Alumni Award Winner Diana Ramos on the Importance of Access and Opportunity

It’s an honor for me to receive this award and speak to you all today. I want to tell you about my life and the part that my NAF academy played, at just the right moment, to get me here.

Harmony Magnet Academy, along with their Engineering Pathway, was brand new when I joined—set in a place that really needed it. I come from an agricultural area where, at age 16, kids are already working in the fields. College isn’t usually an option. Many of us don’t have cars and we live in the middle of California. Los Angeles is three hours away, and the nearest university is an hour and a half away. Without a car, that distance is not only geographical—it’s psychological. You are truly isolated. All the good opportunities are someplace else.

But I had already learned from my mom that the distance between what your life is and what you want your life to become can be huge. The route may not be comfortable or safe at all.

My four sisters and I were still little when my mother had to leave our father, who was abusing her physically and emotionally. The police dropped us off at the shelter and my mom had to figure out what to do next. She’d only been here a year and couldn’t communicate in English yet. My sisters and I translated everything for her. From the shelter, we went to live in a trailer for two years, where it rained on the inside as well as the outside. Our next apartment was better. But when the rent went up – just like that! – we were homeless again. We slept on couches in the shelter’s common area, because there weren’t enough beds.

I was already in middle school by this point and it really upset me—but our luck was about to change. Rents in a nearby city called Porterville were lower, so we moved there. That’s when I heard about the new Harmony Magnet school opening up. Mike Henson and Cindy Brown, who are in the audience, came to my 8th grade class to convince us to attend a high school that didn’t exist yet.

They told me I could get training and access to a career in engineering, which had something to do with math and science, which I loved. The school was 12 miles away! This may not sound like a lot, but all the other high schools were within three miles. I convinced my mom it was worth it for me to go the distance.

When you live near or below the poverty line, far from the resources most people take for granted, it can get to you. You know you experience unequal access, and it can get you down.
All through my time at NAF, I didn’t have internet access at home. I didn’t have a laptop. When I did my homework, it was just my brain and my textbook. No Google. I did online research at my academy. I completed my college applications at the public library. Si se puede mija, my mother has said to me many times. Yes we can baby girl.

But the only thing I lacked was access. And every industry needs what I – and all of you NAF academy students and alumni – have in abundance: TALENT. They need us. They need our voices and our life experiences, all that we have come through already. That’s our wealth.

Because of my NAF academy, I got a full scholarship to the University of Southern California. I accepted without even visiting. That’s what we do where I’m from—just say yes. It’s like winning a lottery ticket, you just take it! I give back to my academy by bridging that distance for students. They need to know how it is out here. So I bring the information home.

Two months ago, I coordinated the first annual STEM Life Journey Conference at my old academy. My goal was to bombard the high school with professional engineers and engineering college students—who ALL drove down three hours each way, including one colleague from the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab, just to speak to NAF students!! Everyone was impressed by the students’ technical knowledge and preparation.

I also wanted to let students know how competitive engineering is. I drilled it into their brains. I’m the only Latina female in my entire master’s program. I tell the girls at my old academy: Be ready with your own ideas. From the first meeting on any project, volunteer for something technical. Make sure you don’t get treated like a secretary. Because if you aren’t prepared, that will be your role in this male-dominated field!

I’m 24 years old—I’m the first person in my family to go to college. I’ve got a Bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering. I’ll be graduating with a Master’s degree in Engineering Management this December. It’s because of my NAF academy that I got here so fast. It’s because of my mother that I had the courage to come so far. Thank you NAF for sending the elevator of success back down to everybody so we can all rise together. I will continue to pay it forward!! Together and with NAF – Si se puede!!