Photo By Mark Cleghorn | Nancy Lopez, the coordinator for the Festival at the Lake, a cultural event which has...... read more read more
ANNISTON ARMY DEPOT, Ala. -- Nancy Lopez is currently working on what could be considered her third or fourth career. And she is only 23.
As a teenager, she was waitressing for a local restaurant.
Upon graduation from high school in 2012, she was already well into a cosmetology program, having started college the year before.
She helped to start a cosmetology program at Anniston High School and now serves on the Board of Cosmetology Committee for Gadsden State Community College.
Lopez earned her associate's degree as a paralegal in 2015, learning what she always knew about herself - that her calling was in the legal profession.
She is currently studying pre-law at Columbia Southern and plans to graduate next year then proceed to law school.
While going to school, she has also worked full time as a banker.
As she told the crowd gathered in the DeSoto Pastime Center, her future is in question as she and approximately 800,000 other children await the fate of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
Lopez arrived in the United States on a visa at the age of three with her mother and her older brother. They were fleeing from the prospect of her father attempting to take custody of the two children.
The family lived at the time with one of Lopez's uncles, a resident of the U.S. who was working toward citizenship. Unfortunately, he grew ill shortly after their arrival and died from cancer.
"Here, we were going to be free," she told the crowd. "Here, we were going to grow."
Her mother had to find a way for the family to survive. With no car, she walked every day to work at the Oxford Mall.
Lopez excelled in school. Early on, she set a goal to go to college and become a lawyer.
In 2007, the family's visas expired.
Still, Lopez refused to let the question of her citizenship get in the way of her future.
"I continued to be in the top 10 or top five in my class," she said. "I figured, somewhere along the line, there would be a miracle."
She turned 16 and watched as her friends received their drivers' licenses, something she was ineligible for.
"Then, reality hit, I wasn't going to be able to go to college," she said of the moment she realized she needed a social security number to apply and be accepted.
"It hurts to have someone say, 'You aren't from here. You don't belong here. You can't go to my college,'" said Lopez.
Her miracle finally came her junior year when, after she broke down in the office of her guidance counselor, a path to higher education was formed.
That path was through cosmetology, a trade she had never considered. An Early College Enrollment Program enabled her to go to college, but she had to learn a skill.
"I ended up loving it," said Lopez. "I ended up being really good at it."
When the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program began in 2012, a month after she graduated high school, it gave her hope for the future.
"I was one of the first DACA recipients in Alabama," she said.
Suddenly, her world opened up. Lopez was allowed to get a driver's license and apply to college.
"I was a person because of that," she said.
She continued to work full time while in school, though DACA only requires one or the other, and has given back to her community through a Festival at the Lake, held on May 5, Cinco de Mayo, the last two years.
As Lopez states, the festival is a celebration of all cultures.
"We all have a background. We all have a culture," said Lopez. "We all bleed red."
Though the future of the DACA children in the U.S. is uncertain, Lopez is still working toward her bachelor's degree and still planning to attend law school next year.
"I'm not going to let anyone stop me," she said. "I'm going to show everyone that I'm not just an alien. I'm your family."
Story was originally published on page 3 of the Sept. 21, 2017, issue of "TRACKS."
| Date Taken: | 09.21.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 10.12.2017 10:55 |
| Story ID: | 251400 |
| Location: | AL, US |
| Web Views: | 22 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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