The American history has not yet probably had this kind of hero – Oralia Catalan was living under a bridge most of her life but she managed to graduate from the University of Southern California with a master's degree in social work. Her family counts five members, and her parents emigrated from Mexico to the United States when she was a toddler. She had a very difficult childhood – her father waas an alcoholic and in and out all the time. 

Oralia's mother always held down a couple of jobs to keep her family from starving. She used to say to her children that education is really important and that they have to continue to work hard. Oralia graduated from a high school with honors, in addition to having thousands of hours of community work in her impressive resume. She always knew she wanted to go to college and had been saving money since she was 12 for that purpose. She also got a private scholarship thanks to a bill which did not require citizenship as a factor in getting the funds. 

“I wanted to be able to help kids that [are] in my situation, so that they wouldn’t be traumatized by growing up in poverty, ” Catalan says. Her journey is not over yet – she plans to pursue a doctorate at the Rossier School of Education, seeking a degree in educational leadership.  

Photo attribution: Oralia Catalan