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EXPLORIN G EDUCATIONAL RESILIENCE AMONG
MEXICAN ORIGIN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS FROM
MIGRANT FARMWORKER BACKGROUNDS

presented by

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EXPLORIN G EDUCATIONAL RESILIENCE AMONG MEXICAN ORIGIN
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS FROM MIGRANT FARMWORKER BACKGROUNDS

By

Sheila Faye LaHousse

A THESIS
Submitted to
Michigan State University
In partial fulfillment of the requirements
For the degree of
MASTER OF ARTS
Department of Psychology

2005

ABSTRACT
EXPLORIN G EDUCATIONAL RESILIENCE AMONG MEXICAN ORIGIN
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS FROM MIGRANT FARMWORKER BACKGROUNDS
By
Sheila Faye LaHousse
Using an ecological approach, this study sought to understand the protective

factors and processes that fostered educational resilience for Mexican origin college
students from migrant farmworker backgrounds. Educational resilience was defined as
the interactive process between internal and external resources by which students
experience academic success despite prior systemic barriers. A qualitative method of
inquiry was used in order to understand the unique experience of participants (6. g.
Maton et al., 1998, p. 643) and purposive sampling (Miles & Huberman, 1994, p. 28)
was used to obtain a representative sample (n = 6 women, n = 4 men) with certain
characteristics. An inductive content analysis was used to discover patterns and themes
that emerged from that data (Patton, 2002, p. 453). Results provide support for the
conclusion that breaking the chain of migrancy to get an education is a process that
occurs through the interaction of internal and external resources. Protective factors and
processes that emerged fell under these themes: (1) salient parental support for
education before college, (2) not missing school during migration, (3) personal
motivations to get an education, (4) how they entered college, (5) social support while
in college fiom CAMP and others, (6) encouragement from self, family and

community, and (7) mentorship.

Copyright by
SHEILA FAYE LAHOUSSE
2005

DEDICATION

This work is dedicated to my mother and my best friend, Carolyn Clark LaHousse.

iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

It is with sincere appreciation that I acknowledge all those who supported me
throughout the duration of this project. I would like to express gratitude towards Luis
Alonzo Garcia, Director of the MSU HEP-CAMP, for making this study possible and for
our many meetings on designing and implementing the project. I would like to thank the
MSU student participants, all remarkable human beings who generously gave their time
and stories. I would like to express gratitude towards Israel Cuéllar, for our work on the
resilience that inspired the creation of this project. I would like to thank my thesis
committee chairperson, William S. Davidson II and thesis committee members Pennie G.
Foster-Fishman and René Perez Rosenbaum, for our many meetings regarding the
creation, implementation and analysis stages and for mentoring me throughout graduate
school. I would also like to thank the MSU Graduate School and the MSU Department of
Psychology for providing me with the Graduate Student Research Enhancement Award
that made funding this project possible.

Mil gracias a todos mis amigos que me han apoyado, Mercedes Morales, Julia
Smith, Paul Babladelis, Tifi‘eny J iménez, Marisa Beeble, Kevin Khamarko, Nidal Karim
and especially Daniel Castaneda (te quiero mucho). Finally, I would like to express my
appreciation and gratitude towards my family and especially my mom and Kas for their
constant support and encouragement throughout the duration of this project. It is my h0pe
that these stories can provide inspiration to teachers, counselors, academic support staff,
and future educators to acknowledge the critical role they can play in promoting the

academic success of in the lives of immigrant and migrant youth.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................ ix
LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................... x
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................. 1
OVERVIEW OF THE LITERATURE .................................................... 4
Demographic Overview ............................................................ 4

ResrlrenceOvervrew 7

LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................... 8
Demographics ....................................................................... 8
Mexican Origin Population in Michigan ............................ 9
Farmworker Characteristics .......................................... 9
Farrnworkers in Mrchrgan 10
Farmworker Economic Trends ....................................... l 1
Educational Trends .................................................................. 12
Hispanic Educational Pipeline ....................................... 12
Latino/a Parental Educational Trends. . 12
Latino/a Higher Educational Trends ................................. 13
Farmworker Educational Trends .................................... 14
Migrant Farmworker Graduation and Attrition. 14
Conclusion .............................................................. 16
Resilience ............................................................................. 16
Theoretical Framework ............................................... 16
The Historical Context of Resilience ................................ 19
Risk Factors and Processes ........................................... 21
Protective Factors and Processes ..................................... 23
Educational Resilience .............................................................. 24
Individual Protective Processes ....................................... 24
Familial and Relational Protective Processes. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .. 24
Community Protective Processes ..................................... 26
Conclusion ............................................................... 27
Educational Resilience in Mexican Origin Students.. .................................. 28

Lango, 1995 ............................................................... 34
Arellano & Padilla, 1996 ............................................... 35
Gonzalez & Padilla, 1997 38
Cabrera & Padilla, 2004 ............................................... 40
Conclusion ............................................................................ 43

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY ........................................................ 45

Research Question .................................................................... 46
METHODS .................................................................................... 47
Use onualitative Methods. . . . 47
Procedures ............................................................................... 48
Study Context ........................................................... 48

Michigan State University (MSU) ..................... 48

College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) ....... 49

MSU CAMP“ 51

Participants .............................................................. 52

Eligibility Criteria ........................................ 54

Recruitment ................................................ 54

Data Collection .......................................................... 55

Interview Protocol” 56

Summary 61‘ Semi- Structured Section ................. 57

Summary of Structured Section ........................ 58

Data Analysis ........................................................... 59

Initial Steps to Data Analysis ........................... 59

Data Organization Framework.............................. 60

Inductive Centent Analysis ............................. 61

Meeting the Trustworthiness Criteria ............................................. 63
Limitations of the Study ............................................................ 64
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ............................................................ 67
Background Context of Academic Success. . . . . . .. ....................................... 73
Experience in the Fields ............................................... 73

Education of Migrants in General .................................... 78
Experience with Discrimination in High School ................... 80
Self-Conceptualizations of Academic Success. . ........................ 84

Protective Factors and Processes That Led Them to College ....................... 86
Salient Parental Support for Education before College ........... 87

Not Missing School During Migration......... 95
Personal Motivations to Get an Education....... . 100

How Did They Enter College? .................................................... 106
Protective Factors and Processes While in College ............................. 109

Support While in College from CAMP

and Others ................................................................................... 110

Personalized Social Support That Goes Beyond

Academics ............................................................... 115

Encouragement from Self, Family and

Community .............................................................. 121

Mentorship ............................................................... 127
Summary of Results and Discussion” 131

Background Context of Academic Success Summary ............ 131

Protective Factors and Processes that led them to College

vii

Summary ................................................................ 132
Protective Factors and Processes While in College

Summary ................................................................ 134

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS ................................................ 138
Results in Context of Past Studies ................................................. 138
Implications for Research 143
Implications for Program Policy ................................................... 146
APPENDICES ................................................................................. 148
Appendix A: Letter of Consent ................................................... 149
Appendix B: Interview Protocol .................................................. 150
Appendix C: Contact Summary Sheet 157
Appendix D: Email Invitation to Students ....................................... 158
Appendix E: Coding Framework Iterations ...................................... 159
Appendix F. Conceptual Model” 170
Appendix G: Pattern Analysis... 171
Appendix H. Participant Demographic Tables ................................. 173
REFERENCES ................................................................................ 180

viii

LIST OF TABLES

Table l: A Review of Educational Resilience in Mexican Origin Students: Hispanic
Journal of Behavioral Sciences (November 1982- May 2004) ............................ 29

Table 2: Outline of self-conceptualized paths to academic success ........................ 71

APPENDIX H: PARTICIPANT DEMOGRAPHIC TABLES

Table A: Gender, Age, Farmworker, Marital and Parenting Status of Participants. .. 173
Table B: Ethnic Identity, Language, Place of Birth, Parental Place of Birth, High

School County .................................. ’ ................................................. 174
Table C: High School GPA, Fall 2004 Semester GPA, ACT Score, Past College
Attendance, First Generation College Student Status ....................................... 175
Table D: Migration Status, Home base location, Migration Source and Destinations,
Housing in Home base and during Migration ................................................ 177
Table E: Family income and Financial Aid Status .......................................... 178
Table F: Migrant Educational Program Enrollment and Extra-curricular

Activities .......................................................................................... 179

ix

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Self-conceptualized Paths to Academic Success ................................. 7O

Introduction

There are an estimated 2.5 (Huang, 2002, p. 3) to 4.2 million farmworkers in the
US (U .S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1990, as cited in Poss & Pierce,
2003, p. 138). According to Carroll et a1., (2005) data from the 2005 National
Agricultural Workers Survey (N AWS) report indicated that the majority of farmworkers
in 2001-02 were foreign born from Mexico (p. 4), spoke primarily Spanish, (p. 17) had an
average 7th grade education (p. 18), and were under the poverty line, (p. 47). Despite
these ecological barriers, many students from farmworker backgrounds succeed in
school. However, little is known about the specific factors and processes that contribute
to success in higher education for these students. There are few studies concerning
educational resilience in students with Mexican backgrounds, (e. g. Gandara, 1982; Alva,
1991; Lango, 1995; Arellano & Padilla, 1996; Gonzalez & Padilla, 1997; Cabrera &
Padilla, 2004), and even fewer that have included children of migrant farmworkers with
Mexican backgrounds (e. g. Arellano & Padilla, 1996; Cabrera & Padilla, 2004; Lopez,
2001)

Latino/a enrollment in colleges and universities in the United States has increased
in the past twenty years (16% of all Hispanic 18-24 year olds enrolled in 1980 and 22%
in 2000) (Llagas, 2003, p. 95). However enrollment rates for both years were lower in
comparison to non-Hispanic Whites (27% of all non-Hispanic Whites enrolled in 1980
and 39% in 2000) and African Americans (19% of all Afiican Americas enrolled in 1980
and 31% in 2000) (Llagas, 2003, p. 95). Additionally, Latino/a university degree

attainment is smaller in comparison to non-Hispanic Whites and Afiican Americans

(Llagas, 2003, p. xi). NCES (National Center for Educational Statistics) data indicated
that of all bachelors degrees conferred in 1999-2000 in the US, 6.1% were Hispanic.
Other groups comprises larger percentages of the total degrees conferred for that
academic year (75% were non-Hispanic Whites and 8.7% were Afiican Americans)
(Llagas, 2003, p. 99).

Historically, the ethnic disparity of university graduation rates were typically
attributed to individual, familial and community level deficits that individuals lacked to
explain “underachievement” (e. g. Gonzales & Padilla, 1997). According to Warren
(1996), researchers in the past have attributed the educational disparity between Mexican
origin adolescents and their higher achieving non-Hispanic White counterparts to deficits
such as parental educational background, English-language proficiency and migration
history (p. 142). However, numerous studies have demonstrated how Latino/a families
can play an important role in fostering educational resilience, regardless of the families’
educational background or English language ability (Alva, 1991; Arellano & Padilla,
1996; Cabrera & Padilla, 2004; Ceballo, 2004; Gandara, 1982; Géndara, 1995; Gonzalez
& Padilla, 1997; Lango, 1995; Martinez, Jr. et al., 2004; Vasquez, 1982; Waxman et al.,
1997)

Similar to the prevalence of deficit oriented research on Latino/a adolescents is
how Luster and McAdoo (1994) claimed that the research on Afiican American children
and families has tended to focus on problems rather than assets which may contribute to
stereotyping (p. 1080). Luster and McAdoo (1994) also claimed that few studies have

focused on factors relating to success, and “many Afiican American children are doing

well in school and are well adjusted despite the fact that a disproportionate number of
their families must contend with poverty and other stressors” (p. 1080).

According to a review of the literature by Rodriguez and Morrobel (2004), most
research on Latino/a youth development has been heavily deficit focused, where they
explained, “the negative issues facing Latino youths have been well documented: low
educational attainment, lack of employment opportunities, poverty, teen pregnancy, and
poor health status and limited care (Padilla, 1995; Perez, 1992; Romo & Falbo, 1996)”
(as cited in Rodriguez & Morrobel, 2004, p. 108). Thus far, much is known from the
literature on Latino/a youth who are negatively affected by migration, extreme poverty,
limited education and limited English-language proficiency. Much less is known about
Latino/a youth who, against expectations, are successful in school and the processes by
which they became successful.

Although Mexican Americans are noted to have the highest high school dropout
rates in the United States, (as cited in Gonzalez & Padilla, 1997, p. 302), there has been
an overemphasis on this underachievement in the literature which “hinders our ability to
understand ‘the dynamics of educational attainment within the Chicano community’
(Gandara, 1982)” (as cited in Gonzalez & Padilla, p. 302). Rather than focusing on
underachievement, the study reported here sought to understand what fosters academic
success.

Researchers in the past have defined educational resilience as “the heightened
likelihood of success in school and in other life accomplishments, despite environmental
adversities, brought about by earlier traits, conditions, and experiences” (Wang et a].

1994, p. 46). Alva (1991) referred to this concept as academic invulnerability in

Mexican-American high school students (pp. 1 8-19). Gonzalez and Padilla (1997) also
used Alva’s definition of academic resilience for students “who sustain high levels of
achievement motivation and performance despite the presence of stressfiil events and
conditions that place them at risk of doing poorly in school and ultimately dropping out
of school (Alva, 1991, p. 19)” (as cited in Gonzalez and Padilla, 1997). For the purposes
of the study reported here, educational resilience is defined as the interactive process
between internal and external resources, by which students experience academic success
despite prior systemic barriers.
Overview of the Literature

Demographic Overview

The term Hispanic for the purposes of this study refers to anyone in the US.
whose origins are from a Spanish or Latin American country, regardless of race. In
coinciding with Llagas (2003), “Hispanics are persons of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban,
Central or South American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race. This
definition is used by the Office of Management and Budget as well as [National Center
for Educational Statistics] NCES” (p.1). The National Council for La Raza (N CLA)
(2004) explained that this definition is used by the US. Bureau of the Census, who use
the terms Latino and Hispanic interchangeably (National Council for La Raza, 2004, p. 1;
Firnmen et al., 1997, p. 2).1 Other researchers have mentioned how “it is important to
note that many Hispanics do not self-identify this way. As with other ethnic groups, many
prefer recognition based on national origin, like Puerto Rican, Venezuelan; still others

use Latino or Chicano” (F immen et al., 1997, p.4).

 

1 Although many argue over the correct usage of the labels, for purposes of consistency, the terms
“Latino/a” and “Hispanic” are used interchangeably unless otherwise specified.

Individuals of Mexican originz comprised two-thirds (66 %) of the Hispanic
population in the United States in 1997 (Llagas, 2003, p. 6). In Census 2000, the Hispanic
population consisted of 35.3 million (13 %) of the 281.1 million residents in the U.S.
(Guzmén 2001 , p. 1). Mexican origin individuals also comprise the majority of the ‘
estimated 2.5 million farmworkers in the United States (Huang, 2002, p. 3). Other
researchers have cited that higher estimates of farmworkers to be 4.2 million, of which
1.6 million were migrants (U .S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1990 as cited
in Poss & Pierce, 2003, p. 138).

According to the 2000 National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS), in 1997-
98, the majority (77%) of farmworkers in the U.S. were Mexican born (Mehta et al.,
2000, p. 6). In comparison, the 2005 NAWS report indicated Mexican born individuals
also comprised the majority (75%) of farmworkers in the U.S. in 2001-02 (Carroll et al.,
2005, p. 4). Since the study reported here focused solely on children of migrant
farmworker families, it is important to delineate the differences between migrant and
seasonal farmworkers.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture defined migrant farmworkers as those “whose employment requires travel
that prevents them from returning to their permanent place of residence the same day” (as
cited in Huang, 2002, p. 3). Fmthermore, a migrant farmworker’s principle employment
is seasonal agriculture and s/he travels and lives in temporary housing. Also, “nearly 40
percent of migrant workers are “shuttle migrants,” who “shuttle” fi'om a residence in

Mexico... Seventeen percent are “follow-the-crop migrants” who move with the crops

 

2 “Mexican origin” refers to either US or foreign born persons of Mexican heritage and descent.

[fiom state to state throughout the year]. Most migrant workers are foreign-born”
(Student Action with Farrnworkers, 2004). According to Students Action with

F arrnworkers (2004), a seasonal farmworker “is an individual whose principal
employment is agricultural labor but who is a permanent resident of [the] community and
does not move into temporary housing when employed in farm labor. Forty-four percent
of farmworkers are seasonal farmworkers, and the majority of these are U.S. born.” Many
seasonal agricultural workers were former migrants who have “settled ou ” in an
upstream location (e.g. Rosenbaum, LaHousse, Babladelis, Rivera, 2005).

Migrant farmworkers tend to travel in migratory streams to work the fields,
known as the Eastern, Midwestern, and Western streams. Each stream has sending and
received states, and there is considerable overlap between the streams. In general, the
Eastern stream includes migrants who live in Florida and other Southeastern states
during the winter, but migrate to the upstream Northeastern states and sometimes to the
Midwest. The Midwest stream begins in Mexico and south Texas, (usually in the Texas
Rio Grande Valley region) to Midwestern states such as Michigan, Illinois, Indiana,
Ohio, other Midwestern states, and even sometimes Northeastern states. Finally, the
Western stream begins in Mexico and Southern California and Texas. Migrants in the
Western stream generally travel to work in the Pacific Northwest and Northern
California. Many migrate within state boundaries, (e. g. California or Texas), and do not
cross state lines (Johnston, 1985, as cited in Poss & Pierce, 2003, p. 139). Finally,
migrant farmworkers travel each year fiom their sending to receiving states and stay for a

few months to over half a year depending on the crop, the duration of the harvest season

and the weather. Migrants may also travel to more than one state during the year before
returning to “home base” (e. g. Rosenbaum et al., 2005).
Resilience Overview

Essentially, resilience is a term to characterize individuals or groups who have
been exposed to adverse situations, but against expectations, have positively adapted with
the help of internal and/or external resources. This is considered to be “thriving” in the
face of stressfirl life circumstances which historically were thought to predispose one to
vulnerability or risk. Some contend that individuals become “stronger” or flourish after
exposure and experience with adverse conditions (similar to an inoculation to a virus).
Resilience is not thought of as being a personality trait per se (6. g. resiliency), but rather a
pattern that manifests with the dynamic interaction of individual, familial, and
community level factors. Thus, one may be resilient in the context of exposure to
adversity, yet s/he might overcome that through personal and/or external resources.

Resilience has been defined by Rutter (1987) as “the term used to describe the
positive pole of individual differences in people’s response to stress and adversity”
(Rutter, 1987, p. 316). According to Masten and Powell, (2003), studies of resilience
attempt to discern which [protective] factors are associated with and can predict better
positive adaptation among children at risk (Masten & Powell, 2003, p. 9). Masten and her
colleagues maintain three criteria in order for the process and person to be characterized
as resilient: (1) the individuals must show better-than-expected outcomes given the
circumstance(s) experienced; (2) there has to be a maintenance of positive adaptation
despite the occurrence or reoccurrence of stressful experiences, and (3) there has to be

good recovery from trauma (Masten, 1994; Masten et al., 1990 as cited in Luthar,

Cicchetti & Becker, 1999, pp. 544-5; Masten, & Powell, 2003). Thus, they must have
first experienced some perceived stressful circumstance, and also have positively adapted
despite this event or circumstance (Masten, 1994, p. 5). The resilience construct is unique
since inherent in the definition is the presence of prior adversity. For the purposes of this
study, educational resilience was defined as the interactive process between internal and
external resources, by which students experience academic success despite prior systemic
barriers.
Literature Review

In order to gain a macrosystemic perspective (e. g. Bronfenbrenner, 1979), on the
status of Mexican Americans, Mexicans and/or farmworkers residing in the United
States, it is important to understand various characteristics such as: population statistics,
mobility, economic indicators and educational attainment. Below I describe these general
demographics for Latino/as, Mexican origin individuals and farmworkers in the U.S.3

Demographics

According to the Guzman (2001), “in Census 2000, 281.4 million residents were
counted in the United States (excluding the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the U.S.
Island areas), of which 35.3 million (or 12.5 %) were Hispanic. Mexicans represented 7.3
percent, Puerto Ricans 1.2 percent, Cubans 0.4 percent, and other Hispanics 3.6 percent
of the total population” (p.1). According to Llagas, (2003), National Center for
Educational Statistics (N CES) data indicated that fiom 1990 to 2000, the Hispanic

population increased by 10 million people, which was 38 percent of the total U.S.

 

3 It is important to note that most data collected and reported does not delineate between the subgroups
under the umbrella terms “Hispanic” and/or “Latino” (e. g. Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Central and
South American).

population growth (Llagas, 2003, p. 6). It is projected that from the year 2000 to 2050,
Hispanics will account for 51 percent of the nation’s population growth, which will yield
98 million individuals, three times what the Hispanic population was at in 2000 (Llagas,
2003, p. 6). In 1997, the largest subgroup were from Mexican descent, and comprised
two-thirds (66%) of the total Hispanic population, (where only 15% were from Central
and South America, 9% fiom Puerto Rico and 4% fi'om Cuba) (Llagas, 2003, p. 6). In
2000, Hispanics were already the largest non-White ethnic group among children
(Llagas, 2003, p. 6), comprising 16 percent of the total number of children under 18 years
old in the U.S. (Llagas, 2003, p. 8).
Mexican Origin Population in Michigan

According to Census 2000, there were 323,444 Hispanics in Michigan in 2000,
(3.3 % of the total Michigan population) (Guzman 2001, p.4). Of all Michigan’s
Hispanics, the majority (68.2%) were of Mexican origin in that same year (Guzman 2001,
p.4). Thus, Mexican-ori gin individuals comprise the majority of the Hispanic population
in the nation and in Michigan (e. g. Guzmén 2001; Llagas, 2003).
F armworker Characteristics

Mexican origin individuals also comprised the majority of farmworkers in the
United States (Huang, 2002, p. 3). According to Mehta et al., (2000) data from the 2000
NAWS report indicated that in 1997-98, the majority of farmworkers were foreign born .
fi'om Mexican (77%) (p. 5), spoke Spanish (84%), had a 6tb grade education average, (p.
13), and most were under the poverty line (61%) (p. 39). According to Carroll et a1.

(2005) the 2005 NAWS report indicated that in 2001-2002, the majority of farmworkers

were foreign born fiom Mexico (75%) (p. 4), spoke primarily Spanish, (81%) (p. 17), had
a 7th grade education average (p. 18), and were under the poverty line (30%) (p. 47).

The number of farmworkers in the United States is unknown. Estimates have
ranged from around 1 to over 4 million. As many as 1.2 million are estimated to make the
annual trip from Mexico and Central American in search of agricultural work throughout
the U.S. (Cuéllar, 2002, p. 1) Huang (2002) cited that the 1994 NAWS report “estimated
that 1.6 million out of the 2.5 million farmworkers were seasonal agricultural workers
and that 670,000 (37% of all farmworkers) were migrant farmworkers (Gabbard, Mines
& Boccalandro, 1994)” (as cited in Huang, 2002, p. 3). Other researchers have cited
higher estimates of farmworkers to be 4.2 million of which 1.6 were classified as
migrants (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1990, as cited in Poss &
Pierce, 2003, p. 138).
Farmworkers in Michigan

An estimated 45,000 migrant farmworkers travel annually in the Midwestern
stream to Michigan, an important “fruit belt” state, (Cuéllar, 2002, p. 1). Another
researcher cited that “according to April 2001 data provided by the Migrant Services
Division of the Michigan Family Independence Agency, Michigan had approximately
40,000 migrant agricultural workers, making it the fifth largest user of actively transient
migrant workers” (Michigan F IA, Migrant Services Division, 2001, as cited in Gold,
2004, p. 7). Another source cited that in 1997, there were 96,000 hired and contract
migrant and seasonal farmworkers, where the majority worked on average less than 150

days per year (Rosenbaum, 2002, p. 4).

10

Agriculture is Michigan’s second largest industry (Gold, 2004, p. 8) with around
S 3.4 billion dollars in revenue from farm production in 2002 (USDA, National
Agriculture Statistics Service, as cited in Gold, 2004, p. 8). Ninety-eight percent of
Michigan’s migrant and seasonal farmworkers were Mexican American in 2001, and over
half traveled fiom Texas and Mexico to Michigan (Gold, 2004, p.7) in the Midwest
stream. The 2005 NAWS report illustrated how in 2001-02, farmworkers nationally were
mostly foreign born fiom Mexico, with a 7th grade average education, and were under
the poverty line (e. g. Carroll et al., 2005). Parallel to the NAWS data was how Gold
(2004) cited that most migrant farmworkers in Michigan were Mexican American, below
the poverty line and had an average 6th grade education (Gold, 2004, p. 7 ).
F armworker Economic Trends

In 2002, non-Hispanic Whites accounted for 68 percent of the total U.S.
population and 45 percent of those in poverty. In comparison, Hispanics accounted for
12.5 percent of the total population yet almost 25 percent of those in poverty in 2002
(Guzman, 2001, p. 1; Proctor & Dalaker, 2003, p. 5). This economic disparity of
Hispanic Americans compared to their non-Hispanic White counterparts is magnified
when one considers the millions of farmworkers (most of whom are Hispanic) who reside
within the United States and are considered the “the working poor” (Cuéllar, 2002, p. 1).
According to the 2000 NAWS report, “migrant farmworkers’ income in general declined,
even during the 1990s economic boom” (Mehta et al., 2000, p. 3). Furthermore,
According to the 2000 NAWS report, nearly three quarters of farmworkers earned less
than $10,000 a year and three out of five farmworker families lived in poverty in 1997-98

(Huang, 2002, p. 3; Mehta et al., 2000, p. 39). In contrast, the 2005 NAWS report

11

estimated 30 percent of farmworker families had incomes below the poverty guidelines in
2001-02 (Carroll et al., 2005 p. 47). Thus, the true percentage of farmworkers who are at
or around the poverty line is unknown and reports have ranged fiom 30 to around 60
percent.
Educational Trends

Hispanic Educational Pipeline

According to the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic
Americans (2004), a college degree is rapidly becoming a necessity for success in today’s
economy. However, only about 6 in 10 Hispanics (64.1%) ages 18 to 24 have completed
high school (National Council of La Raza, 2004, p. 21). This is in comparison to 8 in 10
Afiican Americans (83.7 %) and 9 in 10 Whites (91.8%) of the same age group (National
Council of La Raza, 2004, p. 21). Although her research dates back almost twenty years,
Fields (1988), explained that in 1985 less than two-thirds (62.9%) of Hispanics 18 to 24
had graduated from high school, which is in comparison to 75.6 percent of Afiican
Americans and 83.6 percent of Whites (Fields, 1988, p. 22). Clearly, there is an under-
representation of Hispanic youth in the high school graduation population that continue to
college or university, which Fields (1988) smartly noted as leaks in the “Hispanic
pipeline.”
Latino/a Parental Educational Trends

According to Livingston and Wirt (2003), in the year 2001 for U.S. school-aged
children 5 to 17, the total percentage of parents with a high school degree was 88 percent
and 31 percent had a bachelor’s degree or higher (Livingston & Wirt, 2003, p. 3). For

high school diplomas for parents, the percentages varied by ethnic group: non-Hispanic

12

Whites (95%), Afiican Americans (88%), and Hispanics (30%) (Livingston & Wirt,
2003, p. 3). For bachelor’s degrees or higher for parents, the different percentages were:
Whites (39%), African Americans (18%) and Hispanics (10%) (Livingston & Wirt, 2003,
p. 3).
Latino/a Higher Educational Trends

Hispanic students are significantly underrepresented in college graduate
populations in that among high school graduates, “the percentage of Hispanics who
eventually earn a bachelor’s degree has been noted to be roughly one-third that of
Anglos, (Eagle & Carroll, 1988)” (as cited in Pidcock, Fisher, and Munsch, (2001), p.
804). According to Livingston and Wirt (2003), “Hispanics composed 15.1 percent and
Whites accounted for 65.3 percent of the total U.S. population aged 16 through 24.
However, among students in the same age group enrolled in college in 2000, less than
one in ten (9.4 percent) was Hispanic and more than seven in ten (71.0 percent) were
non-Hispanic White” (Livingston & Wirt, 2003, p. 21).

According to Llagas (2003), the 2003 NCES data report entitled Status and
Trends in the Education of Hispanics indicated that “Hispanic enrollment in colleges and
universities increased between 1980 and 2000, though a smaller proportion of Hispanics
complete college compared to Whites and Blacks” (Llagas, 2003, p. xi). Additionally, in
1980 Hispanics represented 4 percent of students enrolled in colleges and universities,
compared to 10 percent in 2000 (Llagas, 2003, p. 94). In 2000, 10 percent of Hispanics
aged 25 to 29 in the United States had completed bachelor’s degrees (Llagas, 2003, p.
106). Within the past few decades there was an increase in high school graduation,

university enrollment and university graduation for Hispanic students. However, there is

13

little data that had reported the graduation and attrition rates for children of agricultural
farmworkers who are also of Mexican origin.
F armworker Educational Trends

The 2000 NAWS report indicated that 15 percent of farmworkers had completed
12 or more years of schooling with a median highest level of education of 6th grade
(Mehta et a1. 2000, p. 13; Huang, 2002, p. 4) Other more recent sources mentioned the 6th
grade median education farmworkers (e. g. Carroll et al., 2005; Gold, 2004), however,
there is a difference in country of origin by level of achievement. For instance, 2005
NAWS report indicated 56 percent of the U.S. born farmworkers had completed high
school, but only 6 percent of the foreign born had completed high school (96.2% of
foreign born were from Mexico) (Carroll et al., 2005, p.18). The 2000 NAWS report
noted that “one in five farmworkers had taken some adult education programs, including
GED and English. Only a small portion of them had attended college or university classes
(3 percent) or other classes such as citizenship, job training, and adult basic education (3
percent)” (as cited in Huang, 2002, pg. 4). Also, the 2000 NAWS report indicated that the
primary language of farmworkers was Spanish (84%), with only 2-4 percent was fluent in
English in 1997-98 (Huang, 2002, p. 4; Mehta et al., 2000, p. 13).
Migrant Farmworker Graduation and Attrition

According to Salerno (1991), rrrigrant4 students have the lowest high school

graduation rate in the U.S. public school system (p. 2). Salerno (1991) cited several

 

‘ Sometimes children of farmworker families are referred to as “migrants.” This is problematic in that it
excludes the occupational distinction of farm labor, and excludes seasonal farm labor. However, the
author’s usage of the term “migrant” here can be inferred to refer to children who are “shuttle migrants”
who nationally or transnationally travel throughout the year with their parents who work in agricultural
labor.

14

national dropout rates from the late 19803 for migrant youth that ranged from 45 to 90
percent (p. 2). Gibson (2003) cited graduation rates of migrant children and how “the best
and most recent national studies of school completion rates (now more than a decade old)
estimated that only about half received a high school diploma (State University of New
York [SUNY] Oneonta Migrant Programs, 1987 ; Vamos, 1992)” (as cited in Gibson,
2003, p.1). The U.S. Department of Education claims that “currently there is no reliable
estimate of the graduation rate for migrant students, the working estimate is roughly 45-
50%” (U. S. Department of Education, 2005). The true high school dropout rate for
migrant farmworker youth is unknown.

According to Salerno (1991), results from the Migrant Attrition Project indicated
that migrant students are at greater risk for leaving school early than the general
population because of several factors relating to annual migration and agricultural labor,
such as: (1) overage grade placement; (2) poverty; (3) interrupted school attendance (due
to mobility); (4) inconsistent record keeping; and (5) limited English proficiency
(Salerno, 1991, pp. 3-4).

Morse and Hammer (1998) cited similar obstacles that migrant students must
overcome to obtain a college degree. These factors were: (1) mobility (frequent moves);
(2) poverty; (3) gaps in previous schooling; (4) language barriers; (5) societal and
institutional barriers (due to ethnic differences and community isolation), (Morse &
Hammer, 1998, p. 1). However, Morse and Hammer (1998) also mentioned that with the
addition of the U.S. Department of Education’s Migrant Education Program (MEP), there
has been an increase in high school graduation rates from 10 to 40 percent in the past 20

years (as cited in Morse and Hammer, 1998, p. 1).

15

Conclusion

1 Children of Mexican origin farmworkers have many obstacles to overcome to get
a high school and/or college degree, such as: migration, (Morse & Hammer, 1998;
Salerno, 1991), English language ability, (Morse & Hammer, 1998; Salerno, 1991)
parental educational status and socioeconomic status, (e.g. Carroll et al., 2004, Cuéllar,
2002; Flores, 1996; Gibson, 2003; Huang, 2002; Martin, 1996; Mehta et al., 2000; Morse
& Hammer, 1998; Vasquez, 1982). Higher parental educational and socioeconomic status
are tools that provide the opportunity to access the “culture of college” (e. g. Arellano &
Padilla, 1996; Cabrera & Padilla, 2004) within today’s U.S. society. Despite the
aforementioned obstacles, many students from farmworker backgrounds succeed in
school and go to college. However, little is known about the specific factors and
processes that contribute to academic success to gain entry into and succeed in higher
education for these students.

Resilience
Theoretical Framework
This study was guided by an ecological approach that emphasizes the person-

environment interaction level of analysis. This focus stemmed fiom Bronfenbrenner’s
ecological model of human development (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; 1986).
Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model includes several levels of analysis (e. g. ecosystems)
that are important for understanding psychosocial development in children: microsystem,
mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem and chronosystem. Although not thought of as part
of the ecological model, individual or personal traits also affect development (e.g.

personality, gender, motivation and temperament) (Levine, Perkins & Perkins, 2005, p.

16

119). The microsystem is comprised of social settings most proximal to the child where
development occurs (e. g. the family, classroom or peer group). The mesosystem is an
interaction or link between different microsysterns that also can influence the child in a
variety of ways (e. g. parent-school interactions). The exosystem is the community niche
in which the child lives (e. g. educational, medical, recreational resources or opportunities
in the neighborhood). The macrosystem is the greater societal, political, economic or
cultural influences that are distal yet still influence development (e. g. cultural values for
gender based behavior) (Bronfenbrenner, 1986; Levine et al., 2005, p. 119). Some
ecological models include chronosystemic levels of analysis that “makes possible
examining the influence of the person’s development of changes (and continuities) over
time in his/her environment (Bronfenbrenner, 1986a)” (as cited in Bronfenbrenner, 1986,
p. 724). Examples of chronosystem-focused research is examining a life transition (e. g.
school entry, puberty), or the life course (e. g. longitudinally tracking significant
transitions throughout the life span) (Bronfenbrenner, 1986, p. 724). Apart from the
above socio-cultural ecosystems is the individual 's natural/ physical environment (e. g.
weather and exposure to environmental toxins) that can also influence individual
development. Thus, there are several factors and processes within the child’s internal,
proximal and distal environments that foster or hinder a healthy developmental trajectory.
In addition to the above ecological levels of analysis is how Kelly (1966)
introduced principles of ecology into community psychology (Levine et al., 2005, p.
126). Kelly adapted four ecological principles that he believed were useful in
understanding community interventions which were: interdependence, cycling of

resources, adaptation and succession (Levine etal., 2005, p. 128). Interdependence

l7

refers to how “changes in one ecosystem will produce changes in other components of
that system” (c. g. if the U.S. Department of Education adopts a certain policy it may
affect other governmental agencies) (Levine et al., 2005, p. 128). Cycling of resources
refers to how energy is transferred throughout a system, which relates to how resources
are created, defined and allocated within a given ecosystem (e. g. how communities
distribute resources may differentially affect the community members) (Levine et al.,
2005, pp. 130-131). Adaptation “describes the process by which organisms vary their
habits or characteristics to cope with available or changing resources” (e. g. If someone
loses their job, they adapt and find another job) (Levine et a1, 2005, p. 131). Related to
adaptation is the niche or habitat that a given organism can survive in (Levine et al.,
2005, p. 133). One’s ecological niche is the natural and socio-cultural ecosystem in which
s/he resides that has certain resources, opportunities and characteristics. Having a greater
niche breadth refers to the broader range of niches or habitats in which an organism can
survive. Thus, a person who is bilingual has a greater niche breadth than someone who is
monolingual since s/he can adapt to more ecological niches and is thus able to access
more resources and opportunities. Finally, succession refers to how ecosystems are never
static and always changing, with differing inputs and outputs coming in and out of the
ecosystem (e. g. In 2005 there were more college-educated women versus in 1950)
(Levine et al., 2005, p. 136). Kelly’s ecological principles can be used to understand the
relationships among the different ecosystems within in Bronfenbrenner’s ecological
model and how they change over time.

Most community psychologists adopt the language of ecology to emphasize that a

person’s development occurs in context. This is in opposition to individually oriented

18

models of psychology that often explain development in terms of genetic or inherited
traits and underestimate the importance of environmental influences (Levine et al., 2005,
p. 119). Using an ecological approach suited the present investigation since studies of
resilience tend to examine individual, relational and community level protective factors
that foster positive adaptation despite prior systemic barriers. These individual, familial/
relational and community and opportunity level protective factors are conceptually
similar to Bronfenbrenner’s ecological levels of analysis.

Rather than focusing on shortcomings of students and their families, it is
important to focus on factors and processes that foster academic success (Gonzalez &
Padilla, 1997, p. 315) The resilience perspective offers a framework to focus on those
processes and mechanisms that foster positive adaptation and success for students who
are underrepresented in higher education (e. g. Luster & McAdoo, 1994; Luthar, 2003;
Wang et al., 1994; Werner & Smith, 2001). The resilience perspective places more
attention on ecological systems (Bronfenbrenner, 1979,1986) outside the individual, such
as structural constraints and opportunities (e. g. O’Connor, 1997, 2002) and family and
relational support. For the purposes of this study, educational resilience was defined as
the interactive process between internal and external resources, by which students
experience academic success despite prior systemic barriers.

The Historical Context of Resilience

The idea of positive adaptation or developmental trajectory despite predicted
problems was introduced in the 19703 by the pioneering work of Norman Garmezy, who
sought to understand the nature and origins of schizophrenia. This later led to his

investigations of risks for developing psychopathology due to parental mental illness.

19

Garmezy and the work on Project Competence led to the emergence of the resilience
concept, in that there was a strong observation of children who developed well despite
their risk status or exposure to adverse environmental stimuli (Masten & Powell, 2003,
pp. 1-2).

During this same era, Emmy Werner and Ruth Smith discovered positive
developmental outcomes of well-adjusted adults in their 40 year longitudinal study with a
1955 birth cohort on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. Werner and Smith’s groundbreaking
work illustrated the manifestation of resilience despite a variety of biological and
psychosocial risk factors. Their goals were to “document, in natural history fashion, the
course of all pregnancies and their outcomes in the entire island community fiom birth to
age forty and to assess the long-term consequences of perinatal trauma, poverty, parental
psychopathology and adverse rearing conditions on the individual’s adaptation to life,
(Werner, Bierrnan, & French, 1971; Werner & Smith, 1977, 1982, 1992; Werner, 1999,
2000a, as cited in Werner & Smith, 2001, p. 2). Since their study was prospective in
design, it gave them the unique opportunity to document protective factors in the
individual, family and community that yielded resilience in adulthood. This prospective
resilience study is rare compared to the majority of resilience research that is
retrospective by nature of design, (Werner & Smith, 2001, p. 2).

According to Werner and Srrrith (2001), since the late 19503, most behavioral
scientists have investigated the negative impact of biological and psychosocial risk
factors on the development of children. The observation that the majority who were
exposed to risk and adversity actually thrived over the course of the 40 year study gave

rise to the new body of research on resilience. According to Masten (2001), “research on

20

resilience aims to understand the processes that account for these good outcomes” (p.
228)
Risk Factors and Processes

Generally, it is agreed upon in the resilience literature that ecological adversities
are either proximal or distal conditions, (familial, cultural, social, political and
economic), that predispose individuals to negative developmental projections. These
adversities are generally termed as risk factors. Premature birth, poverty, parental mental
illness, divorce, war, and maltreatment are all kinds of adversity experienced by children
that have been studied by investigators of risk and resilience (Masten & Powell, 2003, p.
7). It is common to focus on cumulative risks which are “studied either by aggregating
information about stressful life experiences or by aggregating risk factors” (Masten &
Powell, 2003, p. 7). According to Masten and Powell (2003) this idea of cumulative risk
came from research that demonstrated how most risk factors manifest in constellation
with other related risk factors. Masten and Powell (2003) also cited how Garmezy
identified the following risk factors from his Project Competence studies: low parental
education, a single-parent household, foster placement, or maltreatment. These risks were
tallied, and then compared to behavior, academic and health outcomes. His results
showed that on average, the higher the number of risk factors correlated with the more
observed problems (Masten & Powell, 2003, p. 8). However, this correlational
relationship is not inevitable. As F ergusson and Horwood (2003) noted, “this relationship
is by no means deterministic, and it has been well documented that children exposed to
extremely adverse environments appear to avoid developing later problems of adjustment

(Fergusson & Horwood, 2003, p. 131).

21

To illustrate this idea, Werner and Smith (2001) discovered fi'om their 40-year
longitudinal study with the 1955 Kauai island birth cohort, many “at-risk” youth
developed into fully functional adults despite exposure to multiple chronic stressors. The
psychosocial stressors (risk factors) the cohort was exposed to during the forty-year
developmental cycle were: “perinatal stress, [they] grew up in chronic poverty, were
reared by parents who had not graduated from high school, and lived in a family
environment troubled by chronic discord, parental alcoholism, or mental illness” (Werner
& Smith, 2001, p. 56). Werner and Srrrith (2001) found that one out of three of the high
risk children managed to cope successfully with these adversities, and they “called them
‘vulnerable but invincible ’ (Werner & Smith, 1982)” (Werner & Smith, 2001 p. 56).
Werner and Smith (2001) compared the individuals who were ‘vulnerable but invincible’
with those who developed serious developmental problems, and found group differences
in individual, familial, and community characteristics. These group differences were:

“Constitutional factors (health, temperamental characteristics) discriminated most

between the resilient children and their hi gh-risk peers in infancy and early

childhood. The emotional support of alternative caregivers, such as grandparents
or siblings, and the child’s verbal and reasoning skills gained in importance in
middle childhood. By late adolescence, personality characteristics, such as high
self-esteem and an internal locus of control, and the presence of external support
systems differentiated most between positive and negative developmental
outcomes among the high-risk children. As the number of risk factors or stressful

life events increased, more protective factors were needed to counterbalance the

22

negative aspects in the lives of these vulnerable children and to ensure a positive

developmental outcome.” (Werner & Smith, 2001, p. 58)
Thus, according to Werner and Smith’s (2001) research, there are protective factors and
processes found within the individual, family and community that counteract and
ameliorate the negative effect of the risk factors in that study.
Protective Factors and Processes

According to Masten and Powell, (2003), studies of resilience attempt to
distinguish which factors are associated with and can predict better positive adaptation
among children at risk (Masten & Powell, 2003, p. 9). These factors are protective
processes “that protect development from the ravages of hazardous growing conditions,”
(Masten & Powell, 2003, p. 9). Masten and Powell (2003) mentioned that past researched
protective processes in studies of resilience were: “more resources, such as better
parenting, intellectual skills, or social support” that “can off set the negative effects of
risks or adversity so that children have better outcomes” (Masten & Powell, 2003, p. 10).
The idea behind identifying protective processes in the child’s life is that “increasing the
key assets in quality or number could theoretically improve the competence of children at
risk” (Masten & Powell, 2003, p. 10). As such with the idea of cumulative risk mentioned
above, protective factors have the potential to counterbalance risk and adversity in an
additive model of resilience (Masten & Powell, 2003, p. 13).

The major focus of resilience research is to determine those protective processes
and factors that can have an ameliorating effect on risk and adversity. Both quantitative
and qualitative studies on resilience have convergent findings in identifying protective

factors and processes that can counterbalance risk (e. g. Luthar, 2003). Protective factors

23

and processes found to be associated with resilience are within these ecological levels:
(1) individual, (2) family and relationship, and (3) community, (Masten & Powell, 2003,
p. 13).
Educational Resilience

There are three major categories of protective factors and processes that
ameliorate the presence of risks and adversity by fostering academic success: (1)
individual attributes, (2) family and relationships, and (3) supportive systems outside the
family (community resources and opportunities) (Masten & Powell, 2003, p. 13).
Individual Protective Processes

At the individual level, According to Wang et a1. (1994), there are certain
characteristics of students who can be considered resilient (students who are doing well
in school despite expectations that say otherwise) versus their peers who are not
considered resilient. Resilient children have been found to possess: high locus of control,
self-esteem, self-efficacy, autonomy, holding high expectations and working and playing
well, (Garmezy, 1991, as cited in Wang et a1. 1994, p. 48). Furthermore, they cited that
“overall, social competence, good problem-solving skills, independence, and a clear
sense of purpose are the critical attributes of resilient children” (Masten, Best, &
Garmezy, 1990; Masten, Morison, Pellegrini, & Tellegen, 1990, as cited in Wang et al.,
1994, p. 49). Thus, one can expect that those who possess more internal protective
processes will do better in school than those who do not.
Familial and Relational Protective Processes

Microsystemic external factors and processes (e. g. social relationships)

(Bronfenbrenner, 1986) are also important in promoting resilience in youth. Relationships

24

with family, peers, and alternative caregivers and mentors (e. g. Werner & Smith, 2001)
have been found to be key elements in promoting resilience. Commonly researched
protective factors at the relational/ familial level are: parenting quality (including
warmth, structure, monitoring and expectations), close relationships with competent
adults (parents, relatives, and mentors), and connections to pro-social and rule-abiding
peers (among older children), (Masten & Powell, 2003, p. 13). According to Wang et a1.
(1994) “the quality of the care-giving environment is central to the development of
resilience” (p. 56)

In a literature review entitled Resilience in Latino Youth, Stutrnan and colleagues
(2002) noted that “the importance of parental support and familism in academic resilience
is also well documented (Catterall, 1998; Fuligni & Tseng, 1999; Gandara, 1995;
Gonzales & Padilla, 1997; Hernandez, 1993; Rurnbaut, 2000; Suarez-Orozco, 1991;
Suarez-Orozco & Suarez-Orozco, 1995)” (as cited in Stutrnan et a1, 2002, p. 20). Vasquez
(1982) also conducted a review of the literature “to identify and examine barriers
purported to prevent the participation of Mexican American women in higher education
as well as strategies to confront those barriers” (Vasquez, 1982, p. 147). In this review,
she cited results from her dissertation in which she found that “mother encouragement to
do well in school was one of the most important” factors for Mexican American women
to succeed in college (Vasquez, 1982, p. 161). A more recent study conducted by
Martinez Jr. et al. (2004) was designed to identify factors that promoted or hindered
academic success of Latino/a middle school and high school youth. The most salient
conclusion mentioned by Martinez, Jr. et a1. (2004) was that “F amilia [family] is the

most powerful protective force for many Latino children. We need to develop and refine

25

intervention strategies that enhance parents’ abilities to promote [academic] success for
their children” (Martinez, Jr. et al., 2004, p. 147).
Community Protective Processes
Aside from family and relational factors, exosystemic factors and processes (e. g.

Bronfenbrenner, 1986) that are important in promoting resilience in youth development
are community resources and opportunity level factors. Such factors researched in the
past were: good schools, connections to pro-social organizations (such as clubs or
religious groups), neighborhood quality (public safety, collective supervision, libraries
and recreation centers), and quality of social services and health care (Masten & Powell,
2003, p. 13). A community level protective factor in youth is the school that they attend.
Wang et a1. (1994) gave characteristics of effective schools which fostered resilience in
children. These were schools that emphasized a sense of student involvement and
belonging that reduced the feeling of alienation and disengagement (Arellano & Padilla,
1996; Cabrera & Padilla, 2004; Wang et al., 1994, p. 51). Wang et al. (1994) explained
that “the more ways that a student feels attached to teachers, classmates, the school, and
the instructional program, the more likely that [there will be] participation in school
[which] functions as a protective shield against adverse circumstances” (Wang et al.,
1994, pp. 51-52). Thus, it is not the school alone but the sense of belonging and
connectedness that is created by the specific school’s climate.

Another protective factor that promotes academic success at the community level
is the opportunity to attend compensatory academic programming. Morse and Hammer
(1998) cited that with the addition of the U.S. Department of Education’s Migrant

Education Program (MEP), there has been an increase in high school graduation rates

26

from 10 percent to 40 percent in the past 20 years for migrant students (Morse &
Hammer, 1998, p. 1). It may be inferred that this increase in high school graduation rates
has been facilitated by the addition of the MEP programs. Gibson (2003) cited a
longitudinal study she conducted as a part of a team of researchers with nrigrant high
school students from 9th through 12th grade. The research team collected both qualitative
and quantitative data on a cohort of 160 Mexican and Mexican American migrant
students in the high school class of 2002. Contrary to how past studies, these researchers
found a graduation rate of 77 percent (with an additional 8 % pursuing a GED) for the
160 migrant students (Gibson, 2003, p. 1). The researchers attributed the high retention
rate to the students’ involvement in the Migrant Education Program (MEP). Other factors
that supported student success were: (1) MEP staff supplemental academic support, (2)
creation of a sense of belonging, (3) development of supportive relationships, and (4)
strengthening home-school-community links (Gibson, 2003, p. 2). The “MEP offered a
space, both as a physical site and as a set of relationships” which enabled these students
to succeed (Gibson, 2003, p. 2).
Conclusion

There are several individual attributes and external resources and supports that
have been found to be associated with educational resilience in children in general.
However, the question remains if these same protective factors and processes support
resilience in Mexican origin students and/or students from farmworker backgrounds.
After presenting population, economic and educational trend data followed by resilience
and educational resilience it is important to limit the focus to educational resilience in

Mexican origin students. Since the majority (75-77%) of U.S. farmworkers are Mexican

27

born (Carroll et al., 2005, p. 3, Mehta et al., 2000, p. 5) and almost all (98%) farmworkers
in Michigan are Mexican American (Gold, 2004, p. 7) it is important to introduce the past
research on educational resilience of Mexican origin students.

Educational Resilience in Mexican Origin Students

The majority of college student retention or attrition studies have focused on
potential risk factors and deficits that contribute to attrition rates (Alva, & de Los Reyes,
1999; Ishitani, 2003; Pidcock et al., 2001; Sailes, 1993; Waxman et al., 1997). Only a few
studies have focused on protective factors that contribute to academic success or
educational resilience in Mexican origin students (Alva, 1991; Arellano & Padilla, 1996;
Cabrera & Padilla, 2004; Ceballo, 2004; Feyl-Chavkin & Gonzalez, 2000; Gandara,
1982, 1995; Gonzalez & Padilla, 1997; Lango, 1995), and almost none have focused on
the academic success or educational resilience for students fi'om farmworker backgrounds
(e. g. Arellano & Padilla, 1996; Cabrera & Padilla, 2004).

Table 1 outlines the following section that includes a review of six articles from
the Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences from November, 1982 to May, 2004. All six
studies focused on: academic success, academic resilience, academic invulnerability or
educational resilience. The studies included both quantitative (n = 3) and qualitative (n =
3) research methods and analyses with high school, college, or post-college educationally
resilient Mexican, Mexican American or Chicano/ Chicana individuals. Each is presented
in chronological order beginning with the first known study on high-achieving Chicanas.
These studies provided the groundwork for the study reported here on educational
resilience of Mexican origin college students with farmworker backgrounds in the

Midwest.

28

Table 1: A Review of Educational Resilience in Mexican Origin Students: Hispanic

Journal of Behavioral Sciences (November 1982- May 2004)

 

Researcher Method

Purpose

 

Gandara Retrospective in-depth interviews

(1982) with 17 high achieving Chicanas
aged 28 to 40 who earned a J .D.,
M.D., or Ph.D.

Alva Quantitative interviews with 384

(1991) tenth grade boys and girls of
Mexican heritage in a high school
located in Los Angeles County.

Lango Quantitative phone interviews with
(1995) 391 undergraduate and graduate
Mexican American women at
California State University,
Sacramento.
Arellano Retrospective in-depth interviews
& Padilla with 30 academic invulnerable
(1996) Latino/ Latina students at Stanford
University. Comparisons were made
between low and high SES students.
Gonzalez Quantitative interviews with 2,169
& Padilla Mexican origin students, part of a
(1997) larger study with 7,140 participants
from three California high schools.
Comparison of 133 resilient (mostly
A grades) to 81 non-resilient
(mostly D grades or below.
Cabrera & Retrospective in-depth interviews
Padilla with two students of Mexican
(2004) heritage (one woman and one man)
in their early 203 who graduated
from Stanford University and are
considered academically resilient.

 

Identify strengths that
contribute to educational
success in Mexican
Americans.

Identify personal and
environmental resources that
discriminate between
academically invulnerable and
vulnerable students.

Examine Mexican American
women enrolled in graduate
programs and protective
characteristics that may relate
to their enrollment.

Explore life experiences and
backgrounds of Mexican
American students to examine
factors that contributed to
academic success.

Identify factors that contribute
to the academic resilience and
achievement of Mexican
American high school students
by comparing resilient to non-
resilient students.

Understand the challenges the
respondents faced coming
from extremely impoverished
backgrounds in the process
from kindergarten to
graduating Stanford and how
they succeeded in the “culture
of college”.

 

29

 

Gdndara, 1982

Patricia Gandara (1982) conducted the first known study to identify strengths that
contributed to educational success for Mexican Americans for her dissertation research.
She interviewed 45 Mexican Americans between the ages of 28 and 40 who from lower
socioeconomic backgrounds and had completed J .D., M.D., and Ph.D. degrees. The
participants were born in the Southwest, or came to the Southwest from Mexico at an
early age. She used a structured interview protocol with 117 questions and 10 categories
to assess background information: demographic characteristics, religion, parental
characteristics/ child-rearing practices, physical environment of the home, school
variables, peer relations, communities, health factors, ethnic identity/ acculturation,
personal attitudes and experiences. Her objective was to “identify background factors and
experiences held in common by the women that may have contributed to their
extraordinary educational accomplishments” (Gandara, 1982, pp. 167-170).

Gandara (1982) found that among the women, the most important thing was “the
strong models their mothers provided, the emotional support of their families, and the
fact that they had attended highly integrated schools” (Géndara, 1982, p.167). Her results
were consistent with Anglo high-achieving women, in that the most important was the
role of the mother in fostering an educational drive (Gandara, 1982, p. 170). Additionally,
“the women reported that their mothers had either been equally as or more influential
than their fathers on their educational aspirations. . .Mothers were also more likely than
fathers to encourage higher education and nontraditional roles for their daughters”
(Gandara, 1982, p. 171). Gandara (1982) also found that a specific family influence on

educational was a hard work ethic, a common factor found in other immigrant families.

30

The women explained how their parents where exceptionally hard-working, and set high
performance standards in school, even though none of the parents had completed high
school (Gandara, 1982, pp. 169-172). For women, sometimes family responsibilities may
interfere with getting a college degree. Gandara (1982) found that “none of the women
married early and none had children until her education was nearly complete” (p. 177).
Delaying marriage and children tended to be a protective factor for the women.

Gandara (1982) found several gender differences in Chicano and Chicana high-
achievers. She found that Chicanas tended to come from more ethnically integrated
neighborhoods and schools than the men. The women had less ties with Mexico,
(although all were born in Mexico or were first-generation Mexican American), and
relied more on parental emotional support and less support outside the family for their
educational goals in comparison to the men. Chicanas also earned better grades than
Chicanos prior to attending college (p. 175).

Gandara (1982) found gender differences in achievement attributions, where men
attributed success to internal factors such as their own inner strength and abilities. In
comparison, women tended to attribute their educational success to the emotional support
of their family and to the guidance of their mothers, even though none of the parents
graduated from high school. Women also explained that their parents’ hard work ethic
and delaying marriage and having children tended to be protective factors to obtaining a
degree (Gandara, 1982, p. 177).

Alva, 1991
In early resilience studies, “invulnerable” was the term used to describe to

resilient youth, and “vulnerable” was used to for non-resilient youth (Werner & Smith,

31

2001). In this manner, Sylvia Alatorre Alva’s concept of “academic invulnerability”
corresponded to the educational resilience concept. In her study, “academically
invulnerable students can be described as those who sustain high levels of achievement
motivation and performance, despite the presence of stressful events and conditions that
place them at risk of doing poorly in school, and ultimately, dropping out of school”
(Alva, 1991, p. 19). The rationale for her study was:
“It is evident that a constellation of socio-cultural variables predispose Mexican-
American students towards academic failure, very little is known about the factors
that mediate their academic success. Regrettably, there has been a tendency to
focus almost exclusively on predictors of academic failure. There is very little
empirical research available on Mexican-American students who are
academically-successful or invulnerable to the detrimental conditions and events
that place them at risk” (Alva, 1991, p. 19).
By using the early resilience literature and Gandara’s (1982) study, she sought to
understand what personal (personality characteristics and attitudes) and environmental
resources (external sources of information, support, and affective feedback)
differentiated the invulnerable from the vulnerable high school students (Alva, 1991, p.
19). Alva (1991) conducted her study at a high school in Los Angeles County, California
(p. 22) with 384 tenth grade students (221 girls and 163 boys) who were of Mexican
heritage, in the U.S. since at least the seventh grade, and were not currently in Special
Education, Enrichment/Gifted, or English-as-a-Second Language (ESL) programs (p. 22).
She administered a quantitative survey instrument which included several measures. To

measure socio-cultural risk factors by “four independent variables: sex, father’s

32

occupation, generational status, and the respondent’s language backgroun ” (Alva, 1991 ,
p. 23). She also measured personal resources by two personality inventories: (l) The
Intellectual and School Status subscale of the Piers-Harris Self-Concept Inventory to
measures academic self-esteem; and (2) Clifford’s Academic Achievement
Accountability Scale to measure personal responsibility for acaderrric performance.
Environmental resources were measured by three composite scales of educational
support of parents, teachers and fiiends (Alva, 1991, p. 23). Finally, there were two
measures to assess subjective appraisals: the first composed of three different scales that
measured school climate and the second was a modified version of the Hispanic
Children’s Stress Inventory (Alva, 1991, p. 24).

In order to compare academic invulnerable to vulnerable students, she selected
academic outcome criteria that included academic grades for two semesters of their tenth-
grade year, and also a composite score of each respondent’s reading, language, and math
skills, based fiom the results of the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS). Then,
she selected the first and fourth quartiles of each academic outcome. Those in the bottom
quartile were considered academically vulnerable, and those in the top quartile were
considered academically invulnerable (Alva, 1991, p. 25). Alva (1991) ran several
regression and discriminant analyses to determine the variables that differentiated the two
groups. Her findings indicated that “college preparation was the most powerful
discriminator of high and low high school grades. Involvement at school, inter-group
relations, family concern, and support from teachers and fiiends followed in relative

importance” (Alva, 1991, p. 28).

33

She mentioned that her results were comparable to Gandara’s (1982) results that
emphasized parental support in relation to high academic goals and aspirations. Alva’s
(1991) results “support the premise that a constellation of protective resources and
appraisals can serve to buffer or protect at-risk students from the detrimental effects of
socio-cultural events and conditions that place them at risk for academic failure” (Alva,
1991,p.28)

Lango, 1995

Deborah Ramirez Lango (1995) conducted a study to determine the characteristics
that contributed to Mexican American women decisions to continue their education in
graduate studies. Lango (1995) based her study on the rationale that Mexican American
women are among the most poorly educated of all U.S. citizens, and that little research
has been done on factors that contribute to their enrollment in graduate studies. Lango’s
(1995) compared Mexican American women undergraduate seniors and graduate students
at California State University, Sacramento. She phone interviewed 391 Mexican
American women, (n = 240 undergraduate; n = 151 graduate students). Since her study
was exploratory and descriptive, she conducted chi-square tests to determine the
difference between the two groups of women. The constructs she examined were: (1)
social characteristics, (2) parental and familial characteristics and (3) educational
experiences (Lango, 1995, pp. 39—40). She only reported statistical significant differences
at the p < .10 level, which she explained was an accepted level for exploratory research
(Lango, 1995, p. 41).

Lango’s (1995) findings suggested that Mexican American women who went to

graduate school “tended to be characterized as an older, more mature student who is

34

committed to an education, comes from a traditional family, and has been integrated into
mainstream dominant society” (Lango, 1995, p. 45). Women who were enrolled in
graduate school (41%) tended to recognize their mother as their strongest supporter in
continuing their education, where 42 percent of undergraduates attributed this support to
themselves and only 16 percent reported their mother as the strongest supporter (Lango,
1995, p. 42).

Lango’s (1995) results supported findings from the Gandara study; the fact that
successful women tended to be Catholic, were taught to be self-reliant by their parents,
and that the women came from integrated schools (Gandara, 1982, p. 174; Lango, 1995,
p. 46). However, in contrast to Gandara’s findings is how Lango’s findings suggest that
Mexican American women graduate students were characterized as assimilated into
“mainstream dominant society” (Lango, 1995, pp. 46-47). Gandara’s study involved
Mexican American professional women who had not been assimilated, in that they were
either born in Mexico or first-generation American, tended to come from larger families,
and most were bilingual or spoke Spanish in the home, (Gandara, 1982, pp. 169-172).
Lango’s study participants tended to come from middle class backgrounds and were at
least second-generation American, (e. g. Lango, 1995, pp. 46—47).

Arellano & Padilla, 1996

Arellano and Padilla (1996) conducted a study on 30 undergraduate Mexican
Americans students enrolled in a highly selective university who “were interviewed about
their educational experiences to examine factors contributing to their academic success”

(p. 485). As with Alva’s (1991) study, Arellano and Padilla drew from the resilience

 

5 Arellano and Padilla (1996) used the term “Latino/Latina” in this study to refer to Mexican origin
residents of the United States (p. 505).

35

literature and used the term academically invulnerable to refer to students who sustain
high levels of achievement, despite conditions and events that placed them at risk for
academic failure.

Arellano and Padilla (1996) gave the rationale that past studies that focused on
explaining or predicting Latino student success emphasized socio-psychological variables
that promoted academic achievement, and did not focused on contextual variables, such
as life circumstances that may have impacted academic success (p. 488). Their study
sought to focus on the life experiences of highly successful Latino undergrads at an elite
ruriversity to study the patterns and themes that related to academic invulnerability.
Arellano and Padilla’s conducted retrospective qualitative interviews with 30 (n = 15 men
and n = 15 women) Mexican American students at an elite university. Students were
divided into 3 groups based on parental educational levels: (1) parents with 11 or fewer
years of schooling, (2) with at least one parent who graduated from high school, and (3)
with at least one parent who completed college (p. 488). Over half (53%) of the sample
came fi'om homogeneous (mostly Mexican American) high schools (p. 489). An
interesting fact is that 22 of the 30 participants (73%) were identified in the third grade as
gifted and talented (GATE) and were tracked into gifted and talented programs during
their academic careers (p. 489). An asset of having the 3 comparison groups was the
ability to compare students who came from low SES backgrounds to those who came
fiom middle or high SES backgrounds. Only students who came from low SES
backgrounds and were successful at the elite university were considered invulnerable

(resilient) in their study.

36

Arellano and Padilla first gathered background information by three instruments:
(1) a demographic questionnaire, (2) an educational resiliency scale, and (3) a semi-
structured interview protocol. The results from the educational resiliency scale were not
reported in this article. Questions in the semi-structured interview were derived from
relevant literature on contextual variables such as schooling influences and mentoring
experiences found to influence academic achievement in Latino students. The interview
protocol was divided into 5 categories: parental and familial characteristics, mentorship
experiences, schooling experiences, personal characteristics, and ethnic consciousness
(Arellano & Padilla, 1996, pp. 488-489).

According to Arellano and Padilla (1996) they found several convergent and
divergent themes among groups in their study and in relation to the literature on academic
invulnerability. The four themes common and central to the academic success of the all
respondents were: (1) the critical importance of parental support and encouragement, (2)
evidence of an optimistic outlook and a belief that success was possible no matter what
the challenge or obstacle, (3) a personal characteristic of “persistence”, and (4) a strong
identification with their ethnicity as a motivator for educational success. For the low SES
group, having a mentor or role model was important for setting and attaining academic
goals (Arellano & Padilla, 1996, p. 490). In describing the invulnerable (resilient)
students, Arellano and Padilla (1996) noted that “many said their parents were the most
influential motivating factor, and continued to be the main impetus for succeeding in their
undergraduate studies” (p. 493). This theme was convergent to what was found in the

Gandara, Alva and Lango studies above.

37

One of the Latino students in their study came fiom a farmworker background.
Arellano and Padilla (1996) talked about how she explained that her parents ”gave her
concrete examples while in the fields that served as a motivation to go to school and
succeed. For example, her parents said while in the fields, “If you don’t get a high school
education and beyond, you’re going to be doing this for the rest of your lives” (Arellano
& Padilla, 1996, p. 493).

Mentorship and role modeling, having a close tie to their Mexican heritage, and
not coming fi'om integrated schools tended to be protective factors for the low SES
Mexican American academically successful students. In order to be successful, one need
not necessarily forego their cultural heritage, contrary past research advocating
assimilation for success. An interesting finding is the fact that the majority (73%) of the
students had the opportunity to participate in gifted and talented tracking (GATE) from a
very early age. This has implications on the protective mechanisms associated with
membership in an academic enrichment program that not only fosters academic success
but also a sense of belonging.

Gonzalez & Padilla, 1997

Gonzalez and Padilla (1997) conducted a study to identify factors that contributed
to the academic resilience and achievement of Mexican American high school students
by comparing resilient to non-resilient students. As with Arellano and Padilla’s (1996)
study, Gonzalez and Padilla (1997) used Alva’s (1991) definition of academic resilience.
They explained that “rather than focus on the shortcomings of students who are at risk of
academic failure, the resilience construct attempts to identify factors that account for

success. Thus, protective factors that moderate the influence of risk factors on outcomes

38

are the focus of inquiry” (Gonzalez & Padilla, 1997, p.301). According to these
researchers, Mexican American students are to be considered “at-risk” for two reasons:
(1) low SES, which is strongly related to poor academic performance, and (2) adverse
circumstances due to the stress of the acculturation process (e. g. attempting to negotiate

between two cultures) (Gonzalez & Padilla, 1997, p. 302). Gonzalez and Padilla (1997)

 

explained that there have been a select number of studies that examined educational

resilience in Mexican American students. The purpose of their study was to identify

 

protective factors that differentiated high-achieving versus low-achieving students by
examining the role of peers, family, teachers, cultural identity, and the school
environment as sources of support that can enhance educational resilience.

As part of a larger study from the Stanford Center for Family Studies, a 314-item

 

questionnaire was administered to a total of 7,140 students from three California high
schools. Of this total sample, a sub-sample of 2,169 Mexican American students were
included in the analysis in this study, of which 133 resilient (those reporting mostly A
grades in high school) were compared to 81 non-resilient students (those reporting D
grades or lower in high school). The three high schools were either: (1) urban (25%
Mexican descent); (2) rural (60% Mexican descent); and (3) on the U.S.-Mexico border
(95% Mexican descent) (Gonzalez & Padilla, 1997, p. 305).

Demographic comparisons of resilient and non-resilient students indicated that
resilient students tended to have: (1) been women, (2) immigrant parents from or to have
been born in Mexico, (3) foreign schooling (39%), (4) lived with both parents (76%),
(only 48 % of non-resilient), (5) parents with higher parental education; and (6) been in

the college preparatory educational track (74 % of resilient students as compared to only

39

11% of non-resilient students). Ninety percent of all the students spoke Spanish
(Gonzalez & Padilla, 1997, p. 306). Their analysis of each composite variable (supportive

academic environment, sense of belonging to school, and cultural loyalty) indicated

 

several differences between the 2 groups. The t test analyses of the subscales indicated
that positive ties to school and teacher, value placed on school, and peer belonging were

significantly higher (p < .0001) in the resilient students versus their non-resilient peers.

Family peer support and familism were significantly higher (p < .01) for the resilient
students versus their non-resilient peers. There was no significant difference in cultural
loyalty among the two groups (Gonzalez & Padilla, 1997, p. 309).

Finally, regression analyses indicated that the sense of belonging to school
variable was only significant predictor of student grades (R2 = .20), (Gonzalez & Padilla,
1997, p. 313). Gonzalez and Padilla (1997) claimed that this corresponded with Alva’s
findings. Although cultural loyalty was not higher in resilient students that non-resilient
students, there was higher fanrilism in the resilient students, which may be a component

of culture. Cultural loyalty may be dependent on the ethnic heterogeneity versus

homogeneity of the school composition. Further investigation is needed on the roles that

a sense of belonging and a supportive environment play in educational resilience. Results

from this study may indicate that educational resilience is not a personality trait but
rather, “resilience is a capacity that develops over time in the context of environmental
support (Egeland et al., 1992, p. 19)” (as cited in Gonzalez & Padilla, 1997, p. 315).
Cabrera & Padilla, 2004

Cabrera and Padilla (2004) conducted retrospective qualitative interviews to

describe “the academic resilience of two individuals (one woman and one man) of

40

Mexican heritage who graduated from Stanford University” (p. 152). Their goal was to
understand in detail the challenges participants faced coming from extremely

impoverished backgrounds in the process from kindergarten to graduating Stanford and
how they succeeded in the “culture of college” (p. 152). According to Cabrera and Padilla
(2004), access to the knowledge about college culture (e. g. in the form of parental

cultural capital) is a prerequisite and a major challenge for students from lower SES
backgrounds (Cabrera & Padilla, 2004, p. 154). They defined educational resilience to
refer “to students who despite economic, cultural, and social barriers still succeed at high

levels” (Cabrera & Padilla, 2004, p. 152).
Cabrera and Padilla conducted two rounds of interviews. The first interviews were

to determine if the students met their criteria for judging academic resiliency and “to
assess the obstacles each overcame in terms of immigration, race, social class, and
perceived discrimination” (p.154). There was a series of predetermined areas to assess
each person’s life history: (1) the role of immigration, (2) the role of the mother, (3) the
role of the father, (4) high school experiences and college experiences, (5) involvement in
tutoring, mentoring, and after-school programs, (6) college advising, selection and
admission, and (7) college life and adjusting to new environments (p. 155). Data from the
first interview was organized thematically to prepare for follow-up semi-structured
interviews conducted to understand how contextual features and individual strategies
were used to overcome adversity in the process of becoming successful students (Cabrera
& Padilla, 2004, pp. 154-155).
Their results indicated that several protective themes emerged in the lives of the

two individuals that contributed to their academic success and ultimately graduating from

41

 

1|: ,

Stanford. Important characteristics and significant life experiences of both individuals
(Brandi and Juan; names changed for confidentiality) were organized and presented by
this thematic framework: (1) border crossing, (2) acquiring proficiency in English, (3)
childhood translation, (4) role of the mother, (5) role of the father, (6) high school
experiences, (7) peer pressure, (8) college preparation, selection and application, and (9)
life at Stanford. Cabrera and Padilla (2004) found that both students had strong r
connections to their Mexican heritage, “and this includes the experiences both had i
crossing the U.S.-Mexican border” (p. 156). Both students were raised in monolingual ..
Spanish-speaking homes (p. 157) and Erandi’s mother was a migrant farmworker (p.157).
Parallel to other educational resilience studies, both individuals emphasized that
their mothers contributed to their academic achievement. Both mothers constantly
monitored their children’s homework until the need to do schoolwork became
internalized (Cabrera & Padilla, 2004, p. 159). Cabrera and Padilla (2004) also explained
how Brandi was motivated early to get an education so she would not have to be an
agricultural worker (p. 159). Juan’s father also influenced him in several ways by being

the enforcer and breadwinner of the family. His father showed him the negative effects of

not having an education, (working 18 hour shifts), which motivated him to succeed in

school (Cabrera & Padilla, 2004, p. 161).
They concluded that “these two case studies demonstrate that adversity is not a

reason for failure.” (Cabrera & Padilla, 2004, p. 167) They also mentioned that the life
history approach revealed multiple challenges the two participants overcame in order to
succeed academically: poverty, learning English, lack of peer support, racism and

feelings of alienation (Cabrera & Padilla, 2004 p.167). For these students, having social

42

 

support (through family, peers, mentors and supportive programming such as MEChA)
was critical to ameliorate the effects of racism and being alienated at Stanford University.
It can be inferred that supportive programming such as CAMP (College Assistant

Migrant Program) may offer the same protective factor for farmworker students in a

 

predominantly White institution in the Midwest. The Cabrera and Padilla (2004) and

Arellano and Padilla (1996) were the only studies among the six that included Mexican

intensifies—fit“

origin participants who were also from farmworker backgrounds.

Conclusion
From reviewing these six studies fiom the Hispanic Journal of Behavioral
Sciences (1982-2004) on educational resilience in Mexican origin high school and

college students, several themes emerged. It is apparent that a constellation of protective

factors can ameliorate the effects of the risk factors associated with poverty (Alva, 1991).
These protective factors were found in the individual, family and community levels of
analysis. Some of these environmental and personal protective factors that were found to
foster educational resilience in Mexican origin high school or college students were: (1)
family emotional support and encouragement (Arellano & Padilla, 1996; Alva, 1991;
Cabrera & Padilla, 2004; Gandara, 1982; Gonzalez & Padilla, 1997; Lango, 1995), (2)
the support of the mother, regardless of her educational attainment (Cabrera & Padilla,
2004; Gandara, 1982; Lango, 1995), (3) access to knowledge and resources necessary to
enter into college culture (Alva, 1991; Cabrera & Padilla, 2004, Gonzalez & Padilla,
1 997), (4) having a mentor or role models in or outside of the family (Gonzalez &
Padilla, l 997), (5) having relational support outside of the family such as student groups,

supportive pro grarnming, or gifted-student tracking (Alva, 1991; Cabrera & Padilla,

43

2004; Gonzalez & Padilla, 2004), (6) maturity and focus on school, optimistic outlook,
high expectations and self-esteem, (7) the delaying of marriage, (8) a strong identification
with their Mexican ethnicity (Cabrera & Padilla, 2004; Gandara, 1982; Gonzalez &
Padilla, 1997), (9) motivation and persistence, (e. g. Cabrera & Padilla, 2004; Gandara,

1982), (10) motivation to not work as an agricultural laborer (Arellano & Padilla, 1996;

Cabrera & Padilla, 2004), and (11) a hard work ethic (Gandara, 1982).

 

Research is needed to understand the unique experience of college students who
come from migrant farmworker backgrounds and the protective factors that promote
educational resilience. It is unclear what common themes from low SES Mexican
American families can be also found in farmworker families, given the occupational
distinctive nature of migrant farm work. Some unique aspects of associated with
agricultural labor is that most hired crop workers are foreign born fi'om Mexico (75%)
(Carroll et al., 2005, p. 4) speak primarily Spanish (81%) (Carroll et al., 2005, p. 17),

have a low education level (average highest grade of education completed was 7th grade

in 2001-02) (Carroll et al., 2005, p. 18), live in poverty (30-61%) (Carroll et al., 2005, p.
47; Mehta et al., 2000, p. iiv), and experience annual migration that interferes with
schooling (Morse & Hammer, 1998; Salerno, 1991). No study has taken into account the
unique experience of migrant agricultural labor as it relates to enrollment and success at a

majority non-Hispanic White university in the Midwest. The study reported here explored

the individual, familial, and community level factors and processes that fostered

academic success for university students in the Midwest who came from migrant

fannworker backgrounds.

44

 

Significance of the Study

Individuals of Mexican origin6 comprise two-thirds (66 %) of the Hispanic
population in the U.S. (Llagas, 2003, p. 6) and also the majority of U.S. farmworkers
(Huang, 2002, p. 3). The 2005 NAWS report indicated that the majority of U.S.
farmworkers were foreign born fiom Mexico (75%), with 3 percent foreign born from
Central America and elsewhere (Carroll et al. 2005, p. 4). Of all hired crop workers
surveyed in 2001-02, 83 percent self-identified as Hispanic: Mexican (72%), Mexican
American (7%), Chicano (1%), and other Hispanic group (3%), (Carroll, et a1. 2005, p.
4). The 2000 and 2005 NAWS reports indicated that most farmworkers (30— 61%) had

incomes below the poverty level (Carroll, et al., 2005, p. 46; Mehta, et al., 2000, p. iiv).
The 2000 and 2005 NAWS reports also indicated that most farmworkers spoke primarily

Spanish (81- 84%), the average highest grade of schooling completed was 7th grade, and
only 15 percent had completed 12 or more years of schooling (Carroll et al., 2005, pp. 17-
18; Mehta et al., 2000, p. 13). Despite these obstacles, many students from farmworker
backgrounds succeed in school and go to college. Yet, little is known about what specific
internal and external resources contribute to success in higher education for Mexican
origin students whose parents have the migrant farmworker occupational distinction. A
few studies that set out to examine educational resilience in Mexican origin students
included students with farmworker backgrounds as part of their sample (e. g. Arellano &
Padilla, 1996; Cabrera & Padilla, 2004). However, these two studies did not explicitly
focus on the experience of students from farmworker backgrounds. It was therefore

important to limit the scope of the study reported here to this community of people to

If

5 “Mexican origin” refers to either United States or foreign born persons of Mexican heritage/descent.

45

 

 

understand the protective factors and processes which contributed to their academic
success. According to Masten and Powell (2003), studies of resilience attempt to discern
which factors and processes are associated with and can predict better positive adaptation
among children at risk (p. 9). This exploratory study focused on the educational
resilience of Mexican origin junior and senior college students who were attending
Michigan State University (MSU) at the time of the study. Students also came from
migrant farmworker backgrounds and were enrolled in the College Assistance Migrant
Program (CAMP) during their freshman year. The results of this study will help further
the understanding of the protective factors and processes that enable migrant farmworker
students to enroll into and succeed academically in the university.
Research Question

The resilience literature that tells us that most individuals who were predicted to
fail tend to thrive in the face of adversity (Goodwin, 2002; Reynolds, 1998; F eyl-Chavkin
& Gonzalez, 2000; Freitas & Downey, 1998; Kurnpfer, 1999; Luthar et al. 2000; Masten,
1994; Masten & Powell, 2003; O’Conner, 1997, 2002; Sameroff & Guttrnan, 2003;
Strand & Peacock, 2002; Werner & Smith, 2001; Yates et al., 2003). Little is known in
the educational resilience empirical literature about the processes by which Mexican
origin students fi'om migrant farmworker backgrounds break the chain of migrancy and
attend college. In order to gain a deeper understanding of how these students perceived
the process by which they entered into college and became successful, the following

research question was assessed:

From the perspective of MSU CAMP students, what are the protective factors and
processes that serve to promote and foster educational resilience in Mexican origin

farmworker students at Michigan State University (MSU)?

46

 

nami- .2236 51!,

Method

Use of Qualitative Methods

Qualitative research methods provide an ideal mechanism to investigate topics
“about which very little information is known, especially when such research focuses on
culturally and ethnic minority populations (Hughes & DuMont, 1993; J arett, 1995;
Jorgensen, 1989; Maton, 1993)” (as cited in Maton et al., 1998, p. 643; Ceballo, 2004, p.
174). Qualitative studies also have the strength to identify processes that lead to
outcomes, which might be missed in experimental and survey research (Maxwell, 1998,
p. 75). In relation to this is how there has been little to no empirical literature on the
processes that lead to the outcome of Mexican-ori gin rrrigrant7 students to overcome
adversity and enter into and become successful in college. This makes qualitative
research methods ideal for fostering that understanding. Qualitative methods of inquiry
also allow for understanding the insider (or emic) perspective of the participants (Patton,
2002, p. 454). Qualitative methods are appropriate for research focusing on cultural
issues and ethnic minority populations because they allow for the “rich, multifaceted, in-
depth exploration of a phenomenon, grounded in the world view, vocabulary, and
context-specific experiences of those studied (Denzin & Lincoln, 1994a; Stanfield, 1994;
T rickett, 1996; Weiss, 1994)” (as cited in Maton et al., 1998, p. 643). Maton et al.,
(1998) further cited that “in qualitative research, the possibilities for generating new,

ecologically based insights, constructs, interrelationships, and understandings of

 

7 Since all participants’ parents were “migrant farmworkers” and the colloquial term for “farmworker” is
“migrant”, both “migrant” and “farmworker” are used interchangeably.

47

 

 

contextual conditions are generally enhanced, as is the opportunity to have the voices of
nonmainstream populations be heard (Denzin, 1989; Fine, 1994; Lincoln & Cuba, 1985;
Miles & Huberrnan 1994; Strauss & Corbin, 1990)” (as cited in Maton etal., 1998, p.

643). Participants in the study reported here represented a unique subculture of first and

 

second generation immigrants from Mexico whose parents were migrant farmworkers,

who are first generation college students, whose source community is the Texas Rio

1Wxifiu an"!

Grande Valley and who experienced migration in the “Midwest stream.” An inductive
qualitative method of inquiry was appropriate because it allowed me to explore,
understand and gain insight in the unique experience of the participants and also allowed
a medium for their voices to be heard (e.g. Maton et al., 1998, p. 643).
Procedures

In this section, I explain the context in which the participants are enmeshed: the
College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) at Michigan State University (MSU). Then
I describe the eligibility criteria, recruitment procedures, participants,8 data collection
procedures and the survey instrument. After that, I describe data analytic procedures.

Finally, I discuss issues of trustworthiness, credibility and limitations of the study.

Study Context
Michigan State University (MS U)

This study took place in East Lansing, Michigan, a semi-rural community
adjacent the State’s capital, on the campus of Michigan State University (MSU) with

junior and senior university students who were enrolled in MSU and graduated fi'om in

 

8 Recruitment and data collection were delayed until the MSU University Committee on Research
Involving Human Subjects (UCRIHS) approved my Institutional Review Board (IRB) application on April

12, 2005 (IRB# 05-216).

48

the College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP). MSU is located in a Mid-Michigan
college town that had a total population of 46,525 in 2000 with 80.9 percent

Caucasian/White and 2.7 percent Hispanic or Latino (Fedstats, 2005).
In the 2004 fall semester there were 44,836 students enrolled at MSU. This

included 35,408 undergraduate students and 9,428 graduate and professional students; 54

percent were women and 46 percent were men. The racial/ethnic group percentages of the

r:4*iz.7m

total student population were: 83.5 percent Caucasian/ White, 7.8 percent African
American, 5.2 percent Asian/ Pacific Islander, 2.8 percent Chicano/ Other Hispanic, and
0.7 percent Native American (Michigan State University, 2005). All non-White students
comprised 16.5 percent (7,398) of the total undergraduate, graduate, and professional
school population in fall 2004. Of this, 1,255 students were labeled as Chicano/ Other
Hispanic (Michigan State University, 2005). MSU can be considered a predominantly
White institution based on the above statistics. The incoming freshman class of 2004 had
the following entrance scores: (1) median high school GPA of 3.3-3.8, (2) median ACT

composite score of 22-27, and (3) median SAT combined score of 1030-1240 (Michigan

State University, 2004).
College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP)

The College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) has been in existence since

1972 nationally and for 6 years at MSU (National HEP-CAMP Association, 2005).
CANIP is one of a few grant programs offered by the Office of Migrant Education (OME)
under the U.S. Department of Education. The programs offered by the OMB are: (1)
College Assistant Migrant Program (CAMP), (2) High School Equivalency Program

(HEP), (3) Migrant Education Coordination Support Center, (4) Migrant Education Even

49

 

Start (MEES), (5) Migrant Education National Hotline, (6) Technology Grants, and (7)
Title I Migrant Education Program (MEP). (Office of Elementary and Secondary
Education, 2005) These OME programs comprehensively:
“Provide academic and supportive services to the children of families who
migrate to find work in the agricultural, fishing, and timber industries. The
programs are designed to help migrant children, who are uniquely affected by the
combined effects of poverty, language and cultural barriers, and the nrigratory
lifestyle, to meet the same challenging academic content and student academic
achievement standards that are expected of all children. The migrant education
program is based on the premise that, with the right supportive services, migrant
children can achieve at the same level as their peers” (Office of Elementary and
Secondary Education, 2005).
Unlike other OME programs, CAMP aids farmworker students in their first year of
college with academic, personal, and financial supports. CAMP “assists migrant and
seasonal farmworkers and their children to successfully complete the first undergraduate
year of study in a college or university, and provides follow-up services to help students
continue in postsecondary education” (Office of Elementary and Secondary Education,
2004). CAMP projects are associated with the High School Equivalency Program (HEP)
which helps farmworker students who have dropped out of high school to get their GED
(National HEP-CAMP Association, 2005). In 2001, there were a total of 81 CAMP and
HEP projects in existence in 21 states and Puerto Rico (National HEP-CAMP
Association, 2005). Many HEP-CAMP projects exist together, and are treated as the

same entity, as with MSU HEP-CAMP.

50

In 1999, the HEP and CAMP projects were included as part of the Clinton
Admirristration’s “Hispanic Education Action Plan.” Since then in 2002, program firnding
was increased to $38 million: $15 million for CAMP and $23 million for HEP programs
(National HEP-CAMP Association, 2005). Project funding comes fiom U.S. Department
of Education “competitive five-year grants for CAMP projects [that] are made to
institutions of higher education or to other nonprofit private agencies that cooperate with
such institutions. CAMP grantees are funded to serve about 2,400 [students] annually”
(Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2005). Since their inception, both HEP
and CAMP projects have had stunning graduation rates. In the 1998-1999 academic year
73 percent of HEP students nationally received their GEDs, and 88 percent of CAMP
students successfully completed their first year of college (National HEP-CAMP
Association, 2005). There is no available data on how many CAMP students have
obtained a bachelor’s degree from MSU.

MSU CAMP

In comparison to the general student population at MSU, MSU HEP-CAMP is
comprised of mostly Hispanic and Latino students, all from migrant and/or seasonal
farmworker backgrounds. The incoming MSU CAMP freshman class of fall 2004 had a
total of 44 students, (20 women and 24 men). There were approximately 100
sophomores, juniors and seniors enrolled at MSU during fall 2004 who were former
MSU CAMP students (MSU HEP-CAMP: Personal Communication, 2005). In order to
be eligible for MSU CAMP prograrnrrring, qualified students must have either: (1) spent
75 days during the past 24 months in migrant and/or seasonal farm work in Michigan, or

(2) have participated in (or are eligible to participate in) migant [education] programs

51

(MSU HEP-CAMP, 2005). MSU CAMP defines a seasonal farmworker as a person who
was employed in farm work on a temporary or seasonal basis. A migrant farmworker is a
seasonal worker whose employment required travel which kept the farmworker fiom
returning to a permanent home within the same day (MSU HEP-CAMP, 2005). MSU
CAMP students must also meet university guidelines for admission, and agree to
participate in the required tutorial, academic and cultural programs and activities as
designated by MSU CAMP staff (MSU HEP-CAMP, 2005).
Participants

For a deeper understanding of participants’ experiences, qualitative samples tend
to be purposive rather than random (Miles & Huberman, 1994, p. 27). According to
Shadish et a1. (2002), “purposive sampling of typical instances requests clearly defining
the characteristics of the typical persons, settings, times, treatments, or outcomes to
which one wants to generalize and then try to select a sample that matches this target”
(p. 375). In the study reported here, a purposive sampling technique (Miles & Huberrnan,
1994, p. 28) was used to obtain a representative sample with certain characteristics. Thus,
participants in this study represented a unique subculture of ten acaderrric junior and
senior university students (n = 6 women, n = 4 men) who: (I) graduated MSU CAMP, (2)
were either first or second generation irnrrrigrants from Mexico, (3) had parents who
were/are migrant farmworkers, (4) were first generation college students, (5) came from
the Texas Rio Grande Valley region, and (6) experienced migration in the “Midwest
stream.”

Results from the ten individual interviews indicated that participants on average

were 21 years old at the time of the interview, and all came from migrant farmworker

52

backgrounds. Two participants were married, one was engaged and seven were single.
All those who were not married planned on finishing their undergraduate degree before
getting married. Although one participant’s wife was pregnant, all others did not have
children. Participants were either first or second generation immigrants from Mexico, and
came fi‘om the “Texas Rio Grande Valley.” All participants spoke primarily Spanish
growing up and self identified as either Mexican or Mexican-American. The median high
school GPA was 3.1 - 3.4, and average ACT score was 19. All participants had above a
2.5 GPA during fall semester 2004 and were either academic juniors or seniors. Three
students “skipped” a year in college due to having A.P. (advanced placement) credits.
Some participants were enrolled in community college during high school or before
attending MSU. All participants were first generation college students and five had older
siblings who attended college before them. Those who had siblings who attended college
before them tended to be younger in the birth order among their siblings.

Most participants consider Texas as their home, while one family had settled out
in Michigan. Most families still migrated in the “Midwest stream,” and while migrating
were away from home for an average of 5 months. Most families had been migrating for
21 years on average, which ranged fiom 5 to 40 years. Finally, most participants’ families
had a house in home base, but were more likely to live in a labor camp while migrating.
For those who knew their family’s annual income, each estimate was close to poverty as
specified by the 2005 HHS Poverty Guidelines (U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, 2005). All participants reported receiving financial aid or scholarships of some
kind. Eight participants were involved in Migrant Education Programming (MEP) for an

average of 4 years prior to college and eight were involved in sports, extra-curricular

53

activities, or academic enrichment programs for an average of 3 years prior to college
(See Participant Demographic Tables A - F in Appendix H).

Eligibility Criteria

Although this study did not seek to generalize to the larger experience of the
farmworker population in the United States, it did seek to have a representative sample of
participants with certain characteristics. To do this, eligibility criteria were created in
collaboration with the current MSU HEP-CAMP director through a series of meetings to
determine mutually agreed upon criteria for “students who were successful.” These
criteria called for eligible students who: (1) were between the ages of 18 and 28 years, (2)
had parents who were migrant or seasonal farmworkers during their K-12 education, or
had been migrant or seasonal farmworkers themselves, (3) earned a 2.5 GPA or above
during fall 2004, (4) self identified as coming from Mexican heritage, and (5) juniors or
seniors at MSU who graduated from the MSU CAMP program.

Recruitment

1 received a list of twenty students who were academic juniors and seniors that
had the above six characteristics. I sent out an email invitation to participate in the study
to all twenty eligible students (See Appendix D for Email Invitation). Students who did
not respond to the email were contacted by phone. If they accepted, an interview time and
location was scheduled. If they declined, another student was randomly chosen fi'om the
eligibility list generated by MSU HEP-CAMP staff and contacted by email and/or phone
to interview. Of the twenty eligible students, twelve were available to participate in the
study. Of these twelve available students, ten (n = 6 women, n = 4 men) participated in

the study. Two others were only available months after the sampling time frame ended.

54

Six students were contacted but were not available to participate since they were out of
the country, out of the state, too busy with schoolwork or working and too busy to
participate. Two additional students were unreachable by email and phone.

Data Collection

Available, willing and eligible students were offered to have the interview at a
location of their choice. Most participants (n = 8) chose to have the individual interviews
in the MSU HEP-CAMP office on campus at MSU. I obtained prior permission hem and
notified MSU HEP-CAMP staff before each interview. One participant chose to
interview at the Julian Samora Research Institute (J SRI) at MSU since it was after normal
business hours on a weekday. I obtained prior permission from the J SRI director to
conduct interviews. Another participant chose to interview in a private room in the MSU
Psychology Building since it during the weekend. All interviews averaged ninety minutes
in length, with a range of one to five hours. It took four weeks (from April 25 to May 19,
2005) to conduct all ten individual interviews.

I obtained prior IRB approval for the study and informed consent was sought
during each interview. In general, participants were eager to “tell their story.” Since most
students planned on going to graduate school (n = 5) and never experienced being part of
a research project, we had an initial discussions lasting fi'om fifteen minutes to one hour
before each interview to describe the nature of the research process, the purpose of a
thesis and how their confidentiality would be kept (Refer to APPENDD( A for Letter of
Consent). Since some components of the results of this study will be used by MSU HEP-
CAMP staff to inform future programming, it was explained to each participant that

nothing would be attributed to them directly, and nothing identifiable would be included

55

in the final report. At the end of the interview, they were compensated $20.00 for their
participation in the project.

All individual interviews were digitally recorded using an Olympus handheld
digital recorder. I also used a Sony handheld audiotape recorder for backup. Detailed
field notes were taken and flushed out immediately after each interview to ensure the
integrity of the data collected. After each interview, the digital recordings were uploaded
and stored on my password-protected laptop and copies were made onto CD3 for storage
in a locked filing cabinet with no identifying information except an organizing number.
Each digital file was then transcribed verbatim. All identifying information was removed
from the transcriptions and field notes, and each file was given a number. Each verbatim
transcript was uploaded into ATLAS.ti (version 4.2) for data management, coding and
future analysis.

Interview Protocol

To answer the study’s research question,9 a semi-structured interview protocol
was developed to assess retrospective and current (e. g. Arellano & Padilla, 1996)
processes, patterns and themes related to educational resilience in Mexican origin migrant
university students. The semi-structured interview protocol was developed with
contributions of the current MSU HEP-CAMP director and also was guided by a review
of the educational resilience literature. The semi-structured section of the interview

protocol included six dimensions in order to answer the study’s research question.

 

9 The study’s research question is: “From the perspective of MSU CAMP students, what are the protective
factors and processes that serve to promote and foster educational resilience in Mexican origin farmworker
students at Michigan State University (MSU)?”

56

The interview protocol also included nineteen items that were developed to
validate participant responses to the semi-structured section. I also developed these items
to obtain specific demographic information in order to describe the demographic
characteristics of the participants (e.g. family educational history, socio-economic status,
place of birth, migration patterns, years of farm work, and family structure) (Refer to
APPENDIX B for Interview Protocol). The entire interview protocol was comprised of
the following seven dimensions: (1) academic goals and farmworker background, (2)
defining academic success, (3) protective factors processes that have influenced success,
(4) Barriers experienced and general educational baniers for farmworkers, (5) CAMP as
a protective process and recommendations for CAMP amendments, (6) cultural identity
in relation to the MSU and CAMP, and (7) Close-ended personal demographic items to
validate open-ended responses.

Summary of the Semi-Structured Section

First, initial questions related to their goals and family background characteristics
were asked to ground the participant in the focus of the study. Participants were asked to
explain their past and current professional goals, and how these goals related to coming
from a migrant and/or seasonal farmworker family (See Appendix B items 1 — 4).
Second, participants were asked about their views on academic success. If participants
did not view themselves as successfirl, they were asked why (See Appendix B items 5 —-
6, and 8 — 9). Third, all participants were asked to explain salient protective factors and
processes they perceived as contributing to the success they defined above. If participants
had a difficult time specifying protective factors, I probed on factors such as the self, an

experience or situation, particular people or specific opportunities that helped them along

57

the path to success (See Appendix B item 7). Participants were asked about relational
support from family and others. They were also asked to explain salient relational support
in and outside of the family with probes on how these individuals influenced their
academic success (See Appendix B item 10 —— 11). Fourth, participants were asked to
explain significant barriers that have impacted their academic career. Participants were
then asked to explain the barriers for children of farmworkers in general and how
migrancy has affected their own education. If participants had a difficult time specifying
how migrancy influenced their education, I probed on factors such as length of rrrigrancy,
number of moves per year, impact of family’s migration on high school or college
degree, or the positive/protective influence of migration (See Appendix B items 12 — 14).
Fifth, participants were then asked questions and probes about how CAMP has played a
role in their academic development. They were also asked to provide CAMP
recommendations (See Appendix B items 15 - 17). Sixth, participants’ were asked to
explain their self-defined cultural identity in relation to MSU (See Appendix B item 18).
For the entire semi-structured interview protocol portion I probed around participant
responses to make sure participants thoroughly explained themselves or clarified and
elaborated on what they were explaining. I also probed around their responses to make
sure that I understood what they were describing (Patton, 2002, pp. 372-3 74). These
results are presented in the “Results and Discussion” section below.

Summary of the Structured Section

The second part of the interview protocol included 19 items developed to explain
and reinforce participant responses to the semi-structured portion of the interview

protocol. The second reason I developed these items was to obtain specific demographic

58

information in order to describe these demographic characteristics of the sample:
educational history of participants’ family and extended family, socio-economic status,
place of birth, migration patterns, years of farm work, and family structure of
participants. Results are interwoven throughout the “Results and Discussion” section
below and can be found in Tables A-F in Appendix H (also see Appendix B items 19-3 8).
Data Analytic Procedures

In the following section I present the initial steps to data analysis that I took and
the creation of a data organizational framework. Then, the process of inductively
analyzinglo (Patton, 2002, pp. 452-471) participants’ responses and the creation of a
coding fiamework and a conceptual model are discussed. Meeting the trustworthiness
criteria as specified by Guba and Lincoln (1989) and limitations to the study are then
discussed.
Initial Steps to Data Analysis

Miles and Huberrnan (1994) recommend interweaving data collection and
analysis fi'om the start (p. 50) Therefore, I began coding raw transcripts concurrently with
data collection and transcription. I transcribed eight of the interviews and four were sent
to a professional transcribing service at MSU. 1’ It took three and a half months for the
entire transcription and transcript review process to be completed (April, 25 to September
11, 2005). All identifying information was removed from the digital files prior to sending

them to the professional service. In addition, transcriptionists were instructed to maintain

 

1° Inductive analysis “involves discovering patterns, themes, and categories in one’s data” where “findings
emerge out of the data, in contrast to deductive analysis where the data are analyzed according to an
existing framewor ” (Patton, 2002, p. 453). Thus, the organizing and interpretive framework emerges and
is modified throughout analysis which is typically referred to as an “iterative process.”

11 I obtained firnding fiom the MSU Graduate School and the MSU Psychology Department to cover costs
for transcribing and participant incentives.

59

confidentiality for the information gained from transcribing the interviews and were
instructed to transcribe verbatim. If there was a word or phrase in Spanish in the digital
recording, I instructed the transcriptionist to type “[Spanish]” in the verbatim transcript
which allowed me to easily identify where I had to insert the Spanish words or phrases
and the corresponding translations into English. If the participant said the word or phrase
in Spanish and then proceeded to translate into English I did not independently translate.
I only translated those words or phrases that were not translated by the participant. All
verbatim transcripts were re-reviewed for accuracy of language and meaning presented
by the participants (e. g. slang words, Spanish phrases, hard-to-hear words). I consulted a
Mexican graduate student, who is fluent in both English and Spanish, on all phrases in
Spanish and specific Mexican slang words to verify that my translations were accurately
portraying the participants’ meaning.

Another preliminary step was to construct “Contact Summary Sheets” (Miles &
Huberman, 1994, pp. 51-56) (see Appendix C) after each interview was completed. After
each interview I listened to the digital recordings to help flush out the notes taken during
the interviews. This preliminary review helped gain a holistic picture, identify emergent
salient themes for each participant, identify emergent patterns that re-occurred across
multiple interviews, and was a way to feel the “flow” of each interview to improve on
probing in subsequent interviews. The contact summary sheet was filled out by using the
flushed out notes and digital recording of interviews as sources.

Data Organization Framework
After I transcribed the first four interviews, I began constructing an initial data

organizational framework with independent reviewer #2. We had two meetings to review

60

and open code the first four transcripts (May 20 and May 25, 2005) and to develop the
initial list of codes to include in the data organizational framework. With the research
question in mind, we developed this initial list by independently open coding (Patton,
2002, p. 453) by hand12 a few pages in four raw transcripts. We then compared our
independent codes to create the data organizational fi'amework. At a second meeting, we
independently coded three to five random pages of four transcripts and only for
categories in the organizational framework. After a few renditions, we came to an 80
percent inter-rater agreement for labeling the codes. According to Miles and Huberman,
reviewers typically do not get a better initial agreement over 70 percent (Miles &
Huberman, 1994, p. 64). Consistent with how inductive coding evolves over time (Patton,
2002, pp. 453-454), new concepts emerged from the data during this second meeting that
we agreed upon to modify the “Data Organizational Framework” (See Appendix E).
Inductive Content Analysis

To ensure. the trustworthiness of the inductive analysis process, the iterative
nature of coding, rereading and recoding transcripts will be discussed in this section.
I met with reviewer #3 six times (between June and October, 2005) throughout the
duration of the project for inter-rater reliability checks on coding patterns, themes and
categories, to help develop the emerging coding framework and the conceptual model
that explained patterns that emerged out of the data during this evolving analytic process.
Reviewer #3 is one of my thesis committee members, designated as my “qualitative
methods expert.” I also met with two other reviewers (reviewers #3 and #4) during this

time.

 

’2 Coding by hand refers to writing codes in the margins of paper copies of the verbatim transcripts.

61

I used ATLAS.ti to electronically recode the first four transcripts used in the
meetings with reviewer #2. Given the iterative and evolving nature of inductive analysis,
after I open-coded each transcript I modified the data organizational fiamework which
resulted in “Coding Scheme Iteration Version 1” (See Appendix F). I continued coding
and began meeting with reviewer #3, which resulted in several modified versions of the
coding fiamework and “Coding Scheme Iteration Version 5” (See Appendix E). I then
recoded six transcripts for deeper patterns, themes and sub-themes and verified these with
reviewer #3. We also used ATLAS.ti topographical data outputs to develop a conceptual
model explaining participants’ responses in context of the study’s research question. I
continued coding for themes, categories and patterns of the remaining four transcripts in
ATLAS.ti. The “Conceptual model” evolved after analyzing the remaining transcripts
(See Appendix F).

After going through an entire cycle of coding, I re-read and coded all ten
interview transcripts to ensure trustworthiness of the analysis process. To do this, I first
outputted all previously coded “chunks” of data from ATLAS.ti with their corresponding
descriptive and explanatory themes and pasted them into Microsoft Word. Then, I coded
by hand all ten transcripts and cross-referenced the new codes with the old ones. I came
to an agreement between the old and new coding around 75 to 80 percent of the time. The
result of this process was “Coding Scheme Iteration Version 6” (See Appendix E).

I continued modifying the coding framework and met with a 4th reviewer to verify
“Coding Scheme Iteration Version 7” (See Appendix F). Insight from this meeting
further guided the modification of the coding framework and the nesting of themes to

portray convergent and divergent patterns across all cases. I then met with a 5th reviewer

62

who was also a member of my master’s thesis comnrittee for peer-debriefing and to
review the results and coding framework. He gave recommendations on how to shift the
nesting of themes to portray an accurate interpretation of participants’ responses.

The “Finalized Coding Framework” was a result of input gained from the peer-
debriefing meetings with the reviewers and insight gained throughout the inductive
coding process that took over 5 months to complete (June to November, 2005) (See
Appendix E for Finalized Coding Framework). The coding fiamework was considered
“finalized” once themes held in common across several cases (Patton, 2002, pp. 465-467;
Guba & Lincoln, 1989, p. 238) were saturated, meaning that a reasonable number of
cases fit into each category and theme and nothing new emerged. I also paid attention to
the negative cases in which themes held in common for several cases did not fit (Guba &
Lincoln, 1989, p. 23 8). Thus, results show how the patterns of themes were held in
common by some, many or all participants and sometimes manifested differently across
participants. A frequency count of the endorsement of categories, themes and sub-themes
can be found in Appendix G “Pattern Analysis.”

Meeting the Trustworthiness Criteria

In an attempt to ensure the adequacy or trustworthiness of this study, some of the
Guba and Lincoln (1989) criteria were followed (pp. 228-251). First, to facilitate the
credibility of the study’s findings, I did “peer debriefing” with six individuals throughout
the inductive analysis process (Guba & Lincoln, 1989, p. 237). Three of the reviewers
were uninvolved and the three served as members on my Master’s thesis committee. A
second attempt to ensure credibility of the study’s findings was to have a prolonged

engagement (Guba & Lincoln, 1989, p. 237) in the study setting. I was informally

63

involved with the setting (e. g. MSU HEP-CAMP) for seven months prior to data
collection and also plan on giving something of value to the setting (e. g. a report of the
study’s findings in a different format from the thesis results). A third attempt to ensure
credibility of the findings was to adhere to the confirmability criteria as specified by
Guba and Lincoln (1989, pp. 242-243). To do this, I included all data in support of all
major categories, meta-themes, themes and sub-themes in the audit trail that is available
upon request. Within this audit trail, I described in detail the process of how I came to my
conclusions and I kept a log book during the project that documented each step that I
took.

In attempt to ensure authenticity of the data and participant voice, this study was
designed and implemented in collaboration with MSU HEP-CAMP personnel to develop
the interview protocol, participant eligibility criteria and help guide the purpose of the
final results. Also, participant recruitment and data collection occurred under the pretext
that the study was supported by MSU HEP-CAMP personnel. It was sensible to overtly
include MSU HEP-CAMP in the project planning and implementation because
participants might have questioned my credibility as a researcher, being an “outsider”

(e. g. Riessman, 1991). Finally, one of my thesis committee members was a former
CAMP student and migrant farmworker. Our discussions and peer-debriefing throughout
the duration of study helped guard against my “misinterpreting” participants’ responses
and also helped verify participant’s responses.
Limitations of the Study
There are several limitations in the present study that may have influenced the

manner in which I drew conclusions. The first limitation to this study was in reference to

64

the limited number of participants that were interviewed. Rather than seeking
generalizability, a purposive sampling technique (Miles & Huberman, 1994, p. 28) was
used to obtain a representative sample with certain characteristics. I was able to deeply
explore the experience of all ten participants, yet I might have not necessarily captured
breadth of experience that is measured through large scale population-based research
projects. This limitation points towards the need for future large n qualitative research
studies that are able to simultaneously capture breadth and depth.

Another limitation was bringing my own bias into the study. To minimize my
outsider bias on the interpretation of results, some steps were taken as mentioned in the
“Meeting the Trustworthiness Criteria” section above, such as having prolonged
engagement in the study setting, including key stakeholders in the design and
implementation of the study, and including a thesis committee member who was a former
CAMP student and migrant farmworker. Our discussions and peer-debriefing throughout
the duration of study helped me guard against “misinterpreting” participants’ responses
and helped verify their responses. I also guarded against the limitation of being an ethnic
outsider to participants by meeting with several Latino/a and Mexican graduate students
for peer-debriefing throughout the duration of the study.

Another limitation to the study was that participants were asked to tell their
stories about what contributed to academic success many years ago. It is possible that
they may not have remembered or been aware of the various familial and community
level factors that fostered their educational success in the past. However, the goal of this
study was to understand what was most central and common among participants rather

than focusing on external or systemic factors that contributed to success. Thus, future

65

research is needed to explore exclusively those systemic factors and processes that
contribute to academic success for college students who come from migrant backgrounds.
A final limitation to the study was its inability to be longitudinal in scope and to
include a comparison group to track overtime those internal and external factors and
processes that contribute to academic success. Although, this type of study is ideal, it was
not feasible given the time constraints and limited budgets of master’s thesis research.
Despite these limitations, result presented below provide support for the
conclusion that through the interaction of internal (individual will and motivation) and
external resources (family support, peer support, school personnel and mi grant
educational programming support such as CAMP) students from mi grant farmworker

backgrounds are able to break the chain of migrancy and enter into and succeed in colle

66

Results and Discussion

“. . .Well, I guess being a migrant is kind of hard, but at the same time I am
thankful that I had to go through all those experiences because it gives me the
opportunity to value what I have and to value my education a little bit more than
any other person would. . .Because I know that I can go back to if I want. I have
two choices, either get an education or just stay where I’ve been during most of
my life, which is migrant work, and its very hard and painful and I’ve seen the
two different sides of it, so I know what I’m going for that I want to get my
education so I can break out of the cycle, out of the whole, yeah the cycle, every
year going back and forth from Michigan and also taking my family away from
that, and those hard-working jobs and stuff like that.” (Woman E)

“I think there’s more pressure on me from my family and from myself, from just
trying to break the cycle of working in the fields. . .When I say pressure, I mean
that I feel pressure from the community, I feel pressure fiom society to fail and to
just be a statistic. And then I feel pressure from my family by, I would say the
satisfaction or happiness they have for actually breaking the cycle and getting an
education and going to college and trying to not just work in the fields anymore,
but get a different... And not only get a factory job or get another job that just
anybody can get, but... to set the goal higher... than what is normally expected
from me or fiom people who grow up in migrant families. I think we’re set up to
fail many times just because we do not go to the best schools, and not going to the
best schools and then moving around it doesn’t really help much, or it doesn’t
make it any better, it just makes it worse.” (Man H)

The above quotes capture the essence of the stories presented in these results. All
participants talked about how either internally and/or externally they received the
motivation to “break the chain” of mi grancy and obtain an education. Participants
appeared determined to “succeed academically, against the odds” (Maton et a1. 1998, p.
649). However, analysis of participants’ descriptions of their experiences revealed that
along the path to get a college degree, they experienced barriers that made getting an

education difficult. Despite significant adversity, all participants defined themselves as

67

1.13 Five participants planned on attending graduate school (Ph.D.,

successful in schoo
M.A., and MBA), one planned getting a teaching credential, and three came into MSU
with advanced placement (AP) credits which allowed them to skip a semester to a year of
college. Each of these groups was independent of each other. More important is that they
conceived of themselves being successful for “breaking the chain” of migrancy.

First, I present the broader community context for migrant farmworkers fi'om the
perspective of participants. Before analyzing data that answered this study’s research
question,14 it was important to understand how adversity impacted participants’ lives.
Studies of resilience attempt to understand which factors and processes are associated
with and can predict better positive adaptation among children at risk (Masten & Powell,
2003, p. 9). It was therefore important to first understand participants’ conceptualizations
of risk and adversity and also how they conceived themselves as successfirl in response to
that adversity. Although this section dealt with past experienced adversity, emergent
themes of how they were affected by and overcame extreme poverty, migration, farm
labor and oppression, are included here and interwoven throughout the remaining results.

Second, evidence is presented to answer the study’s research question that
illustrates how participants explained the protective factors and processes that “off set the
negative effects of risks or adversity so that [they can] have better outcomes” (Masten &

Powell, 2003, p. 10). These results comprehensively illustrate the evolving process by

which ten individuals broke the chain of migrancy and entered and succeeded in college.

 

’3 As mentioned in the “Background Context of Academic Success” results section, all but one of the
participants currently thought of themselves as successful in academics. The one who did not currently
have a successful self -conceptualization did believe so in the past.

1"Again, the study’s research question is: “From the perspective of MSU CAMP students, what are the
protective factors and processes that serve to promote and foster educational resilience in Mexican origin
farmworker students at Michigan State University (MSU)?”

68

Data that provide evidence to explain the process by which children from
migrant farmworker backgrounds became successfirl in school was organized around
these categories: (1) background context of academic success, (2) protective factors and
processes that led students to college, and (3) protective factors and processes while at
college. Under each category are accompanying themes and sub-themes.

A topographical depiction of all categories, themes, sub-themes and patterns is
illustrated in Figure 1 and Table 2 below. Figure 1 depicts the relationships among
protective factors and processes in the self-conceptualized development of academic
success, while Table 2 outlines how the results are presented below. All information
included in Figure 1 and Table 2 was developed fiom the “Final Coding Framework” and
“Conceptual Model” (Appendix E and F). A frequency count of each category, theme,
and sub-theme can be found in the “Pattern Analysis” (See Appendix G). All

participants’ names and places have been changed for confidentiality.

69

Figure 1: Self-conceptualized Paths to Academic Success

(Factors Affecting Resilience)

 

 

Bac round Context of Academic Success

1. Experience in the fields
2. Awareness of migrant education 5. MEP
3. Discrimination in high school

4. Poverty & child labor

6. Self-Conceptualizations of Success

 

Time

 

 

 

 

 

 

Parental Support before
Collgge

1. Push to excel

2. Pride in children

3. Messages to break the
chain

4. Sacrifice

5. Role modeling

6. Child did not miss
school during migration

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

/\
V

 

 

How Did They Enter
Collpge?

1. High school personnel
support

2. CAMP recruiter

3. Peer support

4. Family support

5. I decided to further

my education

 

 

Motivations to Break the
Ella—in

l. I do not wanttobe inthe
fields
2. I want to give back to
parents
3. I want a future for me and
my family
4. I want to give back to my
community
5. I want to prove wrong the
people who did not believe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A
V

 

 

Support
While in Collpge

1. Support while in
college from CAMP and
others

2. Personalized social
support that goes beyond
academics

3. Encouragement fiom
self, family and
community

4. Mentorship

 

 

Decision to Enter into MSU

 

 

 

 

 

 

70

Success
at

MSU

 

 

 

Table 2: Outline of Self-Conceptualized Paths to Academic Success

 

 

 

Category Meta-Theme Theme
1. A. Experience in 1. Working in the fields, then and now
Background the fields 2. Farm work is difficult
context of 3. Positive aspects of farm work
acaderrric
success B. Education of 1. Awareness of illiteracy and low levels of
migrants in general education of migrants
2. Explaining migrant dropout
C. Experience with 1. Discrimination by high school counselors
discrimination in 2. Discrimination by teachers
high school 3. Discrimination by students
D. Self- 1. Yes
conceptualization 2. Yes, but
of academic 3. No, but I use to be
success
11. A. Salient parental 1. Parental push for educational success
Protective support for 2. Parental pride in their children’s education
factors and education before 3. Parental messages to break the chain
processes that college 4. Parental sacrifice as a motivation to get an
led them to education
college 5. Parental role modeling as a motivation to get

B. Not missing
school during
migration

C. Personal
motivations to get
an education

an education

1. Some were behind in school because of
migration

2. Mismatch in schools, but compensated for it
3. Did not miss school because parents valued
education

4. Child stayed alone in Texas while family
migrated

1. I do not want to be in the fields

2. I want to give back to parents

3. I want a firture for me and my family

4. I want to give back to my community

5. I want to prove wrong the people who did not
believe

 

71

 

Table 2: (Cont’d)

 

 

 

C. Encouragement
fiom self, family
and community

D. Mentorship

Categry Meta-Theme Theme
11. D. How did they 1. High school personnel support
(Cont’d) enter college? 2. CAMP Recruiter
3. Peer support
4. Family support
5. I decided to further my education
111. A. Support while 1. Opportunity to go to college
Protective in college from 2. Material and financial support from CAMP
factors and CAMP and others 3. Career-oriented support
processes
while at B. Personalized 1. Sense of belonging in CAMP
college social support that 2. Surrogate family at MSU
goes beyond 3. CAMP social support on a personal level
academics 4. School personnel social support on a personal

level

1. Messages to “not drop out of school”
2. Motivating and encouraging messages
3. Coping mechanisms while in college

1. Receiving knowledge fiom siblings

2. Passing on knowledge to siblings and mentees
3. Being a mentor/role model had personal
benefits

 

72

 

Background Context of Academic Success”

All participants and their families have worked in the fields as agricultural
laborers. Participants explained that their families worked as migrant farm laborers for an
average of 21 years. Families annually left home base for an average of 5 months at a
time during migration, typically fiom spring to fall or late fall. All but one participant
experienced the annually migration with parents to work the fields in the “Midwest
stream” (e. g. Poss & Pierce, 2003), from Texas to the Midwest region (and sometimes to
other regions in the United States) (See Table D in Appendix H). Reported family annual
incomes ranged from $10,000 to $32,000 USD (See Table E in Appendix H). To further
understand the broader context of participants’ experiences it is useful to include four
themes that emerged from the participant’s responses that represent the larger picture of
migrant agricultural labor. These themes are: (1) experience in the fields, (2) education
levels of nrigrants in general, (3) experience with discrimination in high school, and (4)
self conceptualizations of academic success.

Experience in the fields

All women and men participants talked about their experience working in the
fields before they came to college and while they were attending college. However, they
explained this experience in different ways. The themes that emerged which describe
their experience in the fields are: (1) working in the fields, then and now, (2) farm work

is difficult, and (3) positive aspects of farm work.

 

’5 Although themes nright be true for some, many or all participants, only the most illustrative quotes are
included in the results section. A comprehensive list of all data in support of themes and categories is
available upon request.

73

Working in the Fields, Then and Now

Many participants talked about their experience in the field. One of the most
salient descriptions of farm work was how they started working in the fields at a young
age during the summers. They talked about this experience in a range of ways, from
working informally to working long days. One participant responded that she did not
begin working in the fields until she was 18 years old. In contrast is how one participant
explained he was in the fields since he was in his mom’s tummy, and how he began
working early on:

“. . .I’ve been in the fields since I was born, I guess since I was in my mom’s
tummy. I didn’t have a childhood, I was always in the fields like at age 5, you
would imagine somebody playing with toys or being a toddler, chilling at the
house. But I was in the fields like with a camp, like the whole day just walking
around tractors and stuff, grew up fast. I was always a big kid like taller than a lot
of kids, so like age 6, 7, I was already working like actually making money. I
grew up real fast. By the age of 8 years old, I was out in the oranges and the
orchards with a picking bag that was pretty heavy. It was like 50 pounds, probably
as much as I was. And I would work for a lot of hours. Like I guess it was really
tough working out in the field.” (Man J)

He continued to explain how he worked during the summers fi'om 13 to 18 years old:

“. .. And like by the time I reached like 13, I was working like 18 hours in a day. I
would work 6:30 in the morning, I would be harvesting, the bluebenies, back in
the machines and stuff, it was very tough. . .I got out at 4:30 fiom being in the
harvest in back of the machine and then after 4:30 I got like a half an hour break
and then went to dump blueberries in the machine, picking the actual plant, and
then stayed until like 1, 2 in the morning washing machines. I did that for four or
five years. Like summers, complete summers from... June to like August. . .and
picked apples, I’ve worked everywhere...” (Man J)

In contrast to working long hours is how some participants worked in the fields more
informally for extra allowance money:
“. . .Some summers... if we wanted to go to the movies. . .my dad [would] say

“well we don’t have enough money. If we go like to the onions and go pick them
out and you guys help us out, we can get enough money to go to the movies.” So

74

that’s like when I was like 11, 10, we used to go and help him out so we could
like go to the movies or something like that, so extra money.” (Woman D)

Half of the participants mentioned that their parents still nrigrated to Michigan to
work in the fields. Some participants explained that they go and work with their parents
even though they are currently attending college:

“Like during college when I go home I still go work. Like the weekends I go

and pick asparagus or like during the Christmas breaks, like when I didn’t go to

study abroad, I would be working, I’d go over there and pick oranges, like the
whole time. So, every time, like when I’m not in school, I’m working still, like to
this day. So... it’s changed like, but it’s still like the same. It feels like the same.”

(Man J)

“. . .They continue to migrant, they’re only like 30 minutes away from here, so I

guess I worked there if I don’t have any classes. . .or if I’m not working on

anything else I just go and work there cause I do want to spend time with my
family. . .I don’t see them throughout the whole year except Christmas when I go

down to Texas... so I definitely want to spend time with them, especially since I

have a 3 year old sister. . .she’s growing up and I want to see her grow up...”

(Man G)

All but one participant began working in the fields early on during the summers. For
some, their parents still migrated to Michigan during the summers and working with them
served as a chance to be with them while students were in college.

Farm work is Diflicult

Not only did participants work in the fields, half of the participants expressed that
it was difficult. Some participants talked about occupational injuries, others talked about
the interactions between farm laborers and their bosses, while others talked about how the
work is viewed by outsiders. In terms of occupational injuries, some talked about how it
is “backbreaking” work. For instance, one woman described:

“. . . I had to help them and come to Michigan. . .I don’t want to think about it. I

hurt my back the first year I came. . .I was pulling a weed cause we were working

in the fields hoeing weeds, in a sugar beets field, and it had just rained, so we
were all trying to pull the weeds instead of hoeing them, and I guess this one was

75

still really hard. . .and I thought it was soft, and I was like “shwoo”, and I just felt
something pop in my back, and I was like, “Oh my goodness.” I couldn’t even
move. My mom had to hold my back so I could breathe, cause it would hurt if I
breathed... [I was injured for] a few months, like even still, you know when the
weather changes, I feel like “Oh, my back hurts” and I remember those days, like,
I don’t even want to think about it.” (Woman F)

Some participants also described their experience being out in the fields. For instance,
this participant explained that being out there is like the movie “Groundhog’s day” and
how work depends the weather or treatment of the bosses:

“. . .I don’t mind doing the work, to me its hard but its not that hard, it’s the
everyday routine, everything’s so dull and mundane, its like “groundhogs day”
everyday. . .In the fields, it’s the same all the time. . .1ike you have your lifestyle’s
predicated on weather too, like if it rains really bad, or if the crop’s really bad you
don’t put in as many hours and so you don’t make as much money, so your
struggling, then you always have the bosses, which is an issue, they’re not bosses
like corporate bosses, they’re dicks...” (Man G)

While others talked about how farmworkers have been exploited. For example, this
participant talked about how he witnessed the “power ego” of the crew-leaders (bosses)
over the undocumented workers in the fields:

“. . .My experience. . .really opened my eyes to the things that are actually going
on. . .I never really paid much attention to how much of a “power ego” was going
on... or how much control the crew-leaders were trying to have over the workers,
especially the undocumented workers, and how they really exploited them, and
how much they would make them work, or how much more they would really
make them work compared to me... I think I was more of a threat to them because
I spoke the language, I was legal, I was able to defend myself, I knew my
rights. . .and I think that someone who is undocumented and who is working under
the same conditions, I think they have more control over them and in what to
make them do, they can really get away with many more things because of course
the person who is undocumented isn’t really going to say anything and is just
going to put up with it...” (Man H)

Finally, another participant talked about how she was previously embarrassed to say she
came fiom a migrant background because of what others thought about the profession,

but through others she learned how migrants have been neglected in some sort of way:

76

“. . .Everything you see in the media and with your everyday fiiends. . . being a
migrant worker, they always see it as the less you can be, like you work in the
fields with your hands, that is not a, what would you call it, a. . . a nice job to have
or that’s not something you can be proud of, because how can you be proud of
working out there like in the dirt and mud and stuff like that? But after I come
here at State, like I said all the Latino organizations and programs that they offer,
its saying like, how important that is to the economy and to everybody here in the
United States, how migrant workers are so important, how they’ve been neglected
in some sort of way.” (Woman E)

In sum, all participants talked about working in the fields and half of the participants
expressed that it was difficult. Some participants talked about occupational injuries,
others talked about exploitation of farmworkers in the interactions between farm laborers
and their bosses, while others talked about how the work is viewed by outsiders. This
experience of working in the fields also served as a motivation to break the chain of
migrancy and get an education. The process of how farm work motivated participants to
get an education is discussed later in the results section.
Positive Aspects of F arm Work
Although some participants experienced the difficulties of farm labor, not all of
their experiences were negative in nature. Many women and men participants talked
about the positive lessons they learned by being a farmworker and working in the fields
which helped them later on. Such lessons were: hard work, discipline, being gratefirl,
motivation to stay in school, and responsibility. As these participants noted,
“But I love working out in the fields. . .I think the best thing that I’ve learned is
like work hard regardless, like when you start something you got to finish it. Like
that’s something. . .like my father taught me... And you got to do like the best job
you can, like they can scream at you, they can do whatever, but you got to finish.
You can’t have them have the last laugh and stuff. Waking up in the morning like
there is no problem for me, I woke up, got ready like before time, always on
time. . . like eating, like you can just eat quick. . .what also helped me, like take
nothing for granted, like everything I wear like my shoes, my shirt, everything, I

have to work hard for it. . .. If I buy a book, I’m going to have to read it, every
single word, even the directory. If I. . .eat at the cafeteria I don’t serve more than I

77

have to, I just eat what I have to because I know that people are out there like
suffering from hunger, so I don’t take that for granted and stuff like that. So it’s
helped me also like sometimes, you know, like in a lot of ways. . .” (Man J)

“It was a great experience. . .coming fiom a farmworker, because you learn how to
take advantage and be gratefirl for the stuff you have, because you really like
work for it. . ..It would like encourage me. . .[to] take advantage of wanting to keep
going to school. . .it motivated me. That’s the word I wanted to use. Cause, I don’t
wanna be my entire like working in the fields and getting my back hurt or
anything else . . .” (Woman F)
“. . .We’ve migrated since I was bom, they continue to migrate, I mean they’re
what a migrant is. . .and to me, its been really key in knowing where I don’t want
to be. . .But also I’m very proud cause... I had to start working at 11 years old, not
a lot of people had that type of responsibility, so it made me grow up really fast, it
made me realize how important money is, about how unimportant money is as
well. . .” (Man G)
Over half of the women and men came away from the farmworker experience learning
valuable life lessons of hard work, discipline, being grateful, wanting to keep going to
school, and learning responsibility at a very early age. These experiences in the fields
lead to future motivations to get an education for many participants, as illustrated under
the theme “Personal motivations to get an education” below.
Education Level of Migrants in General
In relation to their experience in the fields is how over half of the women and men
participants talked about their awareness of the prevalence of illiteracy and low levels of
education in the migrant community in relation to themselves. One participant talked
about how MSU CAMP has told them to do well in school in order to break the chain of
illiteracy:
“. . .They [CAMP] tell us, “do good in school,” and they tell us why they want us
to do good in school... they want to break the chain, you know. The chain of, how
do you say it, illiteracy. You know how migrants is, there’s a lot of people they

just work in the fields their entire life... they want for more people to get
educated and everything.” (Woman F)

78

Another participant talked about the low levels of farmworker children in comparison to
herself, where she wanted to do something different:

“Most children that come fi'om farmworkers I know personally don’t go to High
School, don’t even finish High School or don’t even go to college, I am one of
like the few that have taken that step and actually said “you know, I want to do
something different”. I know some people that are like already married. . .they’re
not even 18-19 and have children and they’re still in the fields working because
that’s all they know how to do and they just didn’t want to go.” (Woman A)

A few participants explained migrant school dropout in various ways. One
participant talked about how one’s family sometimes can be more influential than the
child in deciding whether s/he continues on in school. For instance,

“From what I’ve heard fi'om other students, sometimes the family’s very
influential in their decision because sometimes the student really wants to get an
education and wants to be somebody... but he also has the other one, the other
aspect of he has to stay at home and help their family financially because if he
leaves then that income is not coming in to that family and that they really need it
for their little brothers for their food and stuff like that.” (Woman E)

Participants also explained that students drop out because the act of making money is an
immediate gratification or more persuasive in the moment than getting an education, as
this participant explained:

“. . .Sometimes maybe like you put a lot of priority on working and not in school,
cause if you are migrating you are focusing more on getting the money, getting
like working. So you say, “well, I don’t need to go to school, I’m making money,’
you know what I mean? “They say you need. . .an education to get money. But
I’m working, I’m already working and I’m getting good money.” I mean for a kid
its good money, you don’t got any bills to pay. So, you don’t know about the real
world. So, a hundred dollars that you get a week, Oh my God, that is like so great,
you know what I mean? But, if you get the money right then and there and you
say, “Well if I work harder I can get more money and I don’t have to go to school
to make the money that I’m making now.” But once you get married or have kids,
then it just doesn’t cut it and you wish you would have had gone to school. . .it’s
like little things like that. This is how, that’s how people have thought that I’ve
been around.” (Woman D)

9

79

This section demonstrated how women and men participants were aware of a low level of
education in the migrant community. One participant explained how CAMP wants to
break the chain of illiteracy, and another explained how she saw herself different from
migrants who dropout out of school.

Although the true high school dropout rate for migrant farmworker youth is
unknown, the working estimate is roughly 45 to 50 percent (U. S. Department of
Education, 2005). Past research has indicated that migrant students are at greater risk for
leaving school early than the general population (Salerno, 1991, p. 3) due to factors
related to migration and agricultural labor: (1) overage grade placement, (2) poverty, (3)
interrupted school attendance, (4) inconsistent record keeping, (5) language barriers and
limited English proficiency, and (6) societal and institutional barriers (due to ethnic
differences or commrurity isolation) (Morse & Hammer, 1998, p. 1; Salerno, 1991, p. 4).
In comparison, participants talked about the reasons they perceive that their peers drop
out of school, where they are pulled out of school because of having to contribute to the
family unit’s income or they are pulled out by the immediate gratification of making
money at such a young age.

Experience with Discrimination in High School

Although not mentioned by participants, the experience of discrimination within
high school may be another factor related to their migrant peers’ early high school drop
out. Half of the participants expressed their own experience with discrimination during
high school. Participants were discriminated against either by high school personnel
(counselors and teachers) or their peers. Discrimination and differential treatment

occurred in both Texas and while in Michigan, and based on immigration status, ethnicity

80

or rrrigrant status. As one participant explained, “. . .Other people. . .they’ve said they had
counselors that said, “Oh, you’re not going to amount to anything,” or “you should just
consider going into the army and this and that” (Man G). This same participant talked
about his own experience with stereotyping by high school counselors in Michigan and
Texas who did not have high expectations of migrants, and tried to tracked him into
vocational or trade schools or into the army:

“. . .They’re trying to be supposedly realistic in the fact that they want to set you
up in a position where you could go to a vocational school or a trade school or the
army where you could at least do something as a migrant. . .if they really want to
help you out they’d try to get you into college . .. but they’re not always like

that. . .I mean, part of the reason is probably, it might be because some of them are
racist, I mean I know I got some attitude with some counselors that I had up
here in Michigan... and Texas... just being a migrant, they’ve already put me in
this category as a migrant so that’s how they approach me, they don’t think that I
had a dreams or aspirations of going to college and I mean, I don’t, at the same
time I don’t hold that against them cause it’s a reoccurring theme with the
migrants you know, its stereotyping...” (Man G)

A few participants also talked about discrimination by their teachers in high
school where teachers would not let them enter into classes late from migration and how
“it was a constant struggle just trying to tell them like, “you know I can do this stuff, I’m
not stupid,” (Man G). For instance, this participant explained at length her experience
with one teacher who did not want to let her into her class because she was a migrant
student:

“It’s something I have accomplished after... going through hardships because. . .I
want to tell you this story. My accounting teacher in high school didn’t want me
to take that accounting class... Because I got there... and he was like, “I’m sorry
we are 4 chapters ahead, and you’re gonna have a hard time catching up and I’m
not willing to accept you into this class because you got here so late.” And I was
like, “Wait a minute, I’m a migrant student and I work a lot... over there to help
my parents, and then you’re going to deny me education?” I was like, “No. I can
do that work and I can catch up with the rest of the class”. And he was like, “No, I
don’t want you in my class,”. . .So, I went to the counselors, they were like, “Well,
it’s because you’re a migrant student.” (Woman F)

81

She further explained how the teacher was discriminating against her just because she
was a migrant student and how usually they tracked migrant students into remedial
classes, regardless of their ability. She also explained the process of how she complained
to the principle to get enrolled in the class.

“. .. And people think that just because you’re a migrant student they’re gonna put
you in those remedial classes, they’re gonna put you in the lower classes they
have. And I was like no. I worked a lot but I have, you know, how do you say, I
am smart. Everybody’s smart. Not just because I’m a migrant student that makes
me dumb. Cause I’m not dumb. So, I went and talked to the principle myself and
told him. . .“Why is he gonna be discriminating against me? I’m a migrant student
but that doesn’t mean that I’m dumb.” I was like, “I want to take this class and
I’m gonna take it,” so he made the order for me to go and take that class.”
(Woman F)

Finally, she explained how she proved them wrong and did well, and then even continued
on to take pre-AP and AP classes, and concurrent enrollment classes at the community
college.

“. . .I did all my work that I was behind, I stayed after school and I, you know,
catch up in my class, and I was still going to class and I was still. . .at the same
level with the other students and I proved them wrong... I was like, “you see, I
was a migrant student, I got here late, and look at my grades”. And that was a
regular class. But, the next year I took Accounting 11 with him too and I mean, he
was fine, he knew he wasn’t going to argue with me anymore. So I took that class
and I did good, plus I took .. .pre-AP classes and AP classes, I took pre-calculus
but that was my concurrent enrollment pre-calculus with the community college.
So that’s why when I got here I was a sophomore already, I wasn’t a freshman
anymore.” (Woman F)

Another participant talked about how white students in Michigan discriminated against
her and her brother because they were Mexican, but the teacher stood up for them. She
also explained that their success gave these students a different side of the story.
“. . .Our Algebra teacher. . .invited us over to like attend like a [Michigan] County
Algebra contest and I got second place and my brother got fifth. And we were just
there for like a week and a half. And then like we would sit in the class and just

do nothing and the kids like, I mean they weren’t even like the Mexicans they
were white kids they were saying like, “hey why do they get to stand there, they

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are not doing anything. They are just being lazy and this and that.” And the
teacher looked at them and was like “you know what, these kids placed second
and fifth place on the Algebra contest, they could probably teach you guys right
now.” And I just felt like yeah [laughs] cause they were used to getting like
students that just didn’t care, so they just thought by reputation. So when we went
to school there it’s like they were kind of surprised that me and my brothers were
doing so well. . .and we used to just gave them a different side of the story, you
know what I mean?” (Woman D)
Finally, this same participant further explained the process of how she learned how if you
knew education the White students could not put you down,
“. . .Over here [in Michigan] they [the students] thought Mexicans just couldn’t do
it. They thought “Oh they’re farmworkers; they’re food-stamp people.” So they
really use to put us down. And if it weren’t because like me and my brothers
really like outstanding, like we used to like get better grades than they did or like
know things that they didn’t know... I’m sorry to say this, but we have probably
felt like crap. . .But if you know like actually what you are talking about, then it’s
a different side of the story. . .I guess that taught us like if you know education
they can’t put you down...” (Woman D)
In sum, this section illustrated how participants talked about different levels of
discrimination that they experienced in high school by counselors, teachers and among
peers due to either being Mexican or being a migrant student. They mentioned their own
experiences with stereotyping and discrimination and sometimes mentioned the
experience of migrants in general. Thus, participants’ responses provided evidence of
how counselors and teachers held stereotypes about Mexican migrant students’
educational aspirations which lead to them tracking students into vocational programs,
trade school or the army, telling them “they won’t amount to anything,” or trying to
prevent migrant students to enroll into classes. Some participants also talked about
experience with discrimination by students in the classroom. Half of the participants

experienced discrimination in school based on being Mexican, a nrigrant farmworker, or

based on being an immigrant. However, participants did not let this discrimination deter

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them from their path. They talked about coping processes such as not listening to the high
school counselors, overriding teachers to get class enrolls and using education as a tool to
combat racism in the classroom.
SelfConceptualization of Academic Success
After presenting participants’ conceptualizations of risk and adversity it is
important to understand how they conceived themselves as successful in response to that
adversity. Participants gave their own definitions of academic success and then were
asked if they perceived themselves as successful based on their definitions. Participants’
responses ranged from answering yes to no. For those who answered yes, their responses
varied as well. For example, one participant mentioned that “This is the first time that
somebody has asked me this question, that if I see myself as a successfirl student, I
believe yes, yes [Laughs].” (Woman B) Another participant talked about how she is
successful in comparison to others, “I think I am compared to others and as I see it. . .I’ve
done everything I can like to be successful so far so I think I am.” (Woman A) Another
participant also mentioned how compared to Latino graduation norms, he is successful:
“Yeah, I think I’m very successful, because knowing the norms of any Latino,
you know, it’s huge, you know, like we’re not. . .put in that level where we should
be graduating, you know. There is not that many of us who graduate, might be the
most as 30 percent or 20 somewhere out there. So, it’s huge... Having all these
people coming into the school and like then only like 30 or 20 were making it. It
is huge. . .And I guess in those terms I would be considered successful.” (Man I)
A few participants talked about how they thought of themselves as successful based on
the barriers that they had to overcome. For example, one participant mentioned:
“I do. . .see myself as a successful student because I really do think that I could do
better, but I think my circumstances create boundaries to actually be where I want
to be. And what I mean by that is just I think my income to come to school and to

actually try to have a place to live or something is really from financial aid and
from myself from working, because my parents really don’t have the money to

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say, “here you go for your apartment. . .or I’ll pay for this”, so it’s really all on me,
and I think its really difficult to keep a high GPA and try to survive, and not only
to try to survive, but to try to help your family survive. So, that’s why I think in
my case I’m doing really well.” (Man H)

One participant talked about how she thought of herself as successfirl, but that she did not
want to be overconfident. She also talked about how through the various leadership,
mentoring, and tutoring experiences she was on the right track. For example,

“Yeah. I’ll just say yeah. Because we’re never, what they’ve always taught us,
don’t be too, I don’t know what you call it, cocky or something. . .But, I guess to a
certain extent, and try to get there. Like I’m about to graduate next year, let’s
hope, and I’ve been participating in different programs in the Office of Student
Aid [ORESA]. . .which helps other students, other racial ethnic students on
campus. I’ve been part of the mentoring program through CAMP and part of the
tutoring program for HEP. So and the mentoring and tutoring part, I think I’m
getting there, I’ve done a little bit, but there’s still a lot to do for accomplishing all
my goals and also striving for that, so I think I’m kind of in the right track.”
(Woman E)

Another participant talked about how he would consider himself successfirl when he was

in a position that enabled others to be successfirl:

“I guess like I did try my best and everything. Like I guess I kind of am, but like I
don’t see myself like that. Like not yet, until I’ve like my goal’s completed that
I’m actually doing stuff like mentors of mine. . .for my community. Like I’m
actually in the system working in the university and... recruiting and seeing that
other people are successful, that’s when I will consider myself. Like right now,
I’m just like learning how to crawl in the system, but as soon as other people are
successful cause like I kind of directed them, that’s when I think I’ll be
successful.” (Man J)

Finally, one participant talked about how currently she did not see herself as successful,
but throughout the duration of her academic career, she was extremely successfirl in
acadenrics. For example,
“. . .I’ve never done so bad in my classes, like since I was in kindergarten, you
know, the system in Mexico there’s only one kid in the class that gets the first
place, there’s one in the second place, and there are like 5 places and they make

the escolta. . .where you have to carry the flag and do the honors to the flag and
everything. Ok, since I was in kindergarten l was the one who held the flag all the

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way to 6th grade. So, I came to U.S. I went to 7’“, 8th and all my high school. . .I

was a pure honor roll student, I graduated with honors and I was on the top 5% of

my class. And I come to MSU, my first semester was good, my second semester’s

kind of, you know, and then after that everything falls, like, my grades are bad...”

(Woman F)
In sum, this section illustrated how participants perceived themselves in light of their
definitions. In general, participants perceived themselves as successful in academics.
Participants talked about how they were successful: in comparison to others with similar
backgrounds, because of the barriers they experienced in the past, because they mentored
and gave back, or in the future they would be successfirl when their goals were achieved.
One participant did not think that she was successfirl in academics currently, but for her
entire academic career she was extremely successful. Given that the all participants
currently conceived of themselves as academically successful, it is now important to turn
to factors and processes that participants perceived as engendering that success.

Protective Factors and Processes That Led Them to College

The purpose of this study was to answer the following question, “From the
perspective of MSU CAMP students, what are the protective factors and processes that
serve to promote and foster educational resilience in Mexican origin farmworker students
at Michigan State University (MSU)?” Participants talked about important factors and
processes in their life experiences that engendering the academic success as they defined
it. Through either internal and/or external processes they received the motivation to
“break the chain” of nrigrancy and obtain an education. This section includes four meta-
tlremes of protective factors or processes that enabled participants to succeed

academically early on and enroll into college, such as: (1) salient parental support for

education before college, (2) not missing school during migration, (3) personal

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motivations to get an education, and (4) how they entered college. Themes and sub-
thernes are addressed under each meta-theme.
Salient Parental Support for Education before College

All participants talked about the ways in which their parents supported their
education before they entered college.16 However, participants talked about their parents’
support in different ways, such as: messages, values and actions. Parental educational
support fell under these five themes: (1) parental push for educational success, (2)
parental pride in their children’s education, (3) parental messages to break the chain, (4)
parental sacrifice as a motivation to get an education, and (5) parental role modeling as a
motivation to get an education.

Parental Push for Educational Success

Géndara (1982) found that for high achieving Chicana professionals, a specific
family influence on educational success was a hard work ethic, a common factor found in
other immigrant families. The women in her study explained how their parents where
exceptionally hard-working, and set high performance standards in school, even though
none of the parents had completed high school (Gandara, 1982, pp. 169-172). In relation
to this is how over half of the women in this study talked about how both parents pushed
them to succeed academically even though no parents had been to college. None of the
men talked about parental push or their parents setting high academic standards. In some
cases, women were pushed to excel. For example,

“. . .In my situation there was the way that they were teaching like me and my

brothers, we were kind of advanced for them. And they didn’t know how to deal
with like. . .Cause my parents put such a very big priority on our education that

 

’6 Parents continued to play a supportive role through the college years which is addressed later in the
results.

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like the migrant students that they usually would get, they were not as like they
weren’t taking the classes that we were taking. You know what I mean? Cause
our parents really focused on our education. So, like that example that I told
you. . .they sent us to another school, and they didn’t offer those courses, so they
sent us to a community college...” (Woman D)
“. . .So, he [my dad] was actually mad at me because I didn’t graduate in the top
25 students and he told me I did through my last semester of high school. . .was
worth nothing, because I didn’t graduate in the top 25, like he wanted me to
graduate in the top 25 [students]...l was ranked 40. . .Yeah, 42 I think it was I
don’t know, I miss my family. I need that push...” (Woman F)
This section illustrated how some participants linked academic success to their parents
pushing them to succeed in school by setting high performance standards in school.
Parental Pride in Their Children 's Education
Both women and men equally also talked about how their parents supported them
in their education early on by being proud of them for being different from other farme
members for getting an education. This theme was only salient for participants who were
the first of their siblings and their family to attend college. For example,
“. .. So I guess like she was very proud and I felt like I didn’t put her down, like
the faith that she put in me, the trust that she had for me to like live by myself and
everything, I didn’t put her down. So that’s the feeling that like I just felt happy
that like I was the first one that graduated high school, so and to graduate honors,
it meant a lot for my mom.” (Woman D)
Another participant talked about how she was proud of herself for being the only one in
her family to go to college and through all of the barriers she’s been through:

“. . .I feel a lot of pride just because of all of the struggles and all the barriers. And
I’m really proud of myself cause you know, that I remember I’m the only one in
all my family, like all of my family... Cousins, aunts, uncles, I’m the only one
that’s been to university.” (Woman C)
Because they went to college, participants talked about being different fi'om others in
their family. This theme was only salient for participants who were the first of their

siblings and of their family to attend college. Fifty percent (n = 5) were the first of their

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siblings to attend college. Also, all (n = 10) the participants responded that their parents
had never been to college (See Table C in Appendix H). Parents and participants alike
demonstrated great pride in their academic success.

Parental Messages to Break the Chain

Arellano and Padilla (1996) talked about one academically resilient student who
said that her parents gave her concrete examples while in the fields that served as a
motivation to go to school and succeed, by saying: “[While in the fields], If you don’t get
a high school education and beyond, you’re going to be doing this for the rest of your
lives” (Arellano & Padilla, 1996, p. 493). Lopez (2001) reported results from
interviewing a migrant family of academically successfirl children in the Texas Rio
Grande Valley (Lopez, 2001, pp. 420-421) He found that in addition to the hard work
ethic developed by being exposed to parents’ hard work in the fields was the valuable life
lessons learned that were motivators for education (Lopez, 2001, p. 416). Lopez indicated
that parents were teaching children to recognize that farm labor is difficult and without
adequate compensation and to realize that without an education, they may end up
working a similar job (Lopez, 2001, p. 416).

Parallel to these studies is how almost all of the participants talked about how
their parents overtly did not want their children to fall in their footsteps of being a
migrant farmworker their entire life. Participants perceived that their parents viewed
education as a way to break the chain, and therefore were supportive along the way in
their educational career. Parents gave the message to “break the chain” of migrancy in

different ways. The three sub-themes that emerged are: (1) don’t be like us or like them,

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(2) children were not forced to help parents financially, and (3) if you don’t want to work
in the fields, then get an education.

Don ’t Be Like Us or Like Them. Some men and women talked about how their
parents gave messages to break the chain of migrancy and get an education by telling
their children not to follow in their or others’ footsteps to migrancy. For example, one
woman talked about how her mom would encourage her education by telling her not to
end up staying in the fields like her family,

“. . .She says, “Look at us, you have several mirrors to look,”. . .So I could reflect
on her. So I cannot be like her, cause. . .she’s not that old, but her lungs represents
like 84 years old. . .from the farm work that she has done... And. . . my older
brothers they are. . .They don’t want for me to end up like them, they want for me
to have a better. . .to be someone in life, in a way to help them... she says, “me
and your brothers they’re gonna get married, I am one day. . .I am going to leave
and you’re gonna be there working all your life in the fields, and I don’t want that,
I want for you and your family to get a better life, so when you have your children
you don’t go from like 4 places in a year with them and all that...” (Woman B)

Another man talked about how his parents would give him the messages of “you don’t
want to be like them,” and this was eventually internalized as a motivation to get an

education. For example,

“. .. And like besides the hard work that we used to do, that you don’t want to ever
go back to...Going to school and getting an education is a lot better than having to
do the same thing because my parents would always use examples of other
families and they would be like, “well you see this guy here you know he’s been
coming with his parents for the longest time, he is manied now, he’s got two kids
and he is still coming, still migrating. Is that the way you want to be? Is that the
way you see yourselves?” ...At first I wouldn’t think about it because I was so
young, but you know, just before conring to college I thought about it and I was
like that’s not what I want for my family. . .You see these guys who have done it
all their life and have not broken the chain and have still continued, you know, the
same, same migrant work that their parents did and probably their grandparents
did. And you know, I’ve always been a rebel and I’ve always wanted new

things. . .different things. And I wasn’t about to have that chain continue.” (Man I)

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For some participants, their parents gave messages to “not be like us or like them.” The
significance of these messages was in the fact that they became motivations to obtain an
education. Parents also gave messages for education by not forcing them to work.
Children Were Not Forced to Help Parents Financially. A few men and women
talked about how they were not forced to work which supported their education. In some
cases, this motivated participants to get an education and “break the chain.” As one
participant noted that his parents would put in extra work hours to he did not have to
work,
“. . .I think it really comes fiom my parents. I mean they’ve always said that they
wanted better for me, they’ve always said that they didn’t want to see me working
in the fields because we’ve already struggled so much. We’ve seen how much
they’ve struggled just trying to put food on the table, trying to put a roof over our
heads, and whether its working as many hours as they have to work, they’re
gonna do it to provide for the family. And not only that, but in my case, I was
never forced to work in the fields. My dad was always willing to put in an extra
12 hours so that we didn’t have to work, so that we could go to school. So, I think
its more of my own personal family that really pushes me to try to break the
cycle, instead of falling right in their footsteps and doing what they’re doing right
now.” (Man H)
Another participant talked about how she was never asked to help her parents out, but she
did anyways,
“. . .They’ve always said, “I just want you to do something good for your life, I
don’t want you working in the fields,” that’s all they’ve ever said to me and how I
take it is, its up to me and they’ve always been there for me. . .Whatever it is, they
just want me to do the best for myself. They don’t even ask me to like help them
out in anything, it’s up to me, but of course I do [help them out] . . .” (Woman A)
This section illustrated how parents can influence their children to get out of the fields by
allowing their children to forgo the responsibility to contribute financially to the family

unit. In some cases this actually meant extra sacrifice by the parent, which is addressed

under the theme, “Parental sacrifice as a motivation to get an education.”

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If You Don ’t Want to Work in the Fields, Then Get an Education. Half of the

participants also talked about how parents also encouraged them to break the chain by

giving them instrumental examples, in some cases while in the fields, by saying, “if you

don’t want to work in the fields, then get an education.” For this sub-theme, more women

than men were told this message. One participant talked about how his parents always

said that education was the key to get out of the fields, but at the same time, his parents

were not concerned about what kind of education he got. For example,

“. .. They’ve always reiterated the fact that. . .if you want to be in the fields just
don’t get an education, you don’t need an education to work in the fields, you just
have to have brute-force or... just regular abilities, you don’t really need a lot of
smarts, you have to have a good work ethic. . .They’ve always said that education
is the key and that if I want to do something with my life I need to have an
education, but at the same token, they’re not at concerned as far as where I go to
college or anything like that. Like they just know that I need to get an education
somehow... even if it was a trade school, or anything like that, they were happy,
cause its definitely an improvement from where we are. . .they really don’t care,
like they’re ok with me being, you know, some low paid position or anything, but
as long as I have an education.” (Man G)

While, another participant talked about how when her dad gave her the messages while

they were in the fields and this motivated her to make a change in her life. As she noted,

“. . .And my parents. . .every time during the break we had, we’re all tired we all
trying to rest for the 15 minutes we get or whatever, and my dad would always
tell us, “you want to keep on working in here in the fields, then its ok with me, but
if you don’t like it then you need to get an education or something,” all the time
my dad would remind us when we were so tired working out there, he was like,
“if you don’t want to keep on working like this, then you better start an
education”. And like I said my parents were the number one motive to actually
make a change in what I was doing.” (Woman E)

Several participants talked about the messages that came from their parents which

translated to “breaking the chain” of migrancy. For some, parents told them to “not be

like us or like them,” and for others, the parents did not require them to contribute

financially to the family unit. For others, parents relayed to them that they way out of the

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fields was to get an education. These messages became internalized along with the
experience of working in the field which motivated many participants to get an education.
This theme is also further discussed under the theme “Personal motivations to get an
education.”

Parental Sacrifice as a Motivation to Get an Education

Half of the participants talked about how their parents sacrificed for them to get
an education. This theme was salient for men more than for women. Not only did their
parents sacrifice for them, but this sacrificed served as a motivation to get an education.
For example, one participant gave an example of one incident that really impacted her
when her father sacrificed for her to get an education,

“. . .There’s one little incident that really impacted me, we were all working, of
course in the fields during the summer, we came back to Texas, and we needed to
go to school so of course we needed clothes and shoes or whatever, so I needed
some shoes and my dad was like well. . .you have to decide what ones you want, I
mean like shoes or clothes because we don’t have enough money to buy
everything. So I remember he bought me some shoes. . .and I just go to his closet
and I see and I pick up his shoes and I can see that his shoes had like holes. . .in
the bottom, and I just kind of like wanted to not cry, well I am a very crying
person but, how he could have paid that money and buy me shoes or like shoes
and the backpack and clothes or whatever when his shoes were all worn out and
he needed the shoes more than what we needed them, its kind of like seeing those
little sacrifices your parents do to give you everything you need and you want just
so you can live happy and give you an education.” (Woman E)

Another participant talked about how his father’s sacrifices in crossing the border in a
trunk of a car, and to repay him would be to get an education and bring joy to his face.

“. . .My parents, especially my dad. . .it would be like a shame on me if I didn’t
graduate from high school. . .I felt I wanted everything for them because they did
everything for me. . .They gave me this great opportunity to be here and I guess, I
mean there are stories behind my dad like I mean, his struggles, you know. Like,
for example, one was he would tell me and I would always remember even now
that I think about it... he would tell me that when he first got here. .. he came in
the back of a trunk of a car for like eight hours or. . .six hours fi'om crossing the
border to like three hours or I don’t know somewhere around there ...in the back

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of a trunk with like three or four other people... So you know, I would always
think about that. . . I mean if he made that sacrifice for us. Like I repay him back
with something that will bring joy to his face, you know. So those are things why
I want to become better.” (Man I)

Finally, one man said that the biggest motivator for his academic success is seeing his
parents struggling in the fields, while he is comfortable at college,
“. . .I mean the biggest thing. . .up to this point’s made me a success is just seeing
my parents still in the fields while I have this cushy little place where I live. . .have
the opportunity to learn as much as I can. . .try to make the best out of my life
while they’re still doing that, so I mean that motivates me everyday based on the
fact that they’re over there and I’m here. They’re struggling, I’m basically not, I
mean to me this is basically a cake-walk than being out there, cause I’m only here
4 years and they’ve been there for. . ..4-5 years, even 8 years being in school is
nothing compared to what they’ve been doing...” (Man G)
Some participants were impacted by the sacrifices that parents made in order for them to
get an education by becoming aware and wanting to succeed. Participants were also
motivated to give back to their parents, which is discussed under the theme, “Personal
motivations to get an education.” Finally, more men than women were affected by their
parental sacrifice for their education.
Parental Role Modeling as a Motivation to Get an Education
Aside from parental sacrifices, some men and women were also motivated to get
an education by modeling after their parents’ hard work and in saying, “if they could do
it, so can 1.” Again, more men than women mentioned the importance of role modeling in
promoting their education. As these two participants noted,
“And, just my mom. . .showed me a lot because she herself only went to 6th grade,
her mom pulled her out of school because based on traditions where she comes
from. . .it really wasn’t a place for girls, and after being here for so long, she
picked up the language and everything, she got her GED and she’s an American
citizen, so I mean, that showed that if she could do it then I really have no excuses
and she’d throw that in my face, you know, like showing me that you know she

has less things to work with than I do, so I mean there’s no reason for me to fail. I
mean, I agreed with her... She can speak English really well right now, but at that

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point she was barely doing English efficiently and taking classes and all this other

stuff so, she definitely had a lot more obstacles than I had, I mean English is you

know, an everyday thing for me so I mean that definitely motivated me, you

know, just seeing her I was like, you know, I can do that too.” (Man G)

“. . .And I have my parents all like, they played a big role cause if it wasn’t for

their hard work to even raise us the way we are, like it would have never been

possible. Cause I know they came to this country not speaking a word like, well
my mom still doesn’t, and my dad he passed away. But, so if it wasn’t for them
taking all that shit that they gave them when they came to work and wake up in
the monring and did what they had to, like to me like those are like actions speak
louder than words and they made it here and now like why I can’t make it and my
other siblings, cause they took all the shit for us. And I don’t see why. . .I can’t do

it...” (Man J)

In these two cases, their parent’s hard work served as a model to imitate in working hard
and being motivated to get an education.

In sum, these results provide evidence of how mothers and fathers played a
crucial role in fostering academic success early on for participants. The major ways that
parents influenced their children was by: pushing them to succeed, having pride in this
success, giving messages to break the chain and get an education, making sacrifices and
modeling hard work. Sometimes the ways that parents influenced their children varied for
the men and women in the study. For example, parental push for educational success was
more salient for women while parental sacrifice and role modeling was more salient for
men. Parental pride and parental messages to break the chain were equal for men and
women, however women were more likely to receive the message of “if you don’t want
to work in the fields, then get an education.” Both parents (mother and father) tended to
foster this support or relay these messages for participants.

Not Missing School during Migration

According to past research, migrant students are at greater risk for leaving school

early (Salerno, 1991, p. 3) due to factors related to the occupation of migrant farm work,

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such as interrupted school attendance due to mobility and inconsistent record keeping
because of the mismatch between different U.S. state educational systems (Morse &
Hammer, 1998, p. 1; Salerno, 1991, p. 4). Almost all of the participants talked about this
relationship between school and annual migration. However, most compensated for being
behind in school, barely missed school or did not miss school. A few participants talked
about how they were behind in primary and secondary school because of the annual
migration to work in agricultural labor. For example,

“[During high school] I started in Michigan then left to Texas then from Texas to

Florida, from Florida to Texas, there, it was like 4 places in a year. . .I couldn’t get

like my credits, [laughs], cause I was moving like fiom place to place, and my

counselor, especially my counselor, she said that I was not going to make it.”

(Woman B)
Nonetheless, in some manner almost all participants compensated for being behind in
school through the help of their parents, the community and their own will. The
following sub-themes emerged from what participants said: (1) mismatch in schools, but
compensated for it, (2) not missing school because parents valued education, or (3) child
stayed alone in Texas while family nrigrated.

Mismatch in Schools, But Compensated for it

A few participants talked about how even though they were behind in school,
they made up for in through the help of school personnel, or their own will. For example,
one woman explained how there was a mismatch between Michigan and Texas schools
caused her to take after-school classes in Texas to graduate on time,

“. . .And. . .my senior year [of high school] I was in Michigan and here in

Michigan I had enough credits to graduate with honors. . . and then once I go back

to Texas it was 2 months before graduation. Like when I was back to Texas, and

they had told me that I had to stay another extra year, because I didn’t have

enough credits... I was kind of like, ok, so in Michigan I was graduating with
honors and in Texas I needed another year to graduate because I don’t have

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enough credits, so I really didn’t want to stay a whole extra year so I had to do the
whole after-school classes. . .In Texas I got to graduate with the bare minimum
program that they had at my high school.” (Woman E)

Another woman talked about how migration interfered with her education when they
were in Michigan because the school did not offer AP classes like down in Texas.
However, the school helped her to enroll in community college to take the courses she
needed to take and she did not let this make her behind in school.

“Where [migrating] interfered the most was in my junior year [of high school].
We came up to Michigan and I was taking AP courses down in Texas and over
here in Michigan. .. they did not offer no AP courses... like I was taking calculus
already in high school and when we came to this little rural school they only teach
stuff through Algebra I. So the teacher like actually sent me to like a
community college so I could take my Physics and my Calculus and like some of
the sciences that I was taking. So the school actually worked with me a lot and
they helped me out. But, still they wouldn’t offer the AP courses and that put me
behind. Well, at least I didn’t let it put me behind.” (Woman D)

This section illustrated that through the help of others and by their own will, participants
minimized the effects of migration on their education.
Not Missing School during Migration Because Parents Valued Education
Half of the participants talked about how they did not rrriss school because their
parents valued education. As these participants noted,

“. . ..So we’d leave a month early and get there a month late. . .like the younger
ones in the family, like in my case it was me and my little sister. . .and my other
sister would enroll when we got here I didn’t miss out on school... Because
my parents understood the importance of our education. And that’s one of the
reasons... they came into this country for that. So, they weren’t about to let that
go, so I didn’t miss any school. Like, most of the time I was enrolled in school.”
(Man I)

“. . .We were in Texas most of the year and then just for a couple months, like in
the summer we would come up here and work... we were never pulled out of
school early and we were never late to school, like when we had to leave back.
...It goes back to my mom being very supportive of us to finish our education, so
she’d never want us to miss school or anything like that.” (Woman C)

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“No, I only did it [farm work] during the summers, like I knew families that
would take out their children from like May, before even school finished, and
they didn’t come back until like October-November. My parents never did that to
me, they always wanted us to like stay in school, fiom the first day until the last
day, and then after that it was up to us if we wanted to help them or not, they
never forced us to do anything. So, like, that to me said they themselves wanted
us to get an education and better our lives.” (Woman A)

The above illustrations show how parents contributed to their children’s academic
success by not letting the family migration interfere with their children’s education and
how participants internalized this as parents valuing their education.

Child Stayed Alone in Texas While Family Migrated

In relation to not letting family migration interfere with school is how almost half
of the participants stayed home alone in Texas while the family migrated north to work
the fields. Participants explained that their parents let them stay home alone to graduate
on time, to graduate with honors, or to play sports. For example, some women got to stay
home in Texas alone in order to graduate with honors. As one participant noted,

“. . .That year like because the school wouldn’t offer those courses, what I did is I
took off from home and I went to Texas by myself. And I lived there like by
myself while my family like got there. So I could get the classes that I needed and
to graduate the way that I wanted to graduate. . .my senior year. . .It was hard. . .I
got up, went to school, sometimes I missed the bus, I used to like bike to school,
cook, clean, they sent me money to go get groceries. So my uncle used to go get
groceries. I sneaked the dog in there ‘cause I was kind of lonely. .. It is like it’s
weird, because my mom didn’t want to let me go... But we met this one guy up in
Michigan that like told them, “you know what, it’s better for you to let your
daughter go” and like I cried to her so many days, like so many nights just let me
go mom, like I need to do this, I need to do this, ‘cause this was like my thing.
But once she let me go, it is like I thanked her a lot because when I graduated and
like I graduated honors...” (Woman D)

While this participant got to stay home in Texas in order to play sports,
“I only played [sports] my junior and senior year because I had to move so much
and my junior and senior year I had to live by myself in Texas because my parents

couldn’t leave the fields cause they had to work, it wasn’t till my senior year
where I actually went to school from start to finish...” (Man G)

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Finally, another participant talked about how there is no point to pull the child out early
just to graduate from another high school in the north. As he explained,
“ My senior year, my parents told me that I could stay home if I wanted to, to
graduate. . .It is like, there is no point in getting you out of school, I mean unless
your parents only want to use you as a laborer... but like there is no point in
getting out of school a month early to go graduate fiom another high school... So,
I think that’s what it is, because my little sister she is a junior and she is going to
stay home too. It is just like, you just have to stay. . .You got to get things
organized to see where you are going after that. But like as soon as I graduated I
came back and met my parents here [in Michigan].” (Man I)
Parents influenced these participants’ education during high school. In these cases,
parents did not let migration get in the way of their sons and daughters graduating on
time, with honors or being able to play sports. Sometimes migrant children are expected
to contribute economically to the family unit, which causes older children to contribute
whereas younger children in the birth order can enroll in school and may not have to
contribute economically. For example, one participant noted that later on when at MSU,
students may feel guilty because they cannot contribute to the family unit, “. . .A lot of
them were the oldest in their family, so when they come up here [to MSU] and their
parents are struggling with money, they feel guilty. . .cause it’s in their conscience like it’s
because it’s my fault they are not eating, my brothers are sick...”(Man J) In contrast to
what this participant was talking about in college is how these four participants were
allowed to stay home and presumably not contribute to the family unit. They ranged from
being first to sixth born in the birth order of their siblings.
In sum, this section illustrated how almost all participants were able to minimize
the effects of migration through the help of school personnel, their own will and their

families. Parents were particularly instrumental in not letting the family migration

interfere with their children’s education. In relation to parental support and not missing

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school because of migration is the next section, including participants’ personal
motivations to get an education.
Personal Motivations to get an Education

Overall, participants talked about several internal and external sources that served
as motivations to get an education and “break the chain of migrancy.” These motivations
played out in different ways in the lives of participants, such as: (1) I do not want to be
in the fields, (2) I want to give back to parents, (3) I want a future for me and my family,
(4) I want to give back to my community, and (5) I want to prove-wrong the people who
didn’t believe.

I Do Not Want to Be in the Fields

Cabrera and Padilla (2004) explained how one participant in their qualitative
study was motivated to get an education to not work as an agricultural worker in the
fields (p. 159). They also found that another participant was motivated to get an
education by watching his father work 18 hour shifts, so participants saw the negative
side effects of not having an education (Cabrera & Padilla, 2004, p. 161). In relation to
these findings from Cabrera and Padilla (2004) is how almost all of the women and men
in this study talked about how they were motivated to get an education because the “did
not want to be in the fields.” Participants talked about this in several ways. As these
participants noted,

“. . .If I don’t want to go to school, there’s always a job waiting for me there, and

that definitely. . .upsets me, well kind of gives me this bad feeling. . .Just thinking

about being there the rest of my life, its not a bad lifestyle, its not something I

would want to do for the rest of my life or offer my family so that motivates me.”

(Man G)

“. . .Cause where I live they said that if we live out of the [parent’s] house, is that
.. .we’re gonna be a aborting a kid, and that was not our situation, well, my

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situation, I left my house cause I wanted to get a better life and not be working at
the labor-farm work-all my life...” (Woman B)

“. . .All that hard work that we use to do, that’s like looking back and saying, “I
don’t want to be there, I don’t want to be in the fields under that hot sun at twelve
in the noon or one in the afternoon when everything’s like super hot and just
being down there working hard to get that little hourly wage, rrrinimum wage, I
want to like do something else.” (Woman A)

“It was a great experience. . .coming fiom a farmworker. . ..It would like encourage

me. . .[to] take advantage of wanting to keep going to school. . .Cause, I don’t

wanna be my entire like working in the fields and getting my back hurt or

anything else. . .Like, I don’t want to have cancer cause of pesticides.” (Woman F)
These quotes illustrated how almost all participants talked about the negative
consequences of not getting an education (e. g. Cabrera & Padilla, 2004; Lopez, 2001).
Here, the motivation to get an education stemmed from their personal experience
working in the fields and not wanting to go back there. Gandara (1982) also found a
similar theme in her study of high achieving Chicanas where “education was seen as a
vehicle for acquiring a well-paying job” (Gandara, 1982, p. 172). Lopez (2001) found
that for successfirl migrant students, parents taught their children to recognize that farm
labor was difficult, did not pay well and to realize that without an education, they may
end up working a similar job (Lopez, 2001, p. 416). Thus, the emergent theme of
knowing the negative consequences of not getting an education and not wanting to back
to the fields was supported by the literature.

I Want to Give Back to My Parents

Half of the participants also talked about how they were motivated to get an
education to give back to their parents or to take care of their parents in the future. This

was true for both men and women participants. For instance, as these participants noted,

“I mean, well definitely I’m here so I can try to provide the best life for myself
and my parents, I mean probably the biggest factor aside fiom where I see my

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parents, the biggest thing is to get them out of the position they’re in- their
lifestyle, I think that motivates me more because to me that would be, that would
actually make me a success in my own eyes because they made so many sacrifices
so I could be here, they see me as their social security, so if I let them down, I’m
not a success. If I let down anybody else, I really don’t care, but if I let them
down, that’s when I’ll consider myself a failure. The whole point I’m here is to
get myself in a position where I can get them out, where they won’t have to be
doing that [farm work].” (Man G)

“... So it’s going to be like honor all the stuff that you’ve done and once that I get
that degree, then you get a better paying job, well I hopefirlly, you know. And

then once that happens, I can give them, give stuff back to them that they’ve
given to me.” (Woman D)

“And I was like, no, I don’t want to go back there, I want to study. . .and plus I

don’t want my parents to do this because they did a lot. . .they left everything in

Mexico to come for me to go to school. . .so they gave up a lot of their stuff and I

need, cause they always take care of me. So, I want to have an education. . .not

like pay them back because they’re my parents, but help them out whenever

they’re old I want to take care of them...” (Woman F)
The above quotes illustrated how many participants were motivated to get an education to
give back and take care of their parents. As one participant noted, he’s his parents’ social
security, which is why he felt the responsibility to get an education to take care of them
later on. This responsibility to give back to parents may be related to the fact that farm
workers generally are excluded from employee pension plans (Taylor et al., 1997; Linder,
1992; as cited in Weathers et al. 2003, p. 956) typical of other labor sectors in the United
States. Thus, the responsibility to take care of the elderly may lie more on the hands of
the family rather than on retirement plans which may be why participants talk about this
need to “give back” to their parents.

I Want a Future for Me and My Family

Over half of the participants talked about how they wanted to get an education in

order to have a bright future for themselves, their siblings, their families and even their

future children. Again, this was true for men and women alike. For example, one woman

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talked about how she did not want her firture family have the same experience of having a
parent leave home for a few months at a time, and this motivated her to get an education:

“I didn’t want to be away from home as much as he [my father] was like in the
beginning before I got to high school and middle school, he use to be away from
home like for a couple of months at a time, and it was just hard for us, you know,
and I didn’t want to be able to have to do that to my family or just my husband
have to do that or anything like that, and it was just like, I just wanted him to be
home with us, and if I could do something about it, I wanted to.” (Woman A)

One woman also talked about how her own experience in the fields motivated her to
study and not want that future for her children,

“. . .It does motivate me because every time I look at that picture, I’m like, I don’t
want to be in that field anymore, cause it was like hell for me cause we would
never finish it... And I was like, no, I don’t want to go back there, I want to study
...I don’t want my kids to do this...” (Woman F)

“. . .At first I wouldn’t think about it because I was so young, but just before
coming to college I thought about it and I was like that’s not what I want for my
family. . .You see these guys who have done it all their life and have not broken
the chain and have still continued... the same. .. migrant work that their parents...
and probably their grandparents did...” (Man I)

Aside from wanting a future for one’s family, some participants were also motivated to
get an education for their own reasons. When asked what has contributed to there
academic success, these participants responded:
“. . .Religion has always also been very indusive to getting an education and being
a better person. . .its helped me in being a better person in of course the religion
aspect, and getting an education to be a better person and the like the whole
society, and being a better person within your family.” (Woman E)
“Well, also, I’m here for me, right? ...and I want to be a successful person. . .I
want to have a good job... I want to have networks, know a lot of people that
will... help me go through. . .my career and stuff. That’s like my part of
motivation, I want to be a successful person...” (Woman F)

Thus, they wanted to have a bright future for their families, be better people in religious

terms, or be successful in career terms and did not want their children to experience the

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migrant lifestyle. These future goals for the family and the self were motivations to get an
education and fostered academic success in the eyes of many participants.
I Want to Give Back to My Community
Few participants talked about how they wanted to get an education so they could
give back to their community by wanting to change the system. This motivation to
change the system came fiom the direct experience in the field. For example,
“. . .When I say that it “opened my eyes” I was just amazed how much of this stuff
actually happens without anybody doing anything about it, with anybody thinking
and saying, “Wow, that’s bad, you’re treating them really bad” And, to me I feel
bad being in the same place when this is happening and me not feeling guilty
about it. I think that’s what I mean when I say that it “opened my eyes” to what’s
actually happening in the fields, even though I grew up since I was 12 working
there, but when I was a kid... you don’t pay attention to stuff like that. . .I don’t
know if it motivated me to go to college, but I know... it motivated me to try to
make a difference in what was actually happening, and I think by just trying to
make a difference that required getting an education and going to college, so I
really had no choice, I was sort of like “. . .what can I do to intervene in this
situation,”. . .and I really didn’t decide to come back to school then, that happened
later, but, I knew that the only way to do it was to get educated, and to get some
sort of education.” (Man H)
For these participants, the motivation to give back to the community and change the
system was a salient motivating factor to obtain a college education. In comparison to
this community-based orientation for getting an education, is how some participants
wanted to prove wrong all those people in the past that did not believe in them which also
motivated them to get an education.
I Want to Prove Wrong the People Who Didn ’t Believe
Some participants wanted to get an education in order to prove others wrong who

either did not believe in them, held prejudices about them, or put barriers in front of

them. As these participants noted,

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“. . .I’m gonna prove myself and prove like the people that... don’t like me, I will

say it like that, that I can make it, no matter what they say, no matter what barriers

they put on me, I will make it, I don’t know... its like I see that as like a

“retandolos” [challenging them], I don’t know how to say it, like, challenging

them: ok you said that “I’m not gonna make it” and “I’m gonna prove you that

I’m gonna make it not cause I want to, now I have that little specific thing I need

to do, I’m gonna prove you that I can, and I’m gonna do it, I’m gonna make. So

you can have faith in somebody, not on me,”. .. for like let’s say like. . .my first
counselor, she didn’t have faith on farmworkers, she always bad faith in the

cheerleaders that were the daughters of the teachers...” (Woman B)

“I would probably say just a prove people wrong... all the people growing up that

never really gave me the chance or the opportunity or the time of day, they just

assumed based where I come from that I was gonna end up there. . .maybe just
teach them that... everybody’s got potential regardless of where they come from
and you know, just to show people that it doesn’t matter where you come fiom,

anybody can make it, under the right circumstances, so that’s definitely a

motivating factor.” (Man G)

Thus, participants took it upon themselves to not back down and “show people that it
doesn’t matter where you come fiom, anybody can make it, under the right
circumstances.” (Man G) This participant may be illustrating how all kids, regardless of
their background, have potential to succeed academically. In support of this emergent
theme is the research of Lango (1995), who cited “Simoniello’s (1981) finding that a low
socioeconomic status does not negatively affect a Mexican American woman’s ability to
enter a graduate program” (as cited in Lango, 1995, p. 45). Of course this participant was
not talking about entry into graduate school, but the idea is the same.

In sum, all participants were internally motivated to get an education. However,
different internal and external incentives motivated them to get an education, such as: (1)
not wanting to be in the fields, (2) wanting to give back to parents, (3), wanting a firture
for themselves and their families, (4) wanting to give back to their communities, and (5)

wanting to prove wrong all the people who did not believe in them or in migrant students.

Almost all of the participants endorsed the above sub-themes. These motivations

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stemmed from their past experiences in the fields, parental support, and their own
thoughts, beliefs and will to succeed. The question is, but how did they enter college?
How Did They Enter College?

Participants talked about their past experiences which motivated them to get an
education and protective processes in the family that fostered their success. However, a
key concept along the path to college and later success in college that emerged was
crossing the threshold into college. None of the participants’ parents have been to college
and only half had elder siblings who went to college before them (See Table C in
Appendix H). Many participants who had older siblings who had already been to college
found out about college through them. However, participants talked about other supports
who helped them get into college, such as: (’1) high school personnel support, (2) CAMP
recruiter, (3) peer support, (4) family support, or (5) I decided to further my education.

High school counselors have the ability to open the door to opportunity for
migrant students. In contrast to how some had negative experiences with high school
counselors (as mentioned under the above theme “Experience with discrimination in high
school”) is how some participants had positive experiences with high school counselors.
This participant had older siblings who had already went to college, but was still
influenced by the high school counselor,

“[My high school counselor] is the one who put me in this position. . ..And in high

school he really helped me out. He opened a lot of doors for me. . .After this, there

is going to be many doors, but not until you open the first door is when you really

get an opportunity to preview the rest of the doors...” (Man 1)

Another participant had the help of high school personnel. She was the first of her

siblings and cousins to go to college and found out about college through the help of the

migrant counselor and the CAMP recruiter.

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“There was, well there is a rrrigrant counselor like in our schools back home, there
was a presentation on Michigan State and the [CAMP] recruiter was down there,
so he pulled me out of class, cause they have a list of migrant students. . .and I just
went to this presentation. . .So, I got to talk to this recruiter on one-on-one and ask
her questions and she just gave me an application...” (Woman C)

Some participants who were the first of their siblings to go to college found out about
CAMP fiom a fiiend. As she explained,

“One of my friends told me that she had come the year before to MSU to visit
CAMP. . .and then she had explained what CAMP was, that it would pay off your
first year, and it would give you in-state tuition. So, I myself went to the
counselor’s office and asked them about it, and I found out they were like having
trips here to come visit, so I signed up, and then I applied to MSU, I applied to
CAMP, I got accepted. And, all I had left to do was tell my parents... [laughs]
that I wanted to come all the way here. It was hard, but like, they supported me
and then, I just came over here. It was just a big step for me...” (Woman A)

While for others, family members helped out with the decision to go to college. This
woman was the first of her siblings to go to college and had a husband who did not
ascribe to the traditional gender roles which would have prevented her from attending.

“. . .He [my husband] wasn’t machista, you know how like some guys are, “well
she can’t work she can’t do anything with her life, she’s just supposed to be in the
kitchen” and all that? So, he was telling me,” don’t believe that stuff, you’re a
very talented girl and you can do a lot more than just stay in the kitchen and be a
wife, you see.” And he’s like “and I see this in you and you have a lot of
potential, so you should go to college and do something with your life, instead of
just saying that you are just going to have kids and... the typical thing...”
(Woman D)

Half of the participants who were not the first of their siblings or extended family
to go to college also had help from family and others to get into college. For example,
this participant talked about how she was pushed to go to college by her sister,

“My sister. . .She talked to me, she said, “Well, if you want to go to college,

there’s this opportunity, you can get by this, apply for financial aid,” she was

always like on top of me to do the things. . .I believe the [CAMP recruiter]
went to visit our school, I was not there, I was here in Michigan working with my

parents, she had to stay, so that’s why she knew about the program...” (Woman
B)

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Finally, a few participants decided on their own accord to apply to the CAMP program at
MSU. For example,

“Before I came to MSU, I started in the community college in Texas . .. I

completed my first semester, I realized I really. . . don’t want to stay in the valley

area where I live, I really don’t like it and whatever... So, I decide to apply... to
the CAMP program. I really didn’t think I was gonna get in cause I’ve always
known that well Michigan State and U of M were like the two top universities in

Michigan, so just to apply for it, just to have fun. . .I didn’t think I was gonna get

accepted, I was accepted to the program so I was very excited...” (Woman E)
Participants entered into the university mostly through the advice and help of others in
their families, peer networks, and schools. They also had the internal motivation to go to
college as mentioned previously. None of the participants’ parents had been to college
and half (n = 5) had elder siblings who went to college before them (See Table C in
Appendix H). Participants who had older siblings who already went to college generally
found out about college through them. This section illustrated how high school
counselors, CAMP recruiters, and peers can play a significant role in opening the door to
the opportunity to go to college for all migrant students, especially for students who are
the first in their extended family to attend college.

The critical role of migrant high school counselors in opening the door to college
is also backed by past research by Morse and Hammer (1998) who mentioned that with
the addition of the U.S. Department of Education’s Migrant Education Program (MEP),
there has been an increase in high school graduation rates from 10 to 40 percent in the
past 20 years. Furthermore, they indicated that “now educators are being urged to
“. . .prepare [migrant children] to make a successfirl transition to postsecondary education

or employment” (U .S. Department of Education, 1994)” (as cited in Morse and Hammer,

1998, p. 1).

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Protective Factors and Processes While at College

The second part of answering the study’s research question17 was assessing what
sustained students’ success while at college. Prior to college processes and factors which
contributed to academic success largely revolved around the family unit and participants’
personal motivations. When participants entered into college, support systems outside of
the family unit became more salient in fostering their academic success and persistence.
Gonzalez and Padilla’s (1997) results indicated that educational resilience was not a
personality trait, but rather “a capacity that develops over time in the context of
environmental support” (Egeland et al., 1992, p. 19)” (as cited in Gonzalez & Padilla,
1997, p. 315). This idea is related to the existence of academic supportive programming
for students fiom farmworker backgrounds. Unlike other OME [Office of Migrant
Education] programs, CAMP aids farmworker students in their first year of college with
academic, personal, and financial supports. CAMP assists students “to successfully
complete the first undergraduate year of study in a college or university, and provides
follow-up services to help students continue in postsecondary education” (Office of
Elementary and Secondary Education, 2004).

Since all participants were CAMP students during their freshman year (but were
academic juniors and seniors at the time of the study), it is important to understand how
these academic, personal, and financial supports from CAMP affected their success. All

participants talked about CAMP support, and these supportive processes are interwoven

throughout these meta-themes: (1) support while in college from CAMP and others, (2)

 

'7 Again, the study’s research question is: “From the perspective of MSU CAMP students, what are the
protective factors and processes that serve to promote and foster educational resilience in Mexican origin
farmworker students at Michigan State University (MSU)?”

109

personalized support that goes beyond acaderrrics, (3) encouragement from the self,
family and community, and (4) mentorship. Corresponding themes and sub-themes are
presented under each meta-theme to demonstrate how participants believed that they
persevered in college.
Support While in College from CAMP and Others

Prior to college, processes and factors which contributed to academic success
largely revolved around the family unit and participants’ personal motivations. When
participants got into college, support systems outside of the family unit became more
salient. All participants talked about several supportive processes in college which
fostered their academic success. However, they talked about these processes in different
ways yet most were nested in CAMP. These protective factors were: (1) opportunity to
go to college, (2) material and financial support from CAMP, and (3) career-oriented
support from CAMP and others.

Opportunity to go to college

Over half of the participants talked about opening the door to opportunity.
However, opportunity played out differently for participants, such as having the
opportunity to get out of the Mexico or the valley, to go to college, and to gain access to
knowledge about careers. This theme was endorsed by both men and women participants.
One participant explained how in Mexico there is no financial aid. As she noted,

“. . .There’s not many opportunities over there. Like, here in U.S. the government

helps you a lot for like with financial aid for your school and your education .. ..

In Mexico, if you don’t have a scholarship you gotta pay for it if you want an

education. But, if you don’t have the resources like how are you gonna get an

education? I did have a scholarship when I was in Mexico too cause I was always

getting first place... but I mean, I was a U.S. citizen what was I gonna do in

Mexico, you know? You always look for the land of the dreams... land and that’s
what my parents and I did.” (Woman F)

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Some participants talked about how maybe the migrant background gave him the
opportunity to get in to college via the CAMP program. For example,

“. . .And to me everybody has got the same opportunities if they want them. . .there
is no difference whether you come... from any type of family, it doesn’t

matter. . .It’s just whether I was migrant or whether I wasn’t, I would have still
been here, but any other place, university. You know, so it doesn’t really matter. I
mean it did open a lot of opportunities for me because I know that without that
background, maybe I wouldn’t have been here. Maybe this university wouldn’t
have accepted me. Although I think that I could have...” (Man 1)

While others talked about how college gave them the opportunity to access to the
knowledge about the careers that were previously unknown,

“. . .I guess while I was living in Texas, in the valley, it was just, “ok I’m gonna
high school. . .and probably get a technical degree here in the community

college. . .and get married and have kids... the most usual things that I have seen
over and over again in my family.” And once I come here [to MSU], you see a
whole different aspect of life, and you see so many different paths you can take
and if you can chose one from all of them and if you work hard enough and try
hard enough you can actually accomplish it and make a difference in your life,
and live better than what it used to be. . .Cause at the community college I enrolled
there by myself and I went to classes for my own will.. .I didn’t have that, what
do you call it the support staff behind me, saying, “Oh, this 13 what you can do,
this is...” you can see all the resources that are here at the University that when
I was back at the community college that I couldn’t see because nobody told me
that there was all these different options that I could take.” (Woman E)

“. . .So far, college has just taught me more about opportunities that are out there,
cause being in the migrant lifestyle. . .the only thing I was aware of growing up is
teachers and farm-field bosses that’s it. . .I didn’t know there was like engineers...
and that’s what college has taught me. . .about those type of positions and maybe
learn about them so. . .someday I might be working in that kind of position. . .”
(Man G)

Thus, participants talked about opportunity in a multi-faceted way, such as having the

opportunity to get out of Mexico and the valley, to go to college, and to gain access to

knowledge about careers. Some students talked about having the awareness of relating

their migrant background to the opportunity to enter college via the CAMP program.

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While others talked about the opportunity to access knowledge about the workforce and
careers that were previously unknown to them once they were in college.

Material and Financial Support from CAMP

MSU CAMP providing financial assistance for students in their first year college
for tuition, books, and room and board. In addition, MSU CAMP provides assistance by
helping students fill out financial aid forms, obtaining on-campus housing, registering for
classes, introduces students to supportive services at MSU, helps develop a support
system to improve study skills and college survival skills, securing tutors and limited
financial assistance for books, supplies, health insurance, transportation (MSU HEP-
CAMP, 2005). Many participants talked about how CAMP helped them out during
college and these themes were endorsed equally by men and women. For example,

“They’ve [CAMP] helped me in my first year; they paid for my tuition, my room

and board and books. . .those little financial things like buying books and paying

for tuition.” (Woman E)

“They helped me as in they accepted me to MSU, they gave me that opportunity.

And they paid for my first year of tuition, when it is when I had the highest GPA

I’ve ever had. . .I had a 3.9 GPA... I was doing very well when they helped me out.

And they taught me about financial aid, they taught me about a little bit about

writing resumes... They offered tutoring, free tutoring. . .” (Woman D)

“. . .I mean I didn’t see that I was getting in-state tuition, you know, that was

something huge, you know, and I got in and really start to realize to later on.”

(Man I)

Not only did CAMP help out participants their first year, the support was still
there in the following collegiate years. As these participants mentioned,

“They hold your hand through your freshman year. By the end of your freshman

year... you’re already starting to walk. . .Your sophomore is a little bit hard cause

you’re kind of lost already cause you are so used to having them do everything for

you, that when comes your second year; it’s hard to find things around by
yourselves. But they’re still there to help you. And it just feels so good being able

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to come in here, this office, and just have everybody know you, it feels really
good.” (Man I)

“I guess later years you can go, I know they [CAMP] also provide winter
clothing. Or even like just like medical stuff that they know of that we could
know, maybe discounts Even a lot of students come here to like get help like
doing their financial aid or who to go to talk to on certain financial assistance or
just things like that...” (Woman C)

Yet, as this participant mentioned, he was not aware of the services that CAMP provided
after their first year because he was not connected,

“. . .So a lot of things I really didn’t know that CAMP could help me in, because
they really do stress a lot of support on you your fi'eshman year, but then, when,
you pass your fieshman year, and you’re still here, they bring in a new group and
their focus is on the new group. . .so you sort of feel like they already gave you the
little push and now you’re on your own, when its really not like that. . .the support
is still there, it just took me a long time to figure it out that if you need any
assistance to buy books. . .to buy winter clothes... they try to give the CAMP
students as much as they can, but all you have to is show up and say, “hey I need
this.” (Man H)

Thus, CAMP provides financial and material assistance during the first year at MSU and
also continues to provide support during their latter years as college students. Equally or
even more important than the financial support from CAMP is the social support such as
having leverage in the university, as this participant mentioned,

“Once I talked to a financial advisor, they really didn’t contribute as much as...
other people nright, because my family didn’t make enough money so FAF SA
pretty much covered it. . .But, to me, the financial aspect is not really what’s
relevant as far as what they offer... So, to me what CAMP offers is the whole
network thing. . .having a resource. . .if you have a question. . .you can ask them, or
if you have a certain situation, where you yourself can’t take care of it cause you
are just another number when you come to the college and sometimes it helps to
have some leverage. . .Daniel calling somebody to get an override, when you went
down there personally and explained to them why you needed the override but
you needed some muscle in order to get the override, I mean they help in that
aspect.” (Man G)

In sum, participants talked about received support from CAMP which helped them while

they were in college such as instate tuition, room and board and tutoring services during

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their first year, and winter clothing and other materials during their latter years. In
addition, CAMP also offered leverage in the university, such as getting overrides into
classes. As mentioned above, “They hold your hand through your freshman year. By the
end of your freshman year... you’re already starting to walk...” (Man I)

Career-oriented Support from CAMP and others

Students also talked about how they received valuable help in college by CAMP
staff and other school personnel for their career. Since some could not go to their parents
(and sometimes siblings) for advice on their career, some participants had role models
outside of the family. Cabrera & Padilla (2004) also found that studies used external
supports to access information and experiences that the parents could not provide (p.161).
These themes were endorsed equally by women and men. For example,

“There was a [grad student] here [at CAMP] and she’s doing her Ph.D. and
I mean I know she’s been one of the many role models here on campus for me,
just because I always look up to her and I believe she had a big role as to why I
changed my major... Cause I’m the type of person that likes to help other people
and she is like that and I saw myself in her... because I seen how she is very
helpful to the incoming freshmen, I mean including myself and she was always
there to give advice. So I saw myself in her position...” (Woman C)

“He influenced me so much that I want to do the same thing that he’s doing right

now because I feel I could fill his spot a lot better than anybody else can. Because
I have his same background and I have a background that’s necessary for that job,
you know. Ever since I’ve met him... I knew I wanted to be a counselor.” (Man 1)

Another participant talked about how her role model directed her towards her career in a
way that her family and friends could not do,

“[My parents were] supporting every path I take. It’s all good, but sometimes you
got to like direct the person in one direction and that’s what Cynthia played that
role, because she’s the one that directed me.. . .It is kind of like maybe it might be
a bad analogy, but it is kind of like a pyramid. They are molding me up. My
family and my husband, some of my fiiends in Texas would be the factors that are
trying to push it up. And Cynthia is probably the one pointing it up, like towards
the direction, giving it the shape. So, that’s kind of like my family and everybody

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...they make the clay out of me, but I was just a piece of clay. I wasn’t molded
into anything. And she helped me, she kind of molded me...” (Woman D)

In sum, some participants received support from their role models or mentors on their
future career. This section illustrated how participants received support in getting the
opportunity to attend college, financial and material help, and career development help.
However, even more salient then these types of support was how they encountered a
sense of belonging, surrogate family, and personalized support at MSU which fostered
their academic success.
Personalized Social Support That Goes Beyond Academics

All participants talked about personalized support that went beyond academics
from mostly the CAMP staff and also from. school personnel such as professors and
bosses. Participants talked about this personalized support in various ways, from having a
(1) sense of belonging in CAMP, (2) surrogate family at MSU, (3) CAMP support on a
personal level, and (4) school personnel support on a personal level.

Sense of Belonging in CAMP

Gonzalez and Padilla’s (1997) results indicated that positive ties to school and
teachers, value placed on school, and peer belonging were significantly higher in the
resilient students versus their non-resilient peers. Their results also indicated that the
sense of belonging to school variable was a significant predictor of student grades
(Gonzalez & Padilla, 1996, p. 313). In a qualitative case study, Cabrera and Padilla
(2004) found that both educationally resilient Mexican origin students first lived in
Chicano-themed dorms which helped the transition into college during their freshman

year (Cabrera and Padilla, 2004, p. 165).

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In comparison to past research illustrating the positive effects of school ties and
sense of belonging is how almost half of the men and women participants talked about
having a sense of belonging in CAMP when they entered college. Others also talked
about this sense of belonging throughout their collegiate years that is interwoven
throughout the remaining results. For example, this participant talked about how CAMP
provided a safe place in MSU where people knew his background and his struggles, and
could relate to him on a personal level and how this was key to his success,

“...Like just simply the support. . .first year. That was like the most crucial year...
coming on campus, this big and not having anybody to relate to. I couldn’t see
myself coming in here by myself. . .I mean I’m saying like as a minority, as a
Mexican American, as a farmworker. . .it would be hard for me to come into a
predominantly White university and being one of the only Latinos and you didn’t
know anybody on campus... You would have to start fiom the beginning to start
to get to know other people. So. . .tlrat was really a key factor in my success...
having people that knew your struggles or your background, knew what you liked,
knew what your favorite music was. . .Your food and stuff like that, it was really
important. That was key. . .and plus. . .having all the students that came from the
same place you did. Same town, same area. . .That was important too.” (Man I)

This sense of belonging was fostered by the CAMP staff throughout various activities,

such as putting CAMP students in the same classes. For example,
“. . .Well, when I first came in here, I didn’t know anybody. So, like a class of,
what is it like. . .35 students, we’ll all come together and they tried to put some
of us in the same classes so we can do homework together, we can help each
other, so that’s how a lot of the friendship relationships come about. And, we still
keep in contact with. .. not only our class but also the first year CAMP students
and the second year. . .we all kind of like, “oh, we’re all fiom CAMP,” we call it
“CAMPERS” type of thing. .. The reason of bringing all those 35 students all
together it kind of gives us a bond with each other.” (Woman E)

Thus, having a sense of belonging within CAMP was something both men and women

experienced and critical during the first year of college for either providing a safe place in

MSU where people could relate to his/her cultural background or for fostering

fiiendships.

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Surrogate Family at MS U

Almost half of the participants talked about having a “mother figure” or “father

figure” at MSU who significantly impacted their academic career in a positive way by

giving encouraging messages, financial support, academic support, family support or a

place to feel relief because somebody cares. Women were more likely to report having a

“mother figure” or a “father figure” while at MSU. As this participant mentioned,

“. . .When I needed the push to say, “hey, remember why you’re here” or “you
need to keep going” that’s why I think she was the biggest supporters because
she would see things in me that wouldn’t. . .and I sort of saw her as, I guess you
can say “a mother figure” because, like I told you me and my family didn’t have a
relationship because they were always so busy working... and... I wasn’t a very
open person emotionally and I think she helped me in that area as well.” (Man H)

“. . .Cause like I told you, CAMP is like a family, like a place that I can feel that
I’m in home, a place that I can come I feel relief, I feel as if somebody cares for
me, there’s somebody that believes in me is willing to help me.” (Woman B)

“. . .And I guess like the most person that I am attached with or that contributed in
a whole lot into my success is Marta. . .Because, it’s the little things of inviting
you to their house or inviting you for dinner or helping you with revising a paper
for a class when it’s due the next day... I guess in my example, of course you want
to live the college life, of living in the dorms and going out partying... but
since... I was very family-oriented, so I also missed that whole, “oh, having
dinner everybody together in the table or going to church or stuff like that,” so she
played that role for me. She played that mother-role. .. in my example that what’s
played a big role in my success in college, of having that support, that family
support that I can just go and talk to her whenever I wanted of anything, any
problem.” (Woman E)

Thus, this section illustrated how participants had mentors who were seen as “family” at

MSU and who significantly impacted their academic career in a positive way. This

surrogate family helped by giving encouraging messages, financial support, academic

support, family support or a place to feel relief because somebody cares. In addition to

being called “family” is how CAMP staff and MSU school personnel gave support on a

personal level.

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CAMP Social Support on a Personal Level
Over half of the participants talked about the social support from CAMP staff that
was “personalized”. Most of what was said here relates to how participants talked about
familial support from CAMP above, however here there was no direct mention of
“family.” Again, women were more likely to endorse this theme over me. For example,
one participant talked about how CAMP is there if she is struggling and needs someone
to talk to who will not criticize,
“. . .Well, its mostly about the person. But, if we don’t have the support of
somebody else, by our own we cannot do it. We need the support, we need, like I
needed the support from CAMP and I still need it cause when I am like struggling
with something or I need to talk to somebody I know that I have somebody in
CAMP that I can talk to, and they are there to listen to me and not to say, “Oh,
why did you do that?” They are there cause they want to see us do better and be a
better person.” (Woman B)
While another participant talked about the personalized support from CAMP by showing
how they not only helped in the academic way, but also in a personal way such as
inviting students to Thanksgiving dinner. For example,
“Well first of all, the support from staff, the CAMP program, that was the like the
biggest push. . .all those persons were so protective and supporting in every aspect,
and of course in the academic way, like “do you need some books, do you need
some paper to write with or pens”. . .but also in the personal way like. . .we could
just come in here and talk to them anytime and they would make dinners for us,
just so we wouldn’t feel homesick during Thanksgiving they would plan like
certain students to go with each specific staff member so we can spend
Thanksgiving at their house.” (Woman E)
Still another participant talked about how he was affected by one of the CAMP staff
members who had faith in him, was honest, humble and really cared. He also could go

talk to her if he had problems when he had nobody to turn to, which helped him while at

college.

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“. . .She [Alma] always had, she still has faith in me ...like when I have questions
of anything or I have problems she just makes me feel comfortable enough to
tell her my problem, which other people you can’t do. But she just has like a big
heart now like you can talk to her and you can just spit anything you want and she
is like. . .she is just born to do that, man. Cause like I know people that are so
closed to themselves and they met her for like a week and they were just like
already crying cause like damn man, she’s that nice. . .she is like real. . .when she
smiles at you, she doesn’t laugh behind your back. . .More like she’s just, she’s
honest and real humble. . .She’s real cool and that really helps me, cause
sometimes I had problems and I had like nobody to turn and she would always
advise me and stuff...” (Man J)

Finally, another participant talked you can see it in the person when they are “really”
there to help you, meaning that the support is authentic,
“. . .And with Daniel, I just feel like anytime I need something, he’s always
there... I guess you could just... see it in the person when they are really there to
help you. . .I love Daniel, man he’s like I don’t know, I just love him. Love him...
I’m going to keep in contact with... kind of like a really good fiiend from college.
You know, that’s the way that I’m going to keep in contact with him.” (Man I)
In sum, participants were positively affected by CAMP staff in that staff went beyond
their academic duties but also helped out in a personalized manner. Men and women
talked about CAMP support on a personal level but they talked about it in different ways
such as how CAMP staff is there if you are struggling and need someone to talk to or
how they not only help with academics but also in personal ways such as inviting
students to Thanksgiving dinner. Finally, participants also talked about attributes of
certain CAMP staff, such as: having faith, honesty, humility, authentic support that
helped them out while they were in college.
MSU School Personnel Social Support on a Personal Level

Almost half of the participants talked about either a boss or a professor at college

who not only helped with academics, but also became a close fiiend, which fostered their

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academic success in college. This theme was endorsed by both women and men. For
example,

“There was this professor too man, I think he had a lot to do. He was getting his
Ph.D., his name is Gabriel. . .he was cool... He was a real gangster like what I
mean by that. . .he came into class with like. . .dickies, baggy with a Raider’s shirt,
I’ll never forget, he had a Raider’s shirt that had Tim Brown on the back... but he
was like true man, he was cool. And he tutored me for a whole semester like on
my writing skills. Cause I wasn’t really good in my sophomore year. But... he
would go to the coffee shop after class with me for like hours, play chess, talk and
he really like enlightened me in a lot of stuff. . .And just people like that, like they
will take the time to chill with you and like actually give you an opportunity, that
like actually talk to you and direct you in good ways, like people like that are
cool.” (Man J)

Some participants talked about how their boss helped them out with academics and on a
personal level. For example, this man talked about how his boss was one of the biggest
supporters he had here at school,

“. . .There was a person who . .. always made sure that I took care of my school
work and she became a really good fiiend of mine and my family. . .She was
actually one of the reasons I started working at the place where I work at now,
and she would help me financially, sometimes I couldn’t get loans. . .and she
would give me money and I would pay her back. . .Well, math wasn’t always my
strongest subject and she would always try to find the help that I needed,
especially when to the calculus level. So, I think that she was one of the biggest
supporters that I had here at school. . ..” (Man H)

He continued explaining how she provided what he needed, that “push” to do well,

“. . .I really had to study for my classes. . .and it was something really difficult for
me because in High school, I was able to do that. . .I had never studied in my life
until I got here. . .I had to learn how to study, and not only that, I really needed
somebody to push me to do so. . .And she was really good at doing that. . .Even
though now I think back I figure wow, I used to think that she was the most
annoying person on the face of the earth, she wasn’t related to me, she was really
just my boss. But then we created a relationship to where she would call me and
say, “. . .what are you doing, you have to be doing this, why are you over there?”,
and she would get angry at me because I wasn’t studying or I was slacking

off. . .so, that’s why, I think of her as the biggest supporter I had here at school.”

(M8111 H)

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Thus, participants were affected positively by their boss/professor in ways that go beyond
the traditional “student-teacher” or “employee-boss” relationship. Here, the relationships
were at a personal and even familial level in that the mentor’s became close fiiends of the
participants. This close connection had a lasting effect on several participants.
Encouragement from Self: Family and Community

Over half of the participants talked about how their parents encouraged them
while in college by specific messages, such as: messages of motivation and
encouragement, and messages to “not drop out of school”. Over half also received
messages of motivation and encouragement fiom CAMP staff and MSU school
personnel. Some also received messages from their peers to “not drop out of school”.
Finally, participants also talked about howthey were able to cope with problems and
overcome barriers while at school. In this section the following themes are presented: (1)
messages to “not drop out of school”, (2) motivating and encouraging messages, and (3)
coping mechanisms while at MSU.

Messages to “Not Drop Out of School ”

Three participants mentioned in their interviews that they almost dropped out of
college due to personal or family problems. Others also talked about dropping out but did
not mention personal or family problems. However, over half of participants received
encouraging messages from their parents and peers to not drop out of school. For
example, one woman talked about how her mom encouraged her not to drop out of
college giving her advicein the form of a refra’n (popular saying or proverb).

“. . .I wanted to leave college, and she says “Ok, you’re gonna make money right

now, but later on, when you have your family what money are you gonna make?

Are you gonna have a house, like you always dreamed, like you always had told
me? That you want to design your own house?” and I’m like, “no”. . .She’s always

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motivating me to overcome the things... Like she says, “Cada piedrita tiene que
ser en un lado, aunque venga una piedra grande, pero esta bien, tu lo vas a
brincar.” This, “In our lives there’s always little rocks and sometimes you’re
gonna be stuck a big one, but you’re gonna jump it and you’re gonna make it,”
and I’m like, “Ok mom, if you say so”, but until now I have done, and it has come
true that that the little saying that she’s always telling me...” (Woman B)

Another participant talked about how when she told her dad she wanted to drop out of

school, her dad firmly encouraged her not to,

“. . .I was like, I’m giving up. I’m gonna go back to Texas and I called my parents
and my dad and he was like “No!” Cause I wanted to go over there and work and
not study any more. I was like, “I’m in debt, I don’t want to graduate with a bad
credit or anything, I was like I miss you all and I just feel lonely here.” So, he was
like, “No. If you’re coming here, you’re gonna go to school, you’re not gonna
work at all. . .And if you want to stay in Michigan State, you have to get good
grades”. .. And, that’s a good thing, he’s like making me go through the right
path by pushing me and stuff.” (Woman F)

Another participant who almost dropped out was motivated by one of his fiiends to not
drop out and eventually graduate from college,

“. . .My fiiend, Cecilia. . .When I was a freshman, she was already like a senior...
Wherever I would like be like “I don’t want to be here,” she was straight up
with me, “well go home and cut my grass.” And that really motivated me. . .So
seeing both of them graduate... it was just like, damn, I gotta do it too. And I
gotta do it in those four years like they did like no excuses and. . .I told them I was
going to graduate. . .they were going to have to come to mine [my graduation
ceremony], cause I went to theirs. And it did happen that way, so yeah. It was
good, a good closing. (Man J)

Another participant talked about how her boyfriend consoled her when college got tough

and she wanted to give up and go home,

“He [my boyfriend] has helped a lot, when I’m like feeling down, I tell him, “I
just want to go home” or whatever, when I’m just having a really rough time, he’s
like, “you know you don’t want to go home, you’re just saying that cause you’re
tired and you don’t want to be here anymore, you miss your family. . .you want to
be here and graduate, do it for yourself, for your parents, do it for your whole

family, you know you want to do this”, so he’s always been there for me...”
(Woman A)

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In sum, over half of the participants received the message to “not drop out of school”
from both their family and their peers. In these cases, the social supportive messages
were critical in enabling participants to persevere and to not drop out of school. Both men
and women endorsed this theme.

Motivating and Encouraging Messages

Arellano and Padilla (1996) found that the critical importance of parental support
and encouragement was a protective factor that differentiated between resilient and non-
resilient Mexican American college students (Arellano & Padilla, 1996, p. 490). In
relation to these results is how over half of the participants received parental messages
that motivated or encouraged them to persist while in college. More women than men
talked about the importance of their parents’ motivating and encouraging messages.
Also, over half of the participants also received these messages fiom CAMP staff and
school personnel. Both men and women equally reported receiving messages of
encouragement from CAMP staff and/or school personnel at MSU. For example, many
participants talked about how their success in college was due to their parents support in
the form of encouragement and motivation. For example,

“In my success here, most importantly my family’s support, emotional support...

[for example] I usually could just call my mom when things are not going too hot

with my classes or you know, just when you need somebody to talk to, I’d just say

just giving her a call and just her motivating, motivating me to continue and just

giving me encouragement.” (Woman C)
One woman talked about how her parents would tell her refranes (popular sayings or
proverbs) when things got tough at college and this impacted her,

“. .. They’re very supportive... every time I talk to them its, “keep on going with

it”, like you say, “échale ganas”, that’s one of my mom’s favorite sayings. . .and

my dad has always told me, “everything that is worth it in life, is not easy” type of
thing, it’s a Mexican saying. . .it doesn’t make sense in English. . .in Spanish,

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“Todo que vale la pena no es facil”. . .because he hears like, “oh yeah I have finals
and nridtenns and homework, and sometimes I don’t have money and stuff like
that,” so he’s always telling me like, “everything that’s worth in life, it’s not so
easy, if not everybody would do it, so yes you’re going to have to suffer a little
bit, but at the end it will be for something good, it will be worth it”. (Woman E)

Another participant talked about how his family supported him by encouraging him in
college by saying “go for it, you can do it”,

“. . .My family they were always there. Like they were only like a phone call away
and stuff. My sisters would email me. But I would always call them. . .They were
always encouraging like, “yeah man, go for it.” I tell them I’m going to study
abroad, they’re like “Go for it, go for it,” ...like everything it’s just like they are
always supportive. Like they were just like “Yeah, just go do it, because it is
tough out in the fields and stuff. Like look at us, like we are. . .”, like it kind of
sometimes bothers me, but like they tell me, “Look at us like we are just, you
know, just like here. Like and you can do it...” (Man J)

Participants also talked about motivating messages from CAMP staff to keep on going.
For example, this woman talked about how he gave her messages that she needed to hear,

“Support. . .always encourage me to do my best, all my best, um, always
motivating me. . .1ike let’s say Carlos, he’s always like giving me like those words
that I need to hear from somebody that really cares for me, like let’s say, “Echale
ganas, tu puedes, acuerdate tu mama” [Put some effort into it, you can do it,
remember your mom] . .. those words. . .“Echale ganas, tu puedes”, [Put some
effort into it, you can do it], I’m like, “ok, I know”. . .” (Woman B)

This woman talked about how CAMP gave her encouragement when she needed it, and
this affected her by boosting her confidence,

“. . ..Them like giving me little pushes when I needed them, little by little they’ve
been like introducing me to different aspects of the university or stuff like

that. . .cause my first year I was here and I was a CAMP student, second year I
served as a racial ethnic student aid for the ORESA office on campus, and that
time I was like, “no I can’t get that, I’m not qualified enough, I wouldn’t be able
to take care of all like 40-50 students and make programs by my own and stuff
like that.” But they [CAMP] kind of like, “yes you can do it, just try, just apply
for it, and see what goes from there” and I applied for it, I get in and it kind of like
gives me a little bit more confidence. And it’s always them [CAMP] behind us
saying, “Yes you can do it, if you try hard enough you can do it.” (Woman E)

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In sum, many participants talked about how their success in college was due to parental
support in messages of encouragement and motivation. Such messages were refranes
(popular sayings or proverbs) such as: “keep on going with it, (échale ganas)”,
“everything that’s worth it, is not easy, (Todo que vale la pena no es facil)”, or “you can
do it, go for it”. Participants also heard encouraging messages they needed to hear from
CAMP, “Echale ganas, tu puedes, acuerdate tu mama [Put some effort into it, you can do
it, remember your mom]”, or that boosted their confidence, “yes you can do it, just try,
just apply for it, and see what goes from there”. These messages were internalized as
“you can do it,” and overall served as protective factors while in college for almost all of
the participants.
Coping Mechanisms While in College
In relation to receiving support from the family, peers and community is how
almost all of the participants talked about how they used internal resources to cope with
and overcome problems while in college. Both men and women equally endorsed this
theme. For example, when asked how he overcame the challenges that he faced while in
college, this participant responded,
“How did I overcome? ...I’m religious too. In the morning when I like leave class
or go to sleep, I don’t know how to say it, in Spanish, you know, persignar, [to
give the sign of the cross, to bless] you do like, I always talk to God and stuff and
like my dad and I ask for them to be good. It’s like a relief for me when I ask for
them. Like, at night, I’m like please God, help my family and everything. It is like
a release for me like. Like they’ll be safe, like I just have to ask for it, I mean like
be humble about it and understand that God has blessed us and like I know ...that
they’ll be okay. And I don’t have nothing to worry about just they’ll be happy, it
will be good, they will be protected and I’m okay...” (Man J)
Another participant talked about how even though she has had problems, she overcame

them by being a strong person. For example,

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“. . .Like. . .personal problems, not big obstacles to where I have to say, “Oh, I’m
gonna quit right now”, like recently my grandfather just pasted away which I’m
like really close with and I had to go home for like a whole week and I missed a
week of classes but I made everything up so like. . .that didn’t even say “I’m
gonna like stop here and go home and not come back”, I just went and did what I
had to do and came back. And when I first got here I had problems with
roommates and all that stuff that it really was so hard for me, but I still didn’t quit
I never said, “Oh I want to go back home and just leave this here, I don’t want to
mess with this anymore”, I always like just said, “you know what, this is just
temporary, next year. . .I’ll just go somewhere else”. There’s always been little
things like that and I’ve always overcome them and learned from them... I don’t
know, many people say I’m just a strong person like I know I come out to be a
strong person or something but deep inside I’m like. . .emotional too so, I don’t
know how I’ve learned to balance that, but, I have [laughs]...” (Woman A)

Finally, another participant talked about he initially saw his difficulty in writing a

problem, but through perseverance and pushing himself, he became a good writer.
“. . .I mean, I guess like when I first got here I had a lot of problems writing. . .I
had a lot of grammar problems... And that was a problem for me because I saw
that as a problem. It wasn’t a problem because when you put enough time into
something, you could do anything... [I] got good grades, but I mean it was just
made me feel bad. . .that I had to spend. . .ten hours writing a paper when someone
else wrote it in like two hours. It just made me feel bad. . .I had to spend a lot more
time to be at someone else’s level. . .I thought that was a barrier. . .because it cut
my motivation. . .I just thought it was going to get a lot worse. As the further I
went in college, I thought it was going to be an obstacle. And it didn’t turn out so
bad. I actually started to think I’m a really good writer now, compared to what I
used to be because. . .I educated myself on it. . .I pushed myself to it.” (Man I)

In sum, several participants employed internal coping mechanisms to deal with personal

problems they experienced while in college. Each of these participants talked about how

they “overcame” the problem through prayer, overcoming problems and learning from

them, inner strength, not giving up and the will to push him/herself to succeed. In relation

to how participants used internal resources to cope with their own problems is how they

also put themselves in the service of others in the form of mentorship.

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Mentorship

Arellano and Padilla (1996) found that mentorship and role modeling, tended to
be protective factors for the low SES Mexican American academically successful
students in their study (p. 490). Comparable to this finding is how many women and men
participants alike received mentoring advice from CAMP, mentors, role models, peers,
parents and teachers. Many also talked about putting themselves in the service of others.

All but one participant talked about either sending or receiving knowledge
through mentorship or role modeling. All but two participants talked about the critical
role they played in being a mentor or role model for others (younger siblings, cousins,
fiiends, students or their community). One who did not talk about being a mentor did
actually say that her older sibling mentored her in the college enrollment process.

Not only did most of the participants want to get an education for themselves,
their family and sometimes their community, they also wanted to pass that knowledge on
to others. As with their motivations to go to college, these participants did not conceive
success in college without including the success of others. The themes that emerged
were: (1) receiving knowledge from siblings, (2) passing on knowledge to siblings and
mentees, and (3) being a mentor or role model has personal benefits.

Receiving Knowledge from Siblings

Participants who had older siblings who attended college before them talked
about how they set an example or helped them get in to college. This theme was more
endorsed by men. As these participants noted,

“. . .Cause she [my sister]. . .like I would see her and I just wanted to be like her,

like she was a good role model, like a really good role model. . .And yeah like, she

like put a, what you call it, like. . .she was an example man, for real. I see her
being successful and I just like wanted to be too.” (Man J)

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“My sister. . .She talked to me, she said, “Well, if you want to go to college,
there’s this opportunity, you can get by this, apply for financial aid,” she was
always over, like on top of me to do the things. . .I believe [the CAMP recruiter]
went to visit our school, I was not there, I was here in Michigan working with my
parents, she had to stay, so that’s why she knew about the program.” (Woman B)

Thus, for these participants whose siblings had gone to college, older sisters played a key
role to either getting into MSU or being a role model.
Passing on Knowledge to Siblings and Mentees

Several participants also talked about the critical role that they played in their
siblings and others while at college. Ahnost all of the participants who talked about this
theme of mentoring their siblings and peers were the first in their family to go to college.

As these participants noted,

“. . .I’m the fourth child and I have two under me and I really encouraged my
brother to finish high school and it was up to him if he wanted to go to college. I
just provided him with all the resources that there are out there for if you want to
go to college. And not only him, but. . .my younger sister-in-law, she finished high
school and I encouraged her to go to a community college, which she graduated...
So, I do play a big role. . .not just for my immediate family, but I know like
cousins that I have... and like even students that come up here to Michigan State
through the CAMP program like I’ve been the mentor to, about four or five
students now. And I know there is one mentee that I’ve had this year... he’s not
coming back. But, I told him “just ‘cause you are not coming back to Michigan
State doesn’t mean stop here,” so I helped him out with admission for another
school in Texas and how to transfer and things like that.” (Woman C)

“. . .I’m like the first one in my family, like that has ever taken a step to go to

college then my brother, hopefully he’ll come here after he graduates. . .He’s

17 right now. So, it’s like setting an example, and like letting them see that there’s

something more out there than just like staying where you are...” (Woman A)
Although this participant was not the first of his sibling to go to college, he continued the
mentorship role by promoting his younger sister’s education:

. . .It makes me feel great because not only because she’s my sister, but because

she is a migrant farmworker and or she was. . .and like there wouldn’t have been
many opportunities for her. So now there is. . .Now the sky’s the limit for her. And

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I expect a lot more from her than I do for myself. . .sirnply because. . .she has got a
heads up and I didn’t. . .she knows what she’s going towards and I didn’t. . .I

wasn’t motivated. . .I didn’t believe in myself cause I thought it was hard and now
she asks me “is it hard?” and I go “no it’s not hard, it’s just a lot of time.” (Man 1)

Aside fiom received knowledge hem and passing on knowledge to siblings and mentees,
is how being a mentor was actually a motivation to succeed in school.

Being a Mentor or Role Model has Personal Benefits

Being a mentor not only helped out the younger ones, it also provided personal
benefits such as: providing a motivation to go to class or keeping students connected to
the CAMP program. As these participants noted,

“I think about them and I think about my little brother and sister, like my little
sister, she wants to be like me. . .She’s having, she’s got honor rolls, pure honor
roll through school year. . .she always calling me telling me, “oh I got this score
on this exam and just like you,” you know. She wants to be like me and I guess
that’s a little push for me to go to class...” (Woman F)

“. . .It feels good also to have other CAMP students that are younger than you, that
see you as a role model... they see you as someone who has achieved something

I felt like I touched a lot of people. .. Like two or three, at least in particular
people that have told me... and that makes me feel good... being a mentor keeps
you connected with the new students that come on campus. And getting to know
them, because. . .a lot of old CAMP students don’t even know who the new
students are. Because they are not, they don’t have that connection...” (Man 1)

Finally, mentorship is a circular process, in that this participant’s accomplishment will
lead to his sister’s accomplishments, which sustains his motivation to succeed,

“. .. My little sister. . .she is one year from graduating too. . ..And she asks me all
these questions about college ...and it just makes me feel so good. . .That I have
someone to share with something in common, that she has someone who’s been
through it. Not just at a community college level or something like that because
it’s so much different from being so far away from home and having all this
environment so much different. . .especially when. . .in ways it’s so diverse. . .but,
in other ways when it’s you, it’s not diverse...She motivates me in a way. . .that I
want to accomplish this because that way my accomplishment will lead her to
accomplish what she wants to accomplish. . .or in other words like she is
motivated by me. (Man I)

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In sum, being a mentor or a role model was salient for almost all of the participants as a
two-way protective process before and during college. Not only were they learning how
to access the collegiate system, they were also cycling that knowledge back to teach the
younger ones how to access higher education. Getting mentored by older siblings was
more salient for participants who had older siblings who went to college. Passing on
knowledge or being a mentor was more salient for participants who were the first of their
siblings to attend college. However, those who had older siblings who went to college

before them also tended to pass knowledge on to younger siblings and mentees.

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Summary of Results and Discussion
Background Context of Academic Success Summary

All participants talked about working in the fields and half of the participants
expressed that it was difficult because of occupational injuries, exploitation of
farmworkers, and how the work is viewed by outsiders. Over half of the participants
came away from the farmworker experience learning valuable life lessons of hard work,
discipline, being gratefirl, wanting to keep going to school, and learning responsibility at
a very early age. These experiences in the fields lead to future motivations to get an
education for many participants.

Participants were aware of a low level of education in the migrant community and
also talked about the reasons they perceive that their peers drop out of school.
Participants talked about how other migrant youth are pulled out of school because of
having to contribute to the family unit’s income or they are pulled out by the immediate
gratification of making money at such a young age.

Half of the participants expressed their own experience with discrimination during
high school, either by high school personnel (counselors and teachers) or their peers.
However, participants did not let this discrimination deter them from their path. They
talked about coping processes such as not listening to the high school counselors,
overriding teachers to get class enrolls and using education as a tool to combat racism in
the classroom.

In general, participants perceived themselves as successfirl in academics.
Participants talked about how they were successful: in comparison to others with similar

backgrounds, based on the baniers that they have experienced, based on the fact that they

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were mentoring and giving back, and in the future they would be successful after they
have achieved their goals.
Protective Factors and Processes that led them to College Summary

Over half of the women in this study talked about how both of their parents
pushed them to succeed academically even though none of the participants’ parents had
ever been to college. None of the men talked about parental push or parents setting high
academic standards. Almost all of the participants talked about how their parents overtly
did not want their children to fall in their footsteps of being a migrant farmworker their
entire life. For some, parents told them to “not be like us or like them,” and for others,
the parents did not require them to contribute financially to the family unit. For others,
parents relayed to them that they way out of the fields was to get an education. These
messages became internalized along with the experience of working in the field which
motivated many participants to get an education.

Half of the participants talked about how their parents sacrificed for them to get
an education. This theme was more salient for men than for women. Not only did their
parents sacrifice for them, but this sacrificed served as a motivation to get an education.
Some participants were impacted by the sacrifices that parents made in order for them to
get an education by becoming aware and wanting to succeed. This also served as a
motivation to give back to their parents. Some men and women were also motivated to
get an education by modeling after their parents’ hard work and in saying, “if they could
do it, so can 1.” Again, more men than women mentioned the importance of role

modeling in promoting their education.

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Almost all of the participants talked about the relationship between school and
annual migration. Nonetheless, in some manner almost all participants compensated for
being behind in school through the help of their parents, of the community and their own
will. Parents contributed to their children’s academic success by not letting the family
migration interfere with their children’s education and how participants internalized this
as parents valuing their education. Some participants were not expected to contribute
financially to the family unit, which helped them succeed academically. Finally, parents
did not let migration get in the way of their sons and daughters graduating on time, with
honors or being able to play sports.

Almost all of the participants said they were motivated to get an education
because the “did not want to be in the fields” and the negative consequences of not
getting an education. Half of the participants also talked about how they were motivated
to get an education to give back to their parents. This was true for both men and women.
One participant noted that he is his parents’ social security, which is why he felt the
responsibility to get an education to take care of them later on. The responsibility to take
care of the elderly for farmworkers may lie more on the hands of the family rather than
on retirement plans which may be why participants talk about this need to “give bac ” to
their parents.

Over half of the participants talked about how they wanted to get an education in
order to have a bright future for their families, to be a better or more successful person, or
did not want their children to experience the migrant lifestyle. These future goals for the
family and the self were motivations to get an education and fostered academic success in

the eyes of many participants. Again, this was true for men and women alike. A few

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participants also talked about how they wanted to get an education so they could give
back to their community by wanting to change the system. This motivation to change the
system came from the direct experience in the field. Some participants wanted to get an
education in order to prove others wrong who either did not believe in them, held
prejudices about them, or put barriers in front of them.

Participants entered into the university mostly through the advice and help of
others in their families, peer networks, and schools. They also had the internal motivation
to go to college as mentioned previously. None of the participants’ parents had been to
college and half had elder siblings who went to college before them. Participants who
had older siblings who already went to college generally found out about college through
them. This section illustrated how high school counselors, CAMP recruiters, and peers
can play a significant role in opening the door to the opportunity to go to college for all
migrant students, especially for students who are the first in their extended family to
attend college.

Protective Factors and Processes While in College Summary

Over half of the participants talked about opportunity in a multi-faceted way, such
as having the opportunity to get out of Mexico and the valley, to go to college, and to
gain access to knowledge about careers. This theme was endorsed by both men and
women participants. Many participants talked about how CAMP helped them out during
their first year of college and this was endorsed equally by both men and women. CAMP
helped them while they were in college by giving them instate tuition, room and board
and tutoring services during their first year, and winter clothing and other materials

during their latter years. In addition, CAMP also offered leverage in the university, such

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as getting ovenides into classes. As mentioned above, “They hold your hand through
your freshman year. By the end of your freshman year... you’re already starting to
walk...” (Man I) Some participants received support from their role models or mentors
on their future career while they were at MSU. This theme was endorsed equally by men
and women.

Ahnost half of the men and women participants talked about having a sense of
belonging in CAMP when they entered college, which was critical during the first year of
college. Thus, CAMP provided a safe place in MSU where others could relate to their
cultural background and foster fiiendships. Almost half of the participants talked about
having a “mother figure” or “father figure” at MSU who significantly impacted their
academic career in a positive way by giving encouraging messages, financial support,
academic support, family support or a place to feel relief because somebody cares.
Women were more likely to report having a “mother figure” or a “father figure” while at
MSU.

Participants were positively affected by CAMP staff that went beyond their
academic duties and also helped out in a personalized or even familial manner. Men and
women talked about CAMP support on a personal level. Participants also talked about
attributes of certain CAMP staff, such as: having faith, being honest, humble and giving
authentic support helped them out while they were in college. Ahnost half of the
participants talked about either a boss or a professor at college who not only helped with
academics, but also became a close fiiend, which fostered their academic success in

college. This theme was endorsed by both women and men. Participants were affected

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positively by their boss/professor in ways that go beyond the traditional “student-teacher”
or “employee-boss” relationship.

A few participants mentioned that they almost dropped out of college due to
personal or family problems. Over half of participants received encouraging messages
fi'om their parents and peers to not drop out of school. In these cases, the social
supportive messages were critical in enabling participants to persevere and to not drop
out of school. Both men and women endorsed this theme.

Over half of the participants received parental messages that motivated or
encouraged them to succeed while in college. Such messages were refianes (popular
sayings or proverbs). This parental message theme was more salient for women than
men. Over half of the participants also received these messages fiom CAMP staff and
school personnel. This theme was equally salient for both men and women. Thus,
participants received messages of encouragement and motivation to say, “Yes, you can
do it,” and overall, these messages served as protective factors while in college.

Several participants employed internal coping mechanisms to deal with personal
problems they experienced while in college. Both men and women equally endorsed this
theme. Each of these participants talked about how they “overcame” the problem through
prayer, overcoming problems and leanring from them, inner strength, not giving up, and
the will push him/herself to succeed.

Many women and men participants alike received mentoring advice from CAMP,
mentors, role models, peers, parents and teachers. Many also talked about putting
themselves in the service of others. Being a mentor or a role model was salient for almost

all of the participants as a two-way protective process during college. Not only are the

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leanring how to access the collegiate system, they also are linking that back to teach the
younger ones how to get an education. Getting mentored by older siblings was more
salient for participants who had older siblings who went to college. Passing on
knowledge or being a mentor was more salient for participants who were the first of their
siblings to attend college. Those who had older siblings who went to college also passed

knowledge on to younger ones.

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CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
Results in Context of Past Studies

The main impetus for the present study was the fact that little to no research has
been conducted on the educational resilience of Mexican origin college students who
came from farmworker backgrounds (Refer to “Significance of the Study” section, p. 47
above). Before conducting this study, it was unclear as to what common themes that held
true for low income Mexican origin students also held true for Mexican origin students
from farmworker backgrounds. Almost all of the protective factors and processes from
the educational resilience empirical literature were implicitly or explicitly supported by
the results in the study reported here. Some protective factors manifested differently and
a few protective factors were new and not mentioned in the literature previously.

The environmental and internal protective factors found to foster educational
resilience in Mexican origin high school or college students in the past empirical
literature were: (1) family emotional support and encouragement (Arellano & Padilla,
1996; Alva, 1991; Cabrera & Padilla, 2004; Gandara, 1982; Gonzalez & Padilla, 1997;
Lango, 1995), (2) the support of the mother, regardless of her educational attainment
(Cabrera & Padilla, 2004; Gandara” 1982; Lango, 1995), (3) access to knowledge and
resources necessary to enter into college culture (Alva, 1991; Cabrera & Padilla, 2004,
Gonzalez & Padilla, 1997), (4) having a mentor or role models in or outside of the family
(Gonzalez & Padilla, 1997), (5) having relational support outside of the family such as
student groups, supportive programming, or gifted-student tracking (Alva, 1991; Cabrera
& Padilla, 2004; Gonzalez & Padilla, 2004), (6) maturity and focus on school, optimistic

outlook, high expectations and self-esteem, (7) the delaying of marriage, (8) a strong

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identification with their Mexican ethnicity (Cabrera & Padilla, 2004; Gandara, 1982;
Gonzalez & Padilla, 1997; Lango, 1995), (9) motivation and persistence, (e. g. Cabrera &
Padilla, 2004; Gandara, 1982), (10) motivation to not work as an agricultural laborer
(Arellano & Padilla, 1996; Cabrera & Padilla, 2004 and Lopez, 2001), and (11) a hard
work ethic (Gandara, 1982; Lopez, 2001).

Again, almost all of the above protective factors and processes from the
educational resilience empirical literature were supported by the results in the study
reported here. However, some protective factors manifested differently and a few
protective factors were new and not mentioned in the literature. The following is a
comparison list of the past empirical findings in relation to the findings from the study
reported here:

The critical importance of family emotional support and encouragement was
mentioned by participants in the study reported here talked about the supportive role of
parents before and after they entered college. Not only did participants discuss parental
encouragement, they also talked about encouragement from CAMP staff and MSU school
personnel while at MSU.

The support of the mother, regardless of her educational attainment was
mentioned by participants in the study reported here-However equally important was the
role of the father in fostering academic success that was not emphasized as much in the
literature.

Access to knowledge and resources necessary to enter into college culture was
mentioned by participants in the study presented here in that they entered into the

university mostly through the advice and help of older siblings, peers and high school

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personnel. Morse and Hammer (1998) also talked about the critical role of migrant high
school counselors in fostering migrant students’ entrance into college.

Having a mentor or role models in or outside of the family was mentioned as a
critical protective factor for many of the participants. Participants had their parents,
siblings, peers, CAMP staff, and High school and MSU personnel as mentors and/or role
models either before or after entering MSU.

Having relational support outside of the family such as student groups and
supportive programming was supported by the results presented here since all
participants talked about the support from CAMP as critical to their academic success
while at MSU.

Maturity and focus on school, optimistic outlook and high expectations, self-
esteem were factors that were not overtly talked about as salient protective factors that
fostered their academic success by participants in the study reported here.

The delaying of marriage was supported by the present study, in that eight out of
ten participants were not married and for those who were not yet married, they did not
plan on getting married until they finished their undergraduate career (See Table A,
Appendix H). However, participants did not talk about delaying marriage as a protective
factor. Participants simply just reported not being married yet and not wanting to get
married until they finished their degree.

Having a connection to their Mexican heritage was not explicitly mentioned by
participants in the study presented here as protective factor, although it may be inferred.
Many participants talked about the critical “family role” that CAMP played while at

MSU. Many also talked about how critical CAMP staff and student support was since

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they had similar backgrounds, food and music interests, religion, and language which
made CAMP a “comfortable place” in a predominantly non-Hispanic White institution.
Half of the participants were 1St generation Mexican immigrants (who were born in
Mexico) and half were 2“d generation irnrrrigrants (who were born in Texas and whose
parents were born in Mexico). Participants’ self-identified as mostly Mexican/ Mexicano
or Mexican American and all reported that Spanish was primarily spoken in the house
when they grew up. Finally, all participants went to high school in counties located in the
Texas Rio Grande Valley which were close to 90 percent Hispanic/ Latino in Census
2000 (Fedstats, 2005b; F edstats, 2005c). It is thus assumed that participants did not have
to shed their Mexican heritage to be successful in a predominantly non-Hispanic White
University.

Motivation and persistence were mentioned as important protective factors in
fostering academic success by participants however they talked about it in a different
way. Several participants talked about how they wanted to drop out of college, but
through the help of their family, CAMP and other school personnel, they persisted. In
terms of persistence, participants were more likely to attribute the support of others rather
than their own motivation.

The motivation to not work as an agricultural laborer was supported by the study
presented here as a reason to get an education. Not only did participants talked about how
their parents gave them specific messages to “break the chain of migrant farm work” and
get an education, but almost all of the participants explicitly talked about how (a) they
worked as agriculture laborers; (b) it was difficult; (c) they do not want to go back to the

fields, and (d) an education was a way to get out of the fields.

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Finally, a hard work ethic was supported by the study presented here since many
women talked about how they were pushed to succeed academically by they parents, and
in some cases were pushed to excel. None of the men talked about parental push or their
parents setting high academic standards. A hard work ethic was also a protective factor in
terms of the life lessons learned from working in the fields that motivated them to get an
education.

A contribution to the literature was how participants were motivated to get an
education to take care of: (3) their parents, (b) their future families and kids, and (c) their
communities. Participants wanted to get their parents out of the fields as soon as possible,
and they did not want their children to suffer as they did when growing up. Some were
motivated to get an education to “change the system” and bring justice to the exploitation
of farmworkers. Finally, being a mentor younger siblings and peers was also a motivation
to “keep on” studying and be successfirl in college.

A second contribution to the literature was how participants talked about not
missing school during migration as a protective factor. Although some participants were
behind in school because of migration, or had a mismatch in between Texas and
Michigan schools, they compensated for it. Participants also did not miss school because
parents valued education. Finally, some participant’s were allowed to stay home alone in
Texas during they senior year of high school while the family migrated in order to
graduate on time, play sports or graduate with honors.

Another contribution to the literature was not only having a mentor; but also

being a mentor. Participants took part in the cyclical process of receiving and then

142

passing on knowledge down to younger migrant siblings and peers to continue to “break
the chain of migrancy.”

A final contribution to the literature was how participants took into consideration
the academic success of others in their self-conceptualizations of academic success. The
components of academic success mentioned by participants expanded beyond the
traditional “getting good grades and getting a good degree” mentioned in past educational
resilience studies.

Implications for Research

First, studies of educational resilience in students in general (e. g. Masten &
Powell, 2003; Wang et al., 1994) and in Mexican origin students (e.g. Alva, 1991;
Arellano & Padilla, 1996; Cabrera & Padilla, 2004; Géndara, 1982; Gonzalez & Padilla,
1997; Lango, 1995) have examined individual, familial/relational and community level
factors that foster educational resilience in students. These past studies conceptualized
educational resilience as academic success (e. g. getting good grades, admission into an
elite university or graduate school, or obtainment of J .D., M.D., or Ph.D.) for students
who came from low income backgrounds and were predicted to fail. The aforementioned
conceptualizations of academic success are “end-alls” in themselves. None of these
studies mention the continuation of mentoring subsequent “at-risk! in-need” youth afier
participants in their studies became successful.

On the contrary, findings from the study reported here suggested that mentorship
was not only a protective factor in the sense of having a mentor or role model but also in
the sense of being a mentor or role model. Thus, participants took part in the cyclical

process of receiving and passing on knowledge down to younger migrant siblings and

143

peers to continue to “break the chain of migrancy.” Past resilience studies in education
do not take into consideration this carry-over of resilience from those studies onto
younger students (e. g. Alva, 1991; Arellano & Padilla, 1996; Cabrera & Padilla, 2004;
Gandara, 1982; Gonzalez & Padilla, 1997; Lango, 1995; Masten & Powell, 2003; Wang
et al., 1994). This may suggest that the present conceptualization of resilience as a
process is too narrowly defined by only looking at what internal and external resources
“do to” the resilient child, adolescent, or young adult. What has been ignored is how in
naturally existing social support networks, like CAMP students become resilient and
become active agents of change in the resilience process of others. Educational resilience
as a community empowerment phenomenon rather than individual phenomenon is
something that warrants future investigation. A

Second, rather than defining participants as resilient for “getting good grades and
getting a good degree” the study presented here asked participants to determine if they
perceived themselves as successful in academics. Participants talked about how they were
successful: (1) in comparison to others with similar backgrounds, (2) based on the
barriers that they have experienced, (3) since they were mentoring and giving back, and
(4) in the future they would be successful when they achieved their goals. These self-
conceptualizations of academic success correspond to a developmental model of success
and also include the family and community. These components of academic success
expand beyond the traditional “getting good grades and getting a good degree” definition
mentioned in the aforementioned educational resilience studies in Mexican origin
students.

Third, results from this study show that being a migrant farmworker matters.

144

In addition to supporting what the literature says about protective factors and processes
for Mexican origin students is how participants in this study talked about migrant specific
risks and protective factors. Thus, there are contextual risks unique to the migrant
experience and contextual protective factors that are only relevant in response to the
specific risks of migrant farm work. Such risks mentioned by participants were: mobility,
experience in the fields, child labor, poverty, discrimination, and an awareness of the low
education levels of the migrant population in general. The mi grant-specific protective
factors manifested in: participant’s personal motivations to get an education, their
parental messages and support to get out of the fields, mentorship fi'om older to younger
migrant students, involvement in migrant education programs prior to college, migrant
high school counselor and CAMP recruiter support to enter college, and CAMP support
while in college.

This indicates the possibility of “migrant entitlement” (Rosenbaum, 2005) as an
institutionalized supportive process that enables students from farmworker backgrounds
to be eligible and participant in the various migrant education programming (MEP)
available to them. By virtue of the farmworker occupational status, low income students
are able to access the opportunity to enroll in these programs (Rosenbaum, 2005). The
question remains as to whether these students would have been able to access and
succeed in college without the aid of CAMP. Although not central to the study’s research
question, the supportive mechanisms provided by MEP and CAMP cannot be divorced
from the other supportive processes mentioned by participants in the study. Future

research is needed to explore exclusively those systemic factors such as MEP and CAMP

145

that enable access into college and foster academic success during college for students
who come from farmworker backgrounds.
Implications for Program Policy

These results indicated that there are several individual, familial, community and
school level factors that can foster migrant students to gain entry into and succeed in
college. Given the important role that parents play in their children’s education, high
school and MEP personnel should attempt to include parents in the action plans for their
children’s education. Having a Spanish-speaking translator is critical when meeting with
parents. If parents do not attend parent teacher conferences or other school functions,
school personnel should not assume that farmworker parents are “disengaged” from their
children’s education (e. g. Lopez, 2001). Rather, they should assume that the parents are
working, unable to attend, and still foster their children’s educations in different ways.

Supportive programming during high school, the existence of enabling migrant
high school counselors, and active CAMP recruitment by CAMP staff have been shown
to be critical factors in getting migrant students enrolled into college. An accountability
system should be set up by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Migrant
Education (OME) to ensure that migrant students are not being discriminated against in
high schools and are given an equal opportunity to access college enrollment. An
evaluation of high school counselors who service migrant graduating high school
students is needed to ensure just practices. More work is also needed to bridge the
mismatch between different U.S. states to ensure that migrant students do not lose credits

due to migration.

146

Results showed the importance of mentorship by receiving and passing on
knowledge which enabled participants to not only succeed academically while in college,
but in many cases, gain entry into college. Many former CAMP students mentor their
younger siblings, relatives and friends to enroll into CAMP programming. This naturally-
existing social supportive mentoring network for entering college should be recognized
and incorporated into CAMP programming nationwide by the U.S. Department of
Education’s Office of Migrant Education.

Finally, results also indicated the critical role of social support while at college via
academic supportive programming such as CAMP. Clearly, without the support of such
programs, many migrant students would not have enrolled or endured through college.
Many participants talked about dropping out, but with the social support from CAMP,
peers and their families, they were able to persist in college. More funds should be
allocated to CAMP programming from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of
Migrant Education (OMB) and more focus should be on including parents into CAMP

programming nationwide while students are at college.

147

APPENDICES

148

APPENDIX A

Letter of Consent

Good morning/ good aftemoon,

You are invited to participate in a study about collegiate success for CAMP students at MSU.
The Department of Psychology and CAMP have formed a collaboration to gain an understanding
of what promotes academic success for students enrolled in CAMP at Michigan State University.
The purpose of this study is to explore and understand the farmworker college experience at
MSU. Participation in this study is voluntary and you can stop participating at any time. All
information gathered fi’om the interview transcripts and notes will be kept confidential, and your
name will not be attributed to any of the findings. Your identity will be protected to the
maximum extent allowable by law. The interview will last approximately ninety minutes. You
will receive $20.00 for your participation in this project, and you will still receive this if you
chose to stop participating at any time.

A. May I contact you at a later date to verify the interpretations of today’s interview?

YES NO

B. Would you like a copy of the results of this study? YES NO
C. Do you agree to have this interview audio taped? YES NO

Participant Signature
Name
Signature
Date

 

 

 

D. Do you agree to participate in this study? YES NO

 

 

 

 

Participant Signature Interviewer Signature
Name Name
Signature Signature
Date Date

 

 

Ifthere are any questions or concerns raised by the participation in this study, please contact:

William Davidson, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing,
Michigan, 48824, Phone, (517) 353-5015, Email: davidso7@msu.edu. If you have questions or
concerns regarding your rights as a study participant, or are dissatisfied at any time with any
aspect of this study, you may contact - anonymously, if you wish —- Peter Vasilenko, PhD, Chair
of the University Committee on Research Involving Human Subjects (UCRIHS) by phone: (517)
355-2180, fax: (517) 432-4503, e-mail: ucrihs@msu.edu, or regular mail: 202 Olds Hall, East
Lansing, MI 48824.

Thank you in advance for your participation and collaboration on this project.

 

149

APPENDIX B

Interview Protocol

The Department of Psychology and CAMP have formed a collaboration to gain an
understanding of what promotes academic success for students enrolled in CAMP at
Michigan State University. The purpose of this study is to explore and understand the
farmworker college experience at MS U. You have been selected by CAMP as a
successful student. We are interested in learning about how a migrant or seasonal
farmworker background influenced your academic dreams today, what factors and
processes have influenced your success, and what significant barriers you have
experienced that you have overcame or are still experiencing. Lastly, we wish to
understand how the CAMP program has helped you through this process. We hope this
study will provide new understanding that will help CAMP fine-tune its programming to
better serve its students and also provide recommendations for MS U and for other CAMP
programs in the U.S.

The interview will last approximately ninety minutes. This interview will be audio-taped
and transcribed to ensure accuracy of the information we collect. Only researchers from
the Psychology Department will have access to the individual interview transcripts and
notes from the interview. Everything reported will be kept confidential, and nothing that
you say will be attributed directly. General themes among all interviews will be reported.

Do you have any questions or comments to make before we begin?
Do you agree to have this interview taped? Yes No

Would you like a copy of the results of this study? Yes No

150

I. First I would like to ask about your academic and professional goals and what
they mean to you.

A. Grounding Questions
1. Can you explain what your academic goals were before you came to
MSU?

1 a. Probe: What are your goals now, and if they are difi"erent why have they changed?

2. What are your current professional goals?

BOTH MIGRANT AND SEASONAL ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS:

3. I also would like to know about how farm work relates your academic
goals. In doing this, I first need to know if you are a child of a
farmworker(s)? Can you tell me a little about this experience?

3a. Probe: Were/are your parents migrant or seasonal farmworkers?
3b. Probe: For how many years have they been involved in farm work?
(If unclear, for how many years of your K—IZeducation did they do farm work?)
3c. Probe: In what type of industry did they work? (E.g. fruits, vegetables, Christmas
trees)?
3d. Probe: If your parents were/ are migrant farmworkers, where do you they consider
home base?

(If unclear, where does your family spend the majority of the year?)
3e. Probe: Did you ever do farm work? If so, at what age did you start and for how
long?

4. I would also like to know what being a migrant (seasonal) farmworker
means to you.

4a. Probe: What does it mean to be from a farmworker family to 4b. Probe: What does
it mean for you to be from a farmworker family and attending MSU?

11. Since we have discussed what your past and current academic and professional
goals are, I would now like to ask about what academic success means to you.

B. Academic Success
5. First, I would like to know how you define academic success.

6. Do you perceive yourself as a successful student?

IF YES, ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS:
7. Can you tell me the three most important factors that you contribute to

your academic success in the past and in the present?

151

7a. Probe: Is there something about yourself that has contributed to your academic
success?

7b. Probe: Has there been a particular experience or situation that has influenced you to
want to go to college that you can explain?

7c. Probe: Has there been particular people who have influenced your decision to attend
college?

7d. Probe: Have there been specific opportunities that helped you get into college?

IF NO, ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS:

8. Why don’t you consider yourself successful in school?
9. Did you ever think of yourself as successful? If so, why has this changed?
BOTH YES & NO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS:

10. Many students have said that emotional support from their family is a
crucial factor in getting into and succeeding in college. If this is true for
you, can you tell me about how your family has influenced you to get to
your current position as a college student, and also your future goals and
aspirations? (Participant can also discuss significant people other than
family if they choose to).

10a. Probe: What does this support mean to you?
10b. Probe: Can you give me a specific example this has supported your education?

11. Can you tell me about three (or more) of the most influential people in
your academic life?

1 1 a. Probe: How did these individuals influence your academic development (academic
success)?
11b. Probe: Can you give me a specific example?

111. Now that you have described the factors and processes that have contributed to
your success I would like to discuss significant barriers that have impacted your
academic career.

C. Obstacles Experienced

12. Many students mention that they have experienced barriers to getting to
where they are today in their education. If you have experienced
challenges in obtaining a high school or college degree, can you give me
an example?

12a. Probe: Do you think you have overcome these challenges?
12b. Probe: If yes, how did you overcome these barriers or challenges?

152

(E. g. Was it through your own individual will, and/or the help of others?)
12c. Probe: If no, why don 't you think you overcame them?

BOTH YES & NO ANSWER THIS QUESTION:

13. What are the barriers or obstacles to getting a college degree for children
of migrant and seasonal farmworkers in general?

MIGRANTS ONLY:

14. Many people have also said that family migration has made getting an
education difficult. If your family did or does migrate annually, how did
this influence your education?

14a. Probe: For how many years out of your K-12 education did they migrate?

14b. Probe: How many times during the school year did you move schools?

14c. Probe: How did your family ’s migration influence your getting a H.S. degree?
14c. Probe: How does your family ’s migration influence your getting a college degree
now?

IV. After I have asked you about the factors that have influenced your success as a
student and the obstacles that you had to overcome, I would like to discuss how the
CAMP program has played a role in all of this.

D. CAMP Prom
15. How has CAMP helped you get to where you are today in your academic
career?
15a. Probe: Can you give specific examples?

16. If you were to design a program to help out migrant and seasonal

farmworker students and colleges and universities in the US, what would
it look like? '

16a. Probe: What would be different from the CAMP program you are currently
enrolled in?
17. What do you think can help future students in CAMP at MSU?

1 7a. Probe: Is this something that you and your group wanted or needed but did not
have?
1 7b. Probe: Is this something outside of CAMP, if so, can you please explain?

153

V. Now that we have talked about your experience as a farmworker and your
experience as a college student, I would like to know about how you feel your
cultural background relates to all of this.

E. Cultural heritagg

18. Many people describe themselves differently, how do you describe and or
define yourself ethnically?

18a. Probe: How does (insert self-definition) relate to your experience at MS U?
18b. Probe: How does (insert self-definition) relate to your experience in CAMP?

VI. Personal Information Section

19. Did you get your High school equivalency/ GED from a HEP program?

 

 

 

 

 

Y N
19a. If yes, which one?
19b. State?
19c. If no, which high school?
19d. State?
20. What GPA (grade point average) did you graduate high school with?
1: 0.0-1.0
2= 1.1-2.0
3= 2.1-2.5
4= 2.6-3.0
5= 3.1-4.0

21. What was your ACT score?
21a. Is MSU the only College that you have attended? Y_ N__
21b. If not, where else have you attended?

 

22. What year are you at MSU? (E.g. How many credits do you
have?)

 

23. What GPA (grade point average) did you earn fall 2004 at MSU?

24. Are you the first one in your family to go to college? Y N
24a. If no, who has gone to college?
24b. Did they get a degree?
240. What type of degree?

 

 

 

 

25. Where were you born?
25a.State

 

154

25b.Country

 

26. What cultural background do you most identify with?
26a. Are you a U.S. Citizen? Y N D/K

 

 

27. Where were your parents born?

Mom: 27a1.State 27a2.Country 27a3. U.S. citizen? Y_ N_D/K_
Dad: 27bl .State 27b2.Country 27b3. U.S. citizen? Y_ N_ D/K_
28. How many brother and sisters do you have ?

29. Where were they born?

(1) Sister/Brother:

29al.State 29a2.Country 29a3. Current age__
(2) Sister/Brother:

29b] .State 29b2.Country 29b3. Current age__
(3) Sister/Brother:

2901 .State 29c2.Country 29c3. Current age—
(4) Sister/Brother: .

29d1.State 29d2.Country 29d3. Current age—
(5) Sister/Brother:

29e1.State 29e2.Country 29e3. Current age—
(6) Sister/Brother:

29f1.State 29f2.Country 298. Current age__

30. How much money did your family as a whole make last year?
30a. Just to make sure, how many total people does this estimate include?

31. Does your family migrate? Y N
31a. If yes, where do they migrate to?
31a1.State 31a2.Country
3la3.State 31a4.Country
31a5.State 3la6.Country
31b. If yes, for how many months out of the year do they live in MI?

310. If yes, for how many (years/months) have they been coming to M1?

 

 

 

 

32. Where does your family live in Michigan?
1=house
2=apartment
3=trailer
4=condo
5=labor camp

 

155

32a. If they do migrate, where do they live the other part(s) of the
year?

 

33. What language do you prefer to speak at home ?

33a. What language was most often spoken in the house when you grew up?
1: Spanish

2= English

3= Spanish more than English

4= English more than Spanish

5= Both equally

 

34. Do you have children? Y N

34a]. If yes, how many children?

34a2. Age(s) of children?

34b1. If no, do you plan on having children soon? Y N

34b2. If no, at what age do you plan on having children?

34b3. If no, do you plan on finishing school first to have children?
Y N

 

 

 

 

 

35. How old are you?

36. Are you married? Y N
36a. If not, at what age do you plan on getting married?

36a. If not, do you plan on finishing school before getting married?
Y_N_

 

 

37. Do you receive financial aid, and/or scholarships? Y N
37a. What kind(s)?
(e. g. Perkins’s loan, financial aid)

 

 

38. Were you ever involved in any of the Migrant Educational Programs
(MEP)? Y N

38a. If yes, which one(s)? (e. g. Migrant Head Start,
MEP summer program, MEP school year program)

38a]. For how many years?

38b. If not, were you involved with any other after-school, or pre-
college programs that helped you prepare for college? Y_ N_

38b] . If yes, which one(s)? (e.g. Upward Bound)

38b2. For how many years?

 

 

 

Thank you for your time in completing this interview. Do you have any final questions or
comments you ’d like to share before we finish? If you think of any after I leave, you may
contact me my email address.

Do we have permission to call you with additional questions if they emerge?
YES NO

156

APPENDIX C

 

 

 

 

 

Contact Summary Sheet
Contact Type: Interview #
Initial list Interview Date
Face to face Interview Site
Referral Consent to contact again?
Gender/Age Major
FW Status Univ Status

 

 

What were the main ideas or issues in the contact? OR What people, events or situations
were involved? (themes)

Which research questions and which variables in the initial framework did the contact
bear on most centrally? (RQ)

What new hypotheses, speculations, or hunches about the field situations were suggested
by the contact? (For future)

157

APPENDIX D

Email Invitation to Students

Dear

 

My name is Sheila LaHousse and I am a Psychology graduate student at MSU. I am
writing to let you know that MSU CAMP, J SRI (The Julian Samora Research Institute),
and I would personally like to invite you to participate in a research project. The
project’s goal is to understand what promotes academic success for students who were in
CAMP and who are now juniors and seniors.

You have been selected as a successfiil student which is why we are interested in hearing
your story about what has helped you succeed in school.

We hope this study will provide new understanding that will help MSU CAMP fine-tune
its programming to better serve the needs of its students which is why your voice is so
important. We also hope that your story can, provide recommendations for other students,
parents and CAMP programs in the U.S. ‘

Please keep in mind that your participation is not mandatory. All we ask of you is to
have a face-to-face interview with Sheila and you’ll receive $20.00 for your time. We
also understand that many of you are graduating and finals are quickly approaching.
Therefore, we can wait until after finals if you like, whatever you feel most comfortable
with.

Please email Sheila at: or call (517) to set up an interview time
when you are fi'ee during the week or weekend in April and May.

 

If you have any questions, please email Luis at: or call (517)

 

Sincerely,

Sheila LaHousse
Community Psychology
Psychology Building
MSU

East Lansing, MI 48824

158

APPENDIX E

Coding Framework Iterations

Data Organizational Framework

I. Description/ Context

Self
Family life
Community Life

11. Protective Factors and Processes

Past (pre-MSU)
Self
Self affecting
Self affected
Family
Community

Present (MSU)
Self
Self affecting
Self affected
Family
Community

III. Barriers/ Challenges/ Obstacles

Past (pre-MSU)
Self
Family
Community

Present (MSU)
Self
Family
Community

159

Coding Framework Iterations
CodinLScheme Version 1
1. Description/ Context

Description/ context is the setting/ experience description which sets the stage for
understanding success of migrant college students. Without a description of the
self, family, and community, there would be no understanding of success and
factors that enable and hinder that success.

A. Self
1. Transnational migration experience (Mexico to U.S.)
2. National migration experience (State-to-state within U.S.)
3. F arm labor experience
B. Family life
1. Transnational migration experience (Mexico to U. S.)
2. National migration experience (State-to-state within U. S.)
3. Farm labor experience
C. Community Life
1. Migrant community description
2. Mexican vs. Mexican-American community

II. Academic Success Defined

Educational resilience is the characterization given for those students who against
expectations are successful in the university, which is positive adaptation to
college culture despite prior ecological stress.

A. Definition of success
B. Definition of success in “others”
C. Self-conceptualization of success

III. Protective Factors and Processes

Protective factors and processes are those that can counterbalance or ameliorate
the negative developmental effects of risks or adversity so that children have
better outcomes (Masten & Powell, 2003, p. 10). Such factors are inter- and intra-
individual.

A. Past (pre-MSU)
1. Self
A. Self affecting
B. Self affected
2. Family

160

3. Community
A. Ethnic heterogeneity vs. homogeneity of schools
B. Critical role of high school counselor (access to
knowledge)

B. Present (MSU)
1. Self
A. Self affecting
B. Self affected
2. Family
3. Community
A. Ethnic heterogeneity vs. homogeneity of school

C. Comparison between Past and Present Protective Factors
1. Self
2. Family
3. Community
A. Ethnic heterogeneity vs. homogeneity of schools

IV. Barriers/ Challenges/ Obstacles

Risk factors are ecological adversities are either proximal or distal conditions,
(familial, cultural, social, political and economic), that predispose individuals to
negative developmental projections. Such factors are inter- and intra-individual.

A. Past (pre-MSU)
1. Self
2. Family
3. Community

B. Present (MSU)
1. Self
2. Family
3. Community

161

Coding Framework Iterations
Coding Scheme Version 5
1. Description/ Context

A. Past experience description

1. Experience in Migrant Farm work for self and family
A. Transnational migration experience
B. National migration experience
C. Child labor
D. Poverty
E. Discrimination during migration

2. Educational Goals

3. Identity
A. Description of MEX-US acculturation processes
B. Migrant/ farmworker community description
C. First generation college student

4. Recruitment; how they got to MSU
A. heard from fiiend, family member, HS counselor, CAMP

recruiters

11. Educational Sz_4c_cess Defined

A. Definition of success
1. Successful in life in general vs. academic success in the
classroom.
2. Success means achieve your goals
3. Levels of success (developmental)

B. Self-conceptualization of success
1. Does consider self successful
2. Does NOT consider self successful
3. Was successful in past, now no

11]. Protective Factors and Processes
A. Protective Factors

1. Self Support
A. Self affecting which motivates

a. S/he serves as a mentor

b. Break the migrant cycle/ chain
c. Give back to family

d. Give back to community

e. Has future goals that motivate

162

B. Self affected which motivates

a.
b.
c.

Became aware and now motivated to succeed
Farm labor as a motivation for success
Has a mentor role that motivates

C. Personal Attributes

a.

Simply likes school and learning

2. Family Support
A. Family values education

Q9599???”

Messages of encouragement

Don’t take kids out of school early

Moved to U.S. because education is key to success
Push kids to do homework

Goal/ dreams that parent has for child

Child not forced to work in the field

S/he stayed home senior year, didn’ t m1 grate

B. Family unity motivates and supports

C. Family helps out financially at MSU

D. Family migrates to M1 and s/he gets to visit in summer or
work side-by-side

3. Community Support

A. Primary or secondary school has experience working with
migrant students

B. Role model who motivates, helped get into college.

C. CAMP program provides support

g

run 9.0 9‘?

Access to opportunity

Financial support

Material objects (shoes, cloths, books)
Helps with academics

Help with personal life

Role model

Sense of belonging

D. Is part of something outside of CAMP

h.
i.

Mentor outside
Job outside

163

Coding Framework Iterations

Codig Scheme Version 6

I. Background context

A. Experience in the fields
1. Child labor
2. Farm work is difficult
3. Exploitation of farmworkers

B. Education in the migrant community
1. Awareness of illiteracy and low levels of education of migrants
2. Explaining migrant dropout
3. Educational level of own family

C. Discrimination and stereotyping experienced by high school personnel
1. Tracking by high school counselors
2. Discrimination by teachers
3. Discrimination by students

11. Acadenric success

A. Defining academic success
1. Academic success-oriented towards the classroom knowledge and grades.

2. Contextual definitions of success that went beyond classroom knowledge.

B. Self-conceptualization of success
1. Does consider self successful
2. Yes and No
3. No, was successful in past

111. Protective factors and processes that led them to collgge

A. Personal motivation

Want to break the chain and never go back

Want to give back to parents and get them out of there
Want to change the system

Want to prove them wrong

Personal internal motivations

V'PP‘PI"

B. Parental support
1. Parents want to break the chain
2. Parental sacrifice as a motivation
3. Parental role modeling as a motivation

164

4.

School and migration (not missing school because parents valued
education)

C. Mentor or role model who helped getting into college

IV. Protective processes while at college

A. Being a mentor

l.
2.

Motivation to get an education
Way to give back

B. Parental Support

1.

2.
3.
4.

Messages of encouragement
a. to not drop out
b. to keep on going
c. how to cope with problems
Parents migrate to Michigan during summers while at college
Parental pride as a motivation
Parents Supporting their educational decisions

C. Specific Program Support from CAMP

l.

Opportunity to get out of valley

2. You’re part of something when you come
3. The First year support from CAMP
4.
5. Misconception that there’s no help after 1St year.

The Latter Years support from CAMP

D. Relational Support While at MSU (in CAMP and outside in peer network).

1.

99:55”

Messages of Encouragement
a. Peer encouragement “don’t drop out”
b. CAMP encouragement “yes you can do it”
c. Mentors and CAMP encouragement increases their confidence
level
d. Mentors and CAMP specific motivating messages for education
Personalized Support
a. From CAMP staff
b. Mentors/peers outside of CAMP
CAMP is a surrogate family
Good mentor characteristics
Role modeling for career/ education
Life lessons taught

165

Coding Framework Iterations
Coding Scheme Version 7

I. Context of Educational Achievement
A. Experience in the fields
1. Working in the fields, then and now
a. Then
b. Now
2. Farm work is difficult
a. Injuries
b. Exploitation of workers
c. Perceptions about farmworkers
B. Education of migrants in general
1. Awareness of illiteracy and low levels of education of migrants
2. Explaining migrant dropout
C. Experience with Discrimination in high school
1. Tracking and no high expectations for migrants by high school counselors
2. Discrimination by teachers
3. Discrimination by students

11. Academic Success
A. Defining Academic Success

1. Academic success-oriented towards the classroom knowledge

2. Contextual definitions of success that went beyond classroom knowledge
B. Self Conceptualization of Academic Success

III. Factors and Processes that led them to collgge
A. Salient Parental Support for Education before College

1. Parental actions for education
2. Parental pride in their children’s education
3. Parents supporting their children’s educational decisions
4. Not missing school during migration because parents valued education.
a. we never missed school
i. Some were behind in school b/c of migration
ii. Mismatch in schools, but compensated for it
b. Child stayed alone in Texas while family migrated

B. Motivation from Parents to Breaking the Chain and Get an Education

1. Parental messages to break the chain
a. Don’t be like us or like them
b. Parents wanted children to get education so kids were not forced to
work
c. If you don’t want to work in the fields, get an education

2. Parental sacrifice as a motivation to get an education

3. Parental role modeling as a motivation to get an education

166

4. Seeing parents in Michigan is a motivation for education
5. I personally do not want to be in the fields
a. I don’t want it be there
b. Not wanting to be in the fields as a motivator to get an education
c. I’m motivated to give back to them
C. Other Motivations to Get an Education that expand beyond the Family unit are
l. I want a future for my children
2. I want to give back to my community, systems change
3. Prove wrong the people who didn’t believe
4. Miscellaneous personal motivations to get an education
D. Relational Support before Entering College
1. High school personnel
2. Peer support before college

IV. Protective Processes While at College
A. Being a mentor or role model and creating a chain of education (circular process)

1. I’m a mentor to MSU students
2. Being a mentor is a motivation
3. Passing on knowledge to siblings and mentees
B. Supportive factors and processes from CAMP
1. CAMP opens you to opportunity
2. You’re part of something when you come to MSU, you’re not alone
3. Financial support, room and board, books, in-state tuition, professional
development
a. first year
b. latter years
4. Misconception that there’s no help after the lSt year
C. Messages of Encouragement: Relational Support from CAMP, peers and family
1. Messages to “not drop out of school”
a. Parental encouragement to “not drop ou ” of school
b. Peer encouragement to “not drop out” of school
2. Messages of Encouragement-from Parents
a. Parental motivating and encouraging messages
b. Messages of how to cope with problems from Parents
3. Messages of encouragement fiom CAMP staff
a. Messages of encouragement from CAMP staff and peers increased their
confidence level
b. Motivating and encouraging messages for education fiom CAMP staff
and peers
D. Personalized support that goes beyond academics
1. From CAMP
a. CAMP is a surrogate family at MSU
b. Will keep in contact with CAMP staff after graduation
2. outside of CAMP
E. Career-oriented mentoring and help
F. Miscellaneous

167

Coding Framework Iterations

Finalized Coding Framework

1. BackgIound context at academic success

A. Experience in the fields
1. Working in the fields, then and now
a. Then
b. Now
2. F arm work is difficult
a. Injuries
b. Exploitation of workers
c. Perceptions about farrnworkers
3. Positive aspects of farm work
B. Education of migrants in general
1. Awareness of illiteracy and low levels of education of migrants
2. Explaining rrrigrant dropout
C. Experience with discrimination in high school
1. Discrimination by high school counselors
2. Discrimination by teachers
3. Discrimination by students
D. Self conceptualization of academic success
1. Yes
2. Yes, but
3. No, but I use to be

11. Factors and processes that led them to college

A. Salient parental support for education before college
1. Parental push for educational success
2. Parental pride in their children’s education
3. Parental messages to break the chain
a. Don’t be like us or like them
b. Children were not forced to help parents financially
c. If you don’t want to work in the fields, then get an education
4. Parental sacrifice as a motivation to get an education
5. Parental role modeling as a motivation to get an education
B. Not missing school during migration
1. Some were behind in school because of migration
2. Mismatch in schools, but compensated for it
3. Did not miss school because parents valued education
4. Child stayed alone in Texas while family migrates
C. Personal motivations to get an education
1. I do not want to be in the fields
2. I want to give back to parents

168

3. I want a future for me and my family

4. I want to give back to my community

5. I want to prove wrong the people who did not believe
D. How did they enter college?

1. High school personnel support

2. Peer support

3. Family support

4. I decided to firrther my education

III. Protective (actors and processes while at college

A. Support while in college from CAMP and others
1. Opportunity to go to college
2. Material and financial support from CAMP
a. first year
b. latter years
3. Career-oriented Support
a. Role modeling for career
b. Help with professional development
B. Personalized social support that goes beyond academics
1. Sense of belonging in CAMP
2. Surrogate family at MSU
3. CAMP social support on a personal level
4. School personnel social support on a personal level
C. Encouragement from self, family and community
1. Messages to “not drop out of school”
a. From parents
b. From peers
2. Motivating and encouraging messages
a. From parents
b. From CAMP staff and school personnel
3. Coping mechanisms while in college
D. Mentorship
1. Receiving knowledge from siblings
2. Passing on knowledge to siblings and mentees
3. Being a mentor/role model had personal benefits

169

(Factors Affecting Resilience)

APPENDIX F

Conceptual Model

 

 

Baclpground Context of Academic Success

1. Experience in the fields 4. Poverty & child labor
2. Awareness of migrant education 5. MEP

3. Discrimination in high school

 

6. Self-Conceptualizations of Success

 

 

 

 

Parental Supmrt before
Collgge

1. Push to excel

2. Pride in children

3. Messages to break the
chain

4. Sacrifice

5. Role modeling

6. Child did not miss
school during migration

 

 

Time

 

 

Motivations to Break the
gym
1. I do not want to be in the
fields
2. I want to give back to
parents

 

3. 1 want a future for me and
my family

4. I want to give back to my
community

5. I want to prove wrong the
peOple who did not believe

 

 

 

 

 

0

 

 

 

 

How Did They Enter
Collgge?

1. High school personnel
support

2. CAMP recruiter

3. Peer support

4. Family support

5. I decided to further

my education

 

 

 

Decision to Enter into MSU

 

 

 

 

 

 

N
4’

 

 

§ana<m
While in Collpge

1. Support while in
college from CAMP and
others

2. Personalized social
support that goes beyond
academics

3. Encouragement from
self, family and
community

4. Mentorship

 

 

 

Success
at
MSU

 

 

170

 

 

APPENDIX G

Pattern Analysis

 

I. Background context of educational success

 

#' A a c D E F G n r J A.Experienceinthefields

 

1. Working in the fields, then and now

 

n=10xxxxxxxxxxa'l‘hen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

n= x x x x x b. Now
2. Farm work is difficult
n=4 x x x x a. Injuries
n=2 x x b. Exploitation of workers
n=2 x x c. Perceptions about farmworkers
n=7 x x x x x x x 3. Positive aspects of farm work
# B F G H l J B. Education of migrants general
1. Awareness of illiteracy & low levels of education of
n= x x x x x migrants
=3 x x x 2. Explaining migrant drojput
# A B C D E F G H I J C. Experience with discrimination in high school
n= x x ‘ 1. Discrimination by high school counselors
=3 x x x 2. Discrimination by teachers

 

:3

ll
X
X

3. Discrimination by students

 

# A B C D E F G H I J D. Self conceptualization of academic success

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

n= x x x x x x 1. Yes
n= x x x 2. Yes, but
=1 x 3. No, butluse tobe
11. Protective factors and processes that led them to
college
# A B C D E F G H I J A. Salient parental support for education before college—
n=4 x x x x 1. Parental push for educational success
n=3 x x x 2. Parental pride in their children’s education
3. Parental messages to break the chain
n= x x x a. Don’t be like us or like them
n= x x x b. Children were not forced to help parents out financially
c. If you don’t want to work in the fields, then get an
n= x x x x x education
n=6 x x x x x x 4. Parental sacrifice as a motivation to get an education
5. Parental role modeling as a motivation to get an
n= x x x education
# A B C D E F G H l J B. Not missinj school duringmigration
n=2 x x 1. Some were behind in school because of migration
n= x x x 2. Mismatch in schools, but compensated for it
n= x x x x x 3. Did not miss school because parents valued education
n=4 x x x x 4. Child stayed alone in Texas while family_migrated

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

171

 

II. (Cont’d)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

# E F G C. Personal motivations «ng an education
n=6 x x x x l. I do not want to be in the fields
n= x x x 2. I want to give back to parents
n= x x x x 3. I want a future for me and my family
n= x 4. I want to give back to my community
n= x x 5. I want to prove wrong the people who did not believe
# E F D. How did they enter college?
n=4 x x 1. High school personnel support! CAMP recruiter
n= x 2. Peer support
n= x 3. Family support
n= x 4. I decided to further my education
111. Protective factors and processes while in colLege
# A G A. Support while in college from CAMP and others
n= x x x x l. Opportunity to go to college
2. Material and financial support from CAMP
n= x x a. First year
n=4 b. Latter years
=1 3. Career-oriented support
n= 8. Role modeling for school and career
=2 x b. Help with professional development
B. Personalized social support that goes beyond
# A E F G academics
n=4 x x 1. Sense of belonging in CAMP
n=4 x x 2. Surrogate family at MSU
n= x x 3. CAMP Social Support on a personal level
n=4 x 4. School Personnel Social Support on a personal level
# A E G C. Encouragement from self, family and community
1. Messages to “not drop out of school”
n=4 x a. From parents
n=4 x b. From peers
2. Motivating and encouraging messages
=7 a. From parents
n= x b. From CAMP staff and school personnel
n= x x 3. Personal coping mechanisms while in college
# A E F G D. Being a mentor or role model
n= x 1. Receiving knowledge from siblings
n= X x 2. Passing on knowledge to siblings, mentees, and others
n= x 3. Being a mentor/role model has personal benefits

 

172

 

APPENDIX H

Participant Demographic Tables

Table A: Gender, age, farmworker, marital and parenting status of participants

 

 

Characteristic Category % (n)
Gender Women 60.0% (n=6)
Men 40.0% (n=4)

Total

Age- At High School

Graduation
Age-Current
Farmworker Status
Total
Marital Status
Total

If you are not married, at what
age do you plan on getting
married?

If you are not married, do you
plan on finished school first
before getting married?

Total

Do you have children?
Total

If you do not have children, at
what age do you plan on having
children?

If you do not have children,
do you plan on finishing school
first before having children?

Total

100.0% (n=10)

Mean = 18.0 (SD = 0.7, n=10) Range 17 — 19

Mean = 21.4 (SD = 1.3, n=10) Range 19 — 23

Migrant Farmworker

Married
Engaged
Single

Mean = 25.1(SD = 2.2, n=8)
Range 23 - 30 years old

Yes

None
Wife is pregnant

Mean = 24.8 (SD = 1.4, n=9)
Range 22- 26 years old

Yes
No

1 00.0%(n=l 0)
100.0% (n=10)

20.0% (n=2)
10.0% (n=1)

70.0% (n=7)
100.0% (n=10)

100.0% (n=8)

100.0% (n=8)
90.0% (n=9)

10.0% (n=1)
100.0% (n=10)

88.9% (n=8)
11.1% (n=l)

100.0% (n=9)

 

173

Table B: Ethnic identity, language, place of birth, parental place of birth, and High

 

 

School County of participants
Characteristic Category % (n)
What cultural background do Mexicano/ Mexican 90.0% (n=9)
you most identify with? Mexican-American 10.0% (n=1)
Total 100.0% (n=10)
What language do you prefer to Spanish 100.0% (n=10)
speak at home?
Total 100.0% (n=10)
What language was most often Spanish 100.0%

spoken in the house when you
grew up?
Total

Place of Birth
(State, Country)
Total
High School County in Texas
Total
Mother’s Place of Birth
(Comm?)
Total
Father’s Place of Birth
(CountI'Y)

Total

San Luis Potosi , México
Tarnaulipas, México
Texas, USA

Hidalgo County
Zapata County

México
USA

Guanajuato, México

100.0% (n=10)

20.0% (n=2)
30.0% (n=3)
50.0% (n=5)
100.0% (n=10)

90.0% (n=9)
10.0% (n=1)
100.0% (n=10)
90.0% (n=9)
10.0% (n=l)
100.0% (n=10)
100.0% (n=10)

100.0% (n=10)

 

174

Table C: High school GPA, fall 2004 semester GPA, ACT score, first generation college

 

 

student status of participants
Characteristic Category % (11)
What GPA (grade point 2.1 — 2.5 10.0% (n=1)
average) did you 2.6 — 2.9 20.0% (n=2)
graduate high school 3.0 — 3.4 20.0% (n=2)
with? 3.5 — 3.9 30.0% (n=3)
4.0 10.0% (n=l)
Don’t know 10.0% (n=l)
Total 100.0% (n=10)
What year are you in at Year Two 20.0% (n=2)
MSU? Year Three 40.0% (n=4)
Year Four 40.0% (n=4)
Total 100.0% (n=10)
Are you an academic Academic junior 60.0% (n=6)
junior or senior? Academic senior 40.0% (n=4)
Total ‘ 100.0% (n=10)
Are you a graduating Yes 30.0% (n=3)
senior? No 70.0% (n=7)
Total 100.0% (n=10)
Do you have plans for Yes 50.0% (n=5)
graduate school (M.B.A, No 50.0% (n=5)
M.A., Ph.D.)?
Total 100.0% (n=5)
What GPA (grade point Above 2.5 30.0% (n=3)
average) did you earn fall 2.6 — 2.9 40.0% (n=4)
2004 at MSU? 3.0 — 3.4 20.0% (n=2)
3.5 — 3.9 10.0% (n=1)
Total 100.0% (n=10)
What was your ACT Mean = 18.7 (SD = 3.6, n=7)
score? Range 15 — 26

 

175

 

Characteristic
Is MSU the only college
that you have attended?
Total

If MSU is not the only
college you have attended,
where else have you
attended?

Total

How many brothers and
sisters do you have?

Are you the first of your
sibling to go to college?
Total

Birth order for
participants who were
first siblings to go to
college?

Total

Birth order for siblings
who were not first to go
to college?

Total

Are you the first one in
your family to go to
college?

Total

If you are not the first
one in your family to go to
college, who has gone to
college?

Total

Did they get a degree?

Total

Category
Yes
No

Community College in High School
Community College After High
School

Study Abroad While at MSU

Mean = 4.5 (SD = 2.1, n=10)
Range 2 — 9 siblings

Yes
No

1“"t born child
3rd born child

3"1 born child
4th born child
6‘11 born child
8‘h born child

Yes
No

Older Sibling

Older Cousin

Aunt/Uncle

Older Sibling, Cousin and Uncles

Yes
Not yet

"/0 (9)
50.0%(n=5)
50.0%(n=5)
100.0% (n=10)

40.0% (n=2)

20.0%(n=1)
40.0% (n=2)
100.0% (n=5)

50.0% (n= 5)
50.0% (n= 5)
100.0% (n=5)

60.0% (n=3)
40.0% (n=2)

100.0% (n=5)

40.0% (n=2)
20.0%(n=l)
20.0%(n=1)
20.0%(n=1)
100.0% (n=5)

30.0% (n=3)
70.0% (n=7)

100.0% (n=10)

57.1% (n=4)
14.3% (n=1)
14.3% (n=l)
14.3% (n=1)
100.0% (n=7)

57.1% (n=4)
42.9% (n=3)
100.0% (n=7)

 

176

Table D: Migration status, home base, migration streams, and housing characteristics

 

 

Characteristic Category % (11)
Where is “home base”? Texas 90.0% (n=9)
(Where does your family Michigan (settled out) 10.0% (n=1)

consider home to be?)
Total 100.0% (n=10)
Does your family still Yes 80.0% (n=10)
migrate? No (Settled out in Michigan or 20.0 % (n=2)
Texas)
Total 100.0% (n=1 0)
If they do migrate, where Within Texas 12.5% (n=1)
do they migrate to? Texas to Michigan 50.0% (n=4)
Texas to Ohio 12.5% (n=1)

Total

If your family migrates,
for how many months out
of the year do they live
outside of home base?

If your family migrates,
for how many years have
they been migrating?

In what type of housing
does your family live in
their “home base”?

Total

If your family migrates,
in what type of housing
does your family live in
when migating?

Total

Texas to Illinois
Texas to Michigan and Florida

Mean = 5.4 (so = 1.9, n=7)
Range 3 — 8 months

Mean = 20.5 years (SD = 11.0, n=8)
Range 5 — 40 years

House
Apartment

Apartment
Labor camp

177

12.5% (n=1)
12.5% (n=1)
100.0% (n=8)

90.0% (n=9)
10.0% (n=1)

100.0% (n=10)
14.3% (n=l)
85.7% (n=6)

100.0% (n=7)

Table E: Family income and financial aid status

 

Characteristic

Category

% (n)

 

How much money did
your family make as a
whole last year?

Total

Just to make sure, how
many total people does
this estimate include?

Do you receive financial
aid and/or scholarships?
Total

If you do receive financial
aid and/or scholarships,
what kind(s)?

Total

$10 - $19,999
$20 - $ 25,999
$26 - $32,000
Don’t know

$10- $19,999/ 2 people (n=2)
$20~ $25,999/ 3 people (n=2)
526- $32,000/ 5 people (n=l)

Yes
No

Financial Aid

Grants

Grants and Loans

Financial Aid and Loans
Financial Aid and Scholarships
Financial Aid, Scholarships and
Grants

20.0% (n=2)
20.0% (n=2)
10.0% (n=1)
50.0% (n=5)
100.0% (n=10)

100.0% (n=10)
100.0% (n=10)

22.2% (n=2)
22.2% (n=2)
11.1% (n=1)
11.1% (n=1)
11.1% (n=1)

22.2% (n=2)
100.0% (n=10)

 

178

Table F: Migrant Educational Program Enrollment and Extra-curricular Activities

 

 

Characteristic Category % (11)
Where you ever involved Yes 80.0% (n=8)
in any of the Migrant No 20.0% (n=2)
Educational Programs
(MEP)?

Total 100.0% (n=10)
If you were involved with MEP Summer Program 57.1% (n=4)
MEP, which one(s)? Migrant Club 14.3% (n=l)
Migrant Head Start and MEP
Summer Program 14.3% (n=1)

Total

If you were involved with
MEP, for how many
years?

Were you involved with
any other after-school, or
pre-college programs that
helped you prepare for
college?

Total

Which ones?
Sports
Total
Academic Enrichment
Total
Extracurricular Clubs

(Reserves, Music, Choir)
Total

For how many years?

Migrant Head Start and MEP School
year Program

Mean = 3.5 (SD = 3.5, n=6)
Range 1 — 10 years

Yes
No

Yes

Yes
No

Yes
No

Mean = 2.8 (SD = 1.9, n=8)
Range 1 — 7 years

14.3% (n=1)
100.0% (n=7)

80.0% (n=8)
20.0% (n=2)

100.0% (n=10)

80.0% (n=8)
100.0% (n=8)

37.5% (n=3)
62.5% (n=5
100.0% (n=8)

50.0% (n=4)
50.0% (n=4)
100.0% (n=8)

 

179

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