Since 1994, alumni and friends in the Multicultural Alumni Partnership have worked together to promote diversity at the UW and address issues of equity and diversity on our campuses and in our community. They do this through mentoring, supporting lectures, networking in the community and providing scholarships. Each academic year, the partnership reaches out to historically underrepresented UW students with financial support. This yearâs promising scholars range from early undergraduates who are still zeroing in on a major to those pursuing graduate and professional degrees.
Gillian Duenas says âHÃ¥fa adai!â (âHelloâ in Chamorro). A 2020 alum with a degree in speech and hearing sciences and a minor in diversity, Duenas returned to campus for the master of social work program. Being a first-generation college student and a Pacific Islander woman at the UW was challenging, but she found passion and strength with Pacific Islander and Indigenous communities at
9:56 pm UTC May. 21, 2021
Guillermina Gutierrez Martinez picked at her cuticles and let out a shaky breath. Her left leg bounced nervously as her right foot nudged the accelerator. She balled up her fist and pushed away a tear, clearing her vision of the road ahead.
Will they think I’m a failure? Will they lie to their friends because they’re ashamed?
Crammed into her 2007 Ford Fusion were remnants of her life in the University of Washington dorms: A king-size grey Mexican blanket, storage containers bursting with winter clothes, a suitcase stuffed with textbooks and a camera. This is what she’d packed two years ago when she left her hometown to chase a college education, the dream of so many first-generation Americans and their parents.