After Graduating With A Master’s Degree, This Daughter Had A Photoshoot With Her Immigrant Parents In The Fruit Fields Where They Worked

Source: https://media.fox35orlando.com/

This woman celebrated the Master’s degree graduation by honoring her parents with a photoshoot. Originally from Mexico, Erica Alfaro and her parents immigrated to California from Oaxaca, Mexico to work in the fruit fields in order for them to give their children a better future. Alfaro had her graduation photoshoot with her parents in the same fields where her parents labored day in and day out. Wearing her cap and gown, this special graduation photo went viral, and for good reason.

Alfaro would join her parents working in the fruit fields every summer with her mother telling her that this hard work was going to be her reality if she didn’t get an education. “When I told my mother that I was tired, she said, ‘This is our life. The only people that have a good life are those that have a good education,'” She told CBS San Diego.


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Being a teen mom when she was 15, Alfaro was forced to drop out of school, but remembering her mothers inspiring words, she went back to take her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. 

With the original caption to the photo in Spanish, Alfaro wrote: “Con mucho cariño le dedico mi Maestría a mis papas. Sus sacrificios de venir a este país para darnos un mejor futuro si valió la pena,”

“With much love, I dedicate my Master’s degree to my parents. Their sacrifice of coming to this country to give us a better future was worth it.”

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Without any formal education, her parents could barely read or write, but they always supported their children and their schooling. Alfaro was the first in their family to graduate college and was followed by both siblings soon after. This is why she wanted to honor all the sacrifices and hard lives her parents endured. 

“My mom cried when I showed her my cap and gown for the first time,” the graduate said. “[She] told me that her sacrifices were worth it. That all those hours in the fields were worth it.”

Alfaro’s parents, who were both working in the fields of Fresno were able to obtain residency to the U.S. While her siblings were born there, they still lived in Tijuana while waiting for the papers to be approved. The siblings would commute over the border to attend San Ysidro Middle School in San Diego. In 2003, they permanently moved to California.


Source: https://media.fox35orlando.com/

While Alfaro’s mother still works in tomato, strawberry, raspberry and blueberry fields, her father now works in landscaping. Their eldest daughter wanted to take photos here to show the importance of education. 

“My goal is to encourage underrepresented students to continue with their education,” Alfaro said. “I also want to help domestic violence survivors and teenage mothers. I hope they can get inspired with my story.”

After graduating with a Master’s in Education from San Diego State University, Alfaro dreams of becoming a school counselor, a career so far off from her first job working in those fruit fields. 

 

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