12/22/2022
Congratulations to Rocio Ramirez!
A college education and being offered a full-time job before she graduates wasn’t something University of North Texas G. Brint Ryan College of Business Accounting major Rocio Ramirez thought was in the cards for her growing up. Despite facing several challenges — including raising a family — her education and involvement at led her to a better path.
Rocio lived in a very poor neighborhood in Dallas where the sound of gunshots during a family soccer game was normal.
“It was just how we lived,” she says. “We didn’t know we were living in such a bad situation until we got out of it.”
After her father moved the family into a safer environment, she realized that she wanted to pave her own path in this world, but knew it was not going to be as easy as it sounded.
Several years of hardships led to her becoming a statistic at the age of sixteen. Rocio was pregnant with her first child.
Being a young mom led to a young marriage that included years of domestic abuse and eventually a divorce. Her mental health was at an all-time low because she was so young and didn’t know what to do, and it was affecting her new role as a mother.
“It felt like I was at rock bottom.”
Eventually, Rocio realized that to keep going she had to take responsibility for her actions and the decisions she made in her life – so she decided to make a change. It wasn’t an easy one, but it was one she had to make.
In Fall 2020, Rocio enrolled in UNT. She didn’t really know what she was getting herself into because none of her family members had ever attended college. Out of all 7 of her siblings, she will be the first one in her family to graduate with a college degree.
Growing up, her family did not prioritize education. She was told that it wasn’t something she should aspire to have and for years she believed it and almost quit attending classes because of it. But Rocio knew her pursuit of an education wasn’t meant to prove anything to anyone, it was something she was doing for herself and for her family.
UNT was the perfect place for Rocio to shine as her own person. She was ecstatic when she found out it is a Hispanic Serving Institution because she is passionate about passing on generational wealth and knowledge to Latino communities.
Her desire stems from not growing up with it herself, and now she is able to put her ideas into action through the student organization, ALPFA at University of North Texas, the Association of Latino Professionals for America, which has been one of the turning points in Rocio’s college career. The organization focuses on self-development, professional development, mentorship, helping people find their place in the world and helping other people make the world a better place so generations after can thrive in it.
Her main goal at ALPFA is to influence those in the organization to be kind to others and embrace cultural diversity – she believes doing this will create a ripple effect to impact individuals outside of the organization as well.
Rocio even brings her kids to her ALPFA meetings because she knows this is the type of community she wants for them. She wants her children to be surrounded by generations of career-driven and goal-oriented Latinos who can help them move up in the world and be better for themselves and their future families.
Rocio recently attended an ALPFA convention in Orlando, Florida, where she notes, “I had never been somewhere on the planet where I felt more at home.” Not only did this convention allow her to network and meet new people in the accounting industry, but she accepted a full-time job offer at an accounting firm while attending the event.
The firm she will be working for represents groups like ALPFA on a daily basis, and she is excited to have the opportunity to keep building that generational wealth post-graduation.
With December approaching, she hopes her children will see what an education has meant to her and that all the time spent studying and working full-time was well worth it.
“Do it all,” she says. “You’re not going to get the chance later … jump into every opportunity you get because it’s always a better opportunity now than it will be 10 years from now.”
Learn more about Rocio and our other Great Grads: https://bddy.me/3H5WCjt
