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Transforming grief into a source of strength and resilience, Pimentel continued her education by going to East Los Angeles College, transferring to UCLA and eventually graduating. “Sometimes you feel like you fail, but you really haven’t,” said Pimentel. “You have different thresholds in life where you experience things, and you have to pick yourself up and move forward.” Many of the challenges that Pimentel experienced as a student are still prevalent today. According to 2009-10 California Department of Education First Annual Report on Dropouts in California, Latinos have a dropout rate of 22.7% and 31.1% for English learners. Only 26.5% of Latinos who graduate high school complete UC and/or CSU entrance course requirements. According to Pimentel, “All the statistics are pointing to: you shouldn’t have made it this far.”
She added that having the confidence to continue pursuing higher education can be difficult in an environment where there aren’t many examples or role models to look to. “Sometimes people need to see examples of people; how they gain their inner strength, how they cope with life.” While Pimentel acknowledges that as a student worker she learned a lot from people in admissions, she still felt that something was lacking. “There really wasn’t a Latina in a higher level position for me to look up to when I was a student,” she said. As the admissions office continues to be restructured, Pimentel remains optimistic about the future and offers her recommendations. “What I really hope for UCLA is that we continue to diversify the leadership in all areas at the top.”
Do you know Rosa? How has she influenced you? What other Latina leaders should La Gente profile? Send us your responses at lagente@media.ucla.edu
spring 2012 LA GENTE 21