YAKIMA, Wash.- On June 14, Martha Olivera will walk across the stage at the Yakima SunDome and be the first in her family to graduate.
It’s been a long road for the soon to be crowned Business Technology for Administrative Office Assistant.
“I worked really hard, so I’m proud of myself that I pushed through,” says Olivera. “I went through a lot of struggles, so I was thinking about not pulling through, but I had a lot of people supporting me.”
For a while, those struggles included somewhere to call home.
Olivera’s mother is disabled and hasn’t worked since 2017. As she started college, she couldn’t work as she focused on classes.
“We always had to figure out how to pay the next month’s rent,” says Olivera.
The graduate says help found her through Canvas, the school’s online connection service. An option provided assistance with bills for rent and utilities.
“We were almost homeless,” says Olivera. “We were living in hotels and motels for a bit, but then we ended up finding a house that fit our income.”
Figuring out their housing allowed her to focus on her studies and college experience. Olivera says her motivation to keep going came from her family and professors.
“I took a lot of courses with the same professor, Holly Cousens and she’s a very inspiring person,” says the former student.
Olivera says it was in Cousens’ classes she learned to be herself and break away from high school cliches.
“I became more open minded because in high school it’s like a lot of people are very judgmental based off of what you dress like or what you look like,” says Olivera. “Here, it’s more about the type of person that you are.”
She says after college, she plans to help the community that helped her graduate college.
“I’m trying to be more part of my community,” says Olivera. “Trying to volunteer so I could give back to the community.”
