Lizbeth Pozos, TXWES Early Childhood Education major, was awarded the esteemed Career & Leadership Development Institute Student Fellows 2024 award in San Antonio, February 21, hosted by TACHE (Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education).

Lizbeth delivered a compelling presentation at the TACHE Annual Conference, addressing “Five Challenges Latinas Face While Being in College”: Language Barrier and Cultural Expectation, Ethnicity, Socioeconomic Status, Immigrant Status, First-Generation College Student and Mental Health.  

Reflecting on her personal journey when she first started college as a first-generation student, she shared with a slight stumble in her voice, “I came alone. My family couldn’t help me because they didn’t know what being a college student is. The max education they ever got was fourth grade, fifth grade”.
Things are even harder when mental health is seen as "no such thing” as is often the case in Hispanic households. “They [family members] think it’s fake, they think it’s not real so a lot of us come to college thinking we’re feeling like we can’t do anything”.

Lizbeth shed light on the added pressures faced by students like herself, who often juggle part-time jobs to support themselves financially while also fulfilling familial obligations. She said, “Sometimes your family can be your biggest support but can also be your biggest downfall”. Lizbeth strongly recommends that students find a mentor at college to ask for guidance. 

“My mentor, Jeffrey, I go to him for everything” she laughed. Not only is her mentor, Jeffrey Chanta, willing to provide her with information. She finds "similarities” and connections with him in many different aspects of life, so she feels comfortable enough to be open and asked for help.
 
“I used to just be in the shadows, not talking to people” she says, but things changed after she attended many different events on campus where she found opportunities, relationships, and her voice. She’s now one of the Ram Ambassadors Leads, a New Student Mentor, and a member of Latinx Association. 
Her journey as a proudly First-Gen Female Hispanic representing Texas Wesleyan University at the 2024 TACHE Annual Conference epitomized here sense of belonging and empowerment. “It felt like I was at Wesleyan; it felt like I was home. I have my home wherever I go with my family. I have my Wesleyan home where I feel like I can be whoever I want and whatever I can and achieve”. At TACHE, she shares the same passion, inspiring students to be the next leaders within their community