Madera High graduate with 4.2 GPA credits her farmworker parents for her success
Lucero García-López, who turns 18 next Friday (June 10), has been no stranger to the hardships of life.
Her farmworker family – whose maternal and paternal grandparents left their ranch in Juxtlahuaca, Oaxaca, México “to provide a better life for their children – sacrificed their own education to toil in the fields.
Her mother, Antonia López, was dispatched at age 15 by Lucero’s grandfather “to work to provide for their family of six in Oaxaca.
“She took advantage of every opportunity in front of her,” said García-López, who graduated with a 4.2 GPA Thursday evening from Madera High School.
“The only downside of this was she was unable to get a proper education because she had to work to provide for her family.”
Her father, Federico García, arrived with four of his six brothers to support a family of 10 back in Oaxaca.
Her mother worked while pregnant, until her father told her to stay at home.
“We moved houses frequently because sometimes we could not pay the rent every month,” recalled García-López.
The future looked brighter when her father began buying and renting homes.
“Unfortunately, during the 2008 recession, we lost everything,” she said. “My parents were devastated, and we were left without an income and a house.”
An uncle offered to let the Garcías move in with his family. The three-bedroom, one-bathroom house sheltered 16 people.
García-López made the best of the situation. “I got closer to my cousins, and we looked out for each other while our parents were out working in the fields.
She sold snacks at school to earn extra money, but her parents wouldn’t accept her offerings.
Five months later, her parents were able to afford a home, but problems continued. Her parents got hernias from years of hard work in the fields, but still refuse medical attention because of the high hospital bills they would incur.
Then, her grandfather – since retired – broke an arm when he fell off a ladder while picking cherries.
That is what motivated García-López to go into the medical field. She will go to Fresno Pacific University in the fall as part of her plan to become a nurse.
“Growing up every time my father would come home with a cut or some sort of injury from either the field or working with cars, I would be the one to bandage them,” she said. “While I would bandage them, he would always say to me, ‘Mi futura enferma (my future nurse).’”
García-López sees nursing as a way of “being the voice for those who didn’t have one.”
“Many people live their lives and never know what they are experiencing or what they may have,” she said. “As a nurse, I can provide that help and encourage them to seek medical attention.”
She wants her parents to live long enough to see her own children “so that they may be inspired by the amazing parents that raised me.”
Madera High School
June 2, 2022
Madera Memorial Stadium / Madera
Latino enrollment: 87.1%
Latino valedictorians: Kaylee Areli Almarez, Fabián Andrés Beltrán, Stephanie Michelle Casillas, Isabella Christine Cervantes, Sean Peter Delatorre, Maxine Adriane Estampa, Jaden Damon Gaeta, Keoni Jordan García, Bradys García-Álvarez, Lucero García-López, Dulce Victoria Gómez, Fátima Michelle González, Sahian González-López, Isabel Mackenzie Jiménez, Joshua Michael Landeros, Sara Stephanie León, Sophia Katelyn Maciel, Frida Díaz Martínez, Victoria María Medrano, Elizabeth Melgoza-Cabrera, Kelly Moreno, Apolonio Ordaz, Caitlin Ann Patlán, Mía Suyapa Pérez, Anthony Pérez Macías, Yaneli Reyes-Merino, Isabel Arely Rodríguez Ruvalcaba, Samantha Lizette Ruiz, Brianda María Ruiz-Gómez, Kassandra Marie Salas, Melissa Soriano, Katherine Felicity Motea Torres, Gabriela Elizabeth Velarde
Highlight: The memory of student/athlete Roberto López Arellano, who died in a solo motorcycle accident in March was recognized when his parents received his diploma. The parents received the only standing ovation of the evening.
Quote: “We are always more talented, more capable and more valuable than we give ourselves credit for, and it’s something we have the tendency to forget, but that doesn’t make it any less true,” said student speaker Frida Martínez.