Stephanie dreams of being a doctor, but fears debt and leaving home

"The medical field is a very well-paid field but it's very expensive to study at the same time and going into debt is something very scary."

Watch the video and read the full transcript below

"My name is Stephanie Miguel. I am 16 and I'm a junior in high school.

I go to Valley View High School in Hidalgo, Texas. I am bilingual; I speak Spanish and English. Hidalgo is about five minutes from the border of Mexico. So it's right there, everyone has family in Mexico or lives in Mexico or lived in Mexico everyone speaks Spanish, which is great. Spanish is my first language actually. I go to Mexico pretty much every weekend. We have a lot of family over there, we actually used to live over there in Mexico.

I was born in McAllen, my parents were living in Mexico at the time, and they decided since my dad was a citizen, my mom was a resident - well, she became a resident when we started living over there in Hidalgo - but they decided that they wanted me to be born over here in McAllen because in the future they thought that I might want to have an education in the United States. So I was born in McAllen and I went to Mexico right after a few days.And I was there until I was about seven, I was about to enter first grade when I went to live in Hidalgo and I have been there my entire life."

Can you share a challenge you’ve faced and how it shaped you?

"I am in 11th grade and then I want to go on to finish my bachelor's in biology and then hopefully go into medical school, which would be amazing. One of the obstacles that I do see is that the medical field is a very well-paid field but it's very expensive to study at the same time and going into debt is something very scary.

My mom and I are really, really close, so the whole thing about me going away has always been scary to her. But I know she would not stop me because she wants me to live my dreams, right? But it is very scary to her more than it is to me, or than it is to my dad.

My dad had to drop out of school when he was fairly young and then he had to start working. So when I told him that I want to come to Austin, I want to study medicine, which is everything that he's always been wanting to do, he was very excited for me. He's totally supportive, but they're both very supportive. And I know that no matter what I decide, I can always count on them and they'll be there for me."

What keeps you motivated?

"I know it sounds like you should do it for yourself, right? But I wanna make my parents proud and I want to help them out and I want them to be happy. So everything I do is for them and I know that they're extremely proud of me because of everything that I'm doing. And that's what keeps me going whenever I get nervous about an exam, or whenever I get really stressed out with everything.I just know I can count on knowing that my parents are proud of me. And that's what keeps me going pretty much."

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