Martha Rayas

Transcription by Shahmeer Azmat
09/19/2012

>> LAYERED VOICES: [inaudible]

>> MARTHA Rayas: Hello everybody, my name is Martha Rayas. I'm a student here at UTEP, out of the classroom. The University of Texas, El Paso. And I'm a graduate student. I'm doing my masters in linguistics. I did my BA here at UTEP too and I want to share with you a story about the education I have attained at this point. 

I didn't want to come to El Paso. I'm a Mexican person and I was born in Juarez. And Juarez is located at the border of El Paso, Texas and when it got time for me to come to college, I didn't want to come to UTEP. My parents did want me to come to UTEP, but I didn't want to. And I did not come. I just stayed at Juarez, I studied there. But I don't know how, it just came to my mind and I say, "Well I am going to UTEP." And then I came. 

Let me tell you that first I didn't want to come and I got all these orientations that you have and I got scared. I got very scared. I didn't want to come here. I felt that I was not going to be able to make it. And that's why I decided that I didn't want to come here. It was like one semester that I didn't come and I did stay in Juraez. I studied there one semester in the University. 

And then, as I was telling you, something came to my mind and I said, "Well, I can do it." Well, I mean, not that I can do it, but I said...I don't know how I realized that it was better for me to come here to El Paso. And I decided to come and I started with my education. And I remember that I struggled a lot with the language in classes. Like for example, in history, I remember the last one, the hardest. And I remember that sometimes I cried because I got very low grades...not very low grades, but I remember that in the assignments I struggled and I thought that it must be because of the language.

And it was because of that. I also got trouble with math, I remember. But then, I just stay here at UTEP and that math was a remedial class, I remember. I had to take remedial classes. But then I passed them and then I just took the math that I took. The math that requires me to take the math and I do it. 

And I remember when it was time for me to decide what major I wanted to be, I wanted to be a communication major in the beginning, but I don't know how I decided to go linguistics. It just came to my mind and I looked really...really good plan and I remember that it was a bit undecided. But I just wanted to do it. I mean, I said I'll go for linguistics. I get into the program and I started as a volunteer in the [inaudible] position in the linguistics research lab. And I have learned a lot from there about how to research about [inaudible] position because I stayed there all my years from my undergrad to my grad. 

So right now I'm doing a thesis and this is my last semester and I'm going to graduate. I'm very excited about it. And I just want to let you know, I have found a lot of resources that really make you grow as a student. And that I have no regret for coming here. And that I have learned...and now that I'm seeing it, it was cool that I didn't want to come first at the beginning, but now I'm going to graduate from masters. And that to me means a lot. And that's all. Thank you.