they made a conscious decision to move to the U.S. for our sake, and made significant sacrifices to make that happen, they were not willing to sacrifice our cultural heritage. Instead, my parents made it a point to raise us in one country, but with the traditions and customs of another.

In our household, there were two strictly enforced rules: (1) clean, legible homework must be completed before dinner and (2) Spanish must be spoken when speaking to either of my parents, when family was visiting, or when we were on the other side of the border.