WATCH: Salinas native gives UCLA commencement speech to thank farmworker parents
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (KION-TV)-- The 2022 UCLA Latinx Graduation Student Commencement started with words from someone whose roots are in the ground of Salinas.
Yuliana Barrón Pérez is the daughter of Mexican farmworkers and is proud of the sacrifices her parents made to get her to walk down the stage as a college graduate.
"In 2014, Forbes Magazine ranked Salinas, California: the city I'd born and raised in, as the second least educated city in America, said Barrón Pérez. "And while in a stadium of college-educated people, it might be easy for you to mislabel Salinas, but the community is so much more than that. My community produces over half of the nation's lettuce and 48% of all leafy greens. I often tell people proudly that my community feeds this nation."
She goes on to say that as the daughter of migrant workers, she had a 40% chance of dropping out of high school. Barrón Pérez said she battled feelings of not belonging that had her on the verge of dropping out of school.
"Some of your peers were groomed their whole lives to get into the same schools you did," said Barrón Pérez. You may have not got access to the same opportunities and privileges, but you got yourself there. Never doubt your place at the schools, at these jobs. Never doubt whether you are worthy of YOUR accomplishments."
She graduated after six years with six degrees—four from Monterey Peninsula College in political science, history, communications and general studies social science emphasis.
She earned two bachelor's degrees at UCLA, one for labor studies and political science. Barrón Pérez will next be attending law school in hopes of becoming a labor rights attorney to help workers contract negotiate with their employers.
