CONTINUED COVERAGE
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Tatiana Patiño, a student at Peachtree Ridge High School, has something in common with first daughter Malia Obama: both young women have been accepted to attend Harvard University.
In Patiño’s case, the accomplishment is especially significant, since, despite her exceptional GPA and community service efforts, her undocumented status had closed the doors to most of Georgia’s state institutions.
“It was difficult. I would be lying if I said I’d never said: ‘It’s not fair, why is this happening to me, if I’ve worked so hard? Why don’t I have the same opportunities as my peers?’ But my family has never let me be the type of person to feel sorry for herself,” said Patiño.
She decided to try her luck with the private university system, sending applications to over 15 institutions. On March 31, Patiño received her admittance letter from Harvard, where she was also offered a scholarship that will cover tuition, housing and even food.
In addition to Harvard, Yale and Princeton also offered admittance to Patiño, but ultimately she decided on Harvard.
Patiño moved from Cali, Colombia to Georgia when she was four years old, along with her parents and older brother.
Eight years later, however, Patiño’s father was diagnosed with brain cancer and passed away.
“It was an incredibly difficult moment of change for me, because while that was going on at home I was trying to keep my grades up at school. I never tried to use it as an excuse, and a lot of teachers didn’t even know what was going on,” she said.
According to her mother, Gloria Restrepo, the loss of Patiño’s father and the ensuing challenges the family faced caused Patiño to become more independent, seemingly overnight.
“Despite the loss of my husband, she never asked for pity. She found her way all by herself,” said Restrepo.
Patiño founded her high school’s chapter of Hispanic Organization Promoting Education and has been helping other students to obtain the information to get into college.
“Tatiana will reach every goal she sets for herself, because she is very determined, intelligent and, above all, she has a heart full of hope and love for the world,” said Ángela Hurtado, vice-president and co-founder of HOPE.
Patiño aspires to one day become a literature teacher at the high school level. “I want to be the type of teacher who inspires students, and eventually I want to get involved with the administrative side of education and serve as a voice for Hispanic students,” she said.
Today, Patiño’s message for other undocumented students is that with hard work and persistence they can go far.
“Sometimes the situation we’re in isn’t fair, but when you don’t have control over a situation, all you can control is how you react,” she said. “If you’re undocumented, if you have had difficulties in your life, that’s part of your story, and your story opens doors.”
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