Education
Breaks Down Barriers First-generation college graduate views MATC as bridge to a secure future
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ROWING UP in Walker’s Point on Milwaukee’s near south side, Eleazar Lopez Jr. recalls a tight-knit community and a childhood world that consisted of about six city blocks. The United Community Center anchored one end and El Rey Super Mercado bordered the other. His parents emigrated from Mexico as young adults and Lopez grew up with cousins living on the same block. He attended Albert E. Kagel School, a bilingual elementary school in the Milwaukee Public Schools system, through fifth grade, when his parents enrolled him in Nativity Jesuit Middle School.
22 Milwaukee Area Technical College
“My parents didn’t have the opportunity to go to college,” Lopez said. “They grew up in poverty and only have middle school educations but they recognized that a college education could make my life easier for social and economic mobility. Education breaks down barriers. They wanted to put me on a path to receive the best education I could.” After graduating from Pius XI Catholic High School, Lopez enrolled at MATC to pursue a liberal arts associate degree. As the oldest of four siblings he felt a responsibility to pursue a college education, but wasn’t sure what route he should take. A high school counselor encouraged him to consider a two-plus-two program — two years earning credits at a community college that would then transfer to a four-year institution.
Cynthia Galvan
En MATC, Lopez y algunos amigos relanzaron la Organización de Estudiantes Latinos con la orientación de Cynthia Galvan, una instructora de inglés que se desempeñó como mentora del grupo.
At MATC, Lopez and some friends relaunched the Latino Student Organization under the guidance of Cynthia Galvan, an English instructor who served as the group’s mentor. “Coming from Walker’s Point, we had a very strong Latino community,” Lopez said. “We wanted to share our culture, our stories, our traditions. We felt like we had an opportunity, but also a responsibility, to give back by bringing attention to issues that
