The Stanford Engineering Research Introductions (SERIS) program, aiming to increase the presence of underrepresented minorities in higher education, selected Jose Luiz Sarabia Torres, San Jose State mechanical engineering sophomore, for its first edition of a program on Stanford’s campus.
From Feb. 3 to Feb. 5, the program welcomed 16 college students from several different schools including Stanford, Georgia Tech, Harvard and several other universities. Ten students were from Stanford and Sarabia Torres was the only one from SJSU.
“I never saw myself with these Ivy League students,” said Sarabia Torres. “I couldn't believe it.”
Chandler Brown, environmental engineering Ph.D. Stanford student and SERIS media spokesperson said Sarabia Torres’s profile stood out among all the applications.
“[Sarabia Torres] was definitely an outstanding applicant,” Brown said in a Zoom call. “Just reading his application, you could see his drive and his desires to have this upward mobility and pursue this higher education, both as a source for him but as a resource for his family.”
19-year-old Sarabia Torres grew up in Redwood City, which is part of the San Francisco Peninsula and about 24 miles away from San Jose. He said his parents immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico 20 years ago and he’s the first of his family to attend college.
“We only speak Spanish in my house because it’s hard to communicate with my parents in English,” Sarabia Torres said.
He said he has three younger sisters and is consistently encourages them to pursue higher education.
“I want to have an impact towards my younger siblings, because if they see me push every day, as they see me every day do homework at home, then it will motivate them to continue their education,” Sarabia Torres said. “People around me . . . all of them are hard-working people, but they lack education since the majority of them, like 92 to 95% of them, don't know how to speak English.”
First-generation students are defined as those whose parents have not attended college and many often face significant challenges in “accessing postsecondary education, succeeding academically once they enroll and completing a degree,” according to a National Center for Education Statistics February 2018 study.
Brown said the Stanford program aimed to give an early introduction to graduate education opportunities for freshman and sophomore students coming from underrepresented communities.
“With grad school in general, especially for these underrepresented communities, it's not something that's heavily talked about or heavily thought about,” Brown said. “[But] if you want to go down that route, it's best if you are able to prepare yourself as early as possible.”
Brown said during the first edition of the SERIS program, various events showed selected students different aspects and perspectives of graduate school, including faculty discussions, graduate student panelists and presentations about how to interact with professors and make successful applications.
Sarabia Torres said after third grade, he felt many parents who don’t speak English can’t help their children with their education even if they’re willing to assist.
Although he said his parents are supportive and work hard for him to pursue his education, the help they can provide him is limited by their lack of education and the English language barrier.
Sarabia Torres learned about SERIS through the Math Engineering Science Achievement (MESA) program at SJSU, which also aims to increase the number of graduate students from disadvantaged backgrounds, according to its website.
Margarita Garcia, SJSU biomedical and mechanical engineering junior who is Sarabia Torres’s peer advisor within the MESA program, said programs like MESA or SERIS are necessary because many students including Sarabia Torres don’t have a support system when they’re going to college.
“[Sarabia Torres] is a very strong and passionate student, and given his circumstances, he still manages to prevail and get the most out of his college experience,” Garcia said in a phone call.
During his high school junior and senior years, Sarabia Torres was a tutor at the Boys and Girls Club, helping younger students to go through their education.
He said he worked almost everyday and spent 780 hours volunteering to support students whose families were mostly immigrants or didn’t have the knowledge to support their children at school.
Sarabia Torres said he also witnessed and experienced financial barriers to education and added that especially with inflation and the coronavirus pandemic, some families have to choose between buying food or academic resources for their children.
“It comes to the point where the family has [just] enough money to meet the basic needs and get through the week,” Sarabia Torres said.
When he learned at the Stanford SERIS program that Ph.D. students were paid to pursue their degrees, he felt relieved.
Sarabia Torres said thanks to the Stanford program, he knows he wants to be involved in the research field and get a Ph.D. in the future but also hopes to have a positive influence now on his community.
“I want to start my own organization by myself . . . to provide students that come from underrepresented communities with resources to succeed academically,” Sarabia Torres said. “I want to motivate them to pursue an education, and hopefully be individuals that will contribute to society, help develop anything or be people that help others.”
