After the death of José Hernández’s father, his mother struggled to raise five children. Then nine, José went to work on a farm to help financially. Five years later, the family immigrated to the United States and settled in a poor community on California’s Central Coast. The next challenge José faced was learning English to achieve his dream of attending college.

This fall, José is a first-generation junior at California State University, Monterey Bay, majoring in collaborative health and human services with an emphasis in social work and public health.

José has worked for two years on a service learning placement tutoring elementary school students at the Cesar Chavez Library in East Salinas and working with the Building Healthy Communities Center. Last February he was selected to represent that organization at the launch party Lady Gaga's Born This Way Foundation at Harvard University.

José plans to enroll in a master’s program in counseling at CSU Bakersfield so he can continue to improve his community and lead his family to a better life.