One UNM student, with the deck stacked against her, will graduate this semester and chase her dreams farther than she ever imagined.
Daniela Romero was born in New Mexico and grew up in a one-parent home, she said. However, it wasn’t her parent who raised her, but her great grandmother. Romero said this was due to the fact that her parents were both drug addicts. Her dad went to prison when she was four years old, and he wasn’t released until she was 15.
“My mom was in and out of my life for my whole life,” Romero said, “So my great grandmother raised me and my two sisters.”
Despite that, Romero said she was committed to her education.
“I always did good in school in elementary school, and I was always going to the counselors because they knew about my situation,” she said. “The counselors often talked to us.”
Unfortunately, that early success didn’t last. Romero said by the time she got into middle school, she started acting out.
“It was just something I learned,” she said. “It was more normal for me to get into the lifestyle that I did get into.”
Romero said she started smoking marijuana at the age of 8. By 12 she was drinking. This trend continued, and eventually led to her dropping out of school in the sixth grade.
Romero said she returned to school for eighth grade, attending Los Puentes Charter School — school for troubled youth — at the insistence of a friend.
But, once again, it did not last, and she dropped out in ninth grade, she said. But the next time she enrolled she was committed to finishing her education.
“I went back and actually finished high school,” Romero said. “The teachers at Los Puentes are actually the ones who helped me get into college.”
After high school, Romero said she started at CNM and continued on to UNM.
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“UNM has contributed greatly to my growth,” Romero said. “It has allowed me to step out of my comfort zone and introduced me to people I never would have socialized with if I hadn’t had the opportunity at UNM. It’s definitely pushed me to be more and know that I can achieve my goals.”
She will graduate with a double major in psychology and criminology, and a minor in evolutionary anthropology.
“It’s been a long time coming, but I’m finally going to graduate,” she said. “I feel grateful, honestly; I didn’t think I was going to graduate high school. I thought I was going to have a sixth-grade education for the rest of my life.”
Once she started college, her dreams began to take shape and, for the first time, she knew what she wanted to do.
“My biggest inspiration was definitely what I want to do with my career ... work with at-risk youth like me,” Romero said. “To show others teenagers like me, who grew up like me or have similar stories as me, that they could get out of it, and they don’t have to stay stuck.”
Romero is already giving back: She said she is currently volunteering at the D-home. She said the biggest reward from volunteering is “impacting lives: if there’s one life I can get to and change ... that’s my goal”
Romero said she aspires to eventually own her own business or practice. She said she is thinking along the lines of a pseudo-halfway house, but for youth.
“I know there’s a lot of youth at the D-home that tell me the only reason they get themselves in trouble (is) because their parents aren’t around, or they don’t like the household they’re in. They get in trouble just to have a place to sleep,” Romero said. “I know there’s a lot of youth like that ... A good home is where it starts”
Romero said people raised under difficult circumstances should not be encumbered by them, and she knows from experience that anything is possible with determination.
“Just make up your mind not to quit, and I know it sounds cliché, but the whole thing about not giving up is something I decided to do from day one,” she said. “I’m not the brightest crayon in the box, but (I believe in) dedication and continuing with it until you meet the goal that you want.”
Matthew Reisen is a senior reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @DailyLobo.
