|
HOWARD HUGHES MEDICAL INSTITUTE SYMPOSIUM:
A Student's Perspective: Hard Work and a Supportive Program Make All the Difference
Donna Alcantara says the support and encouragement she received from the Alliance for Minority Participation (AMP) at Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi—a program highlighted at the diversity symposium at HHMI headquarters in January 2008—"totally changed my life and helped me adjust to the demands of higher education." Alcantara, who grew up in the poorest neighborhood of Corpus Christi, is now completing a master's degree in biology at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Alcantara's father is a Jamaican immigrant, and her mother is Latina. When Alcantara was nine, her mother became ill with cancer. Alcantara quit school in 10th grade and worked as a nurse's aide and medical assistant to support herself. Those experiences prompted her to study at Del Mar Community College in Corpus Christi to become a nurse. After two years, she decided to transfer to the university.
At Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi, she was one of a handful of minority students studying biology, recalls Alcantara. At first, she found the experience challenging and isolating. The situation improved when assistant professor Gregory Buck, who taught one of her classes, urged Alcantara to apply to the AMP. The program provided a stipend that helped her meet financial obligations and focus more on her studies. More importantly, the faculty involved with the AMP program provided academic support and encouragement. "When a lot of people put you down, or just life puts you down, there are a lot of reasons to give up," says Alcantara. "But when professors, the most educated people I had ever met, told me that I was smart and could make a living out of science, that changed everything."
The AMP offers workshops on academic and career topics and provides student support networks and faculty advisers. It also gives students the opportunity to do hands-on-work in the laboratory during the academic year. Alcantara started working in the laboratory of professor Suzzette Chopin, testing the effects of herbs on different bacteria. At first she was shadowing one of the other students in the lab, but she was given progressively more independence and opportunities to teach other students in the Chopin lab, as well as students in an undergraduate laboratory course. At the same time, she received mentoring from both Chopin and Buck. "I made a lot of mistakes at the beginning. Each time Dr. Buck would say, 'Think of the scientific method,' and get me to find the answer," says Alcantara.
These opportunities allowed her to build her leadership skills and confidence. "I became good at research. I found I was a natural and wanted to continue to do it," she recalls. "I still had a very busy life, but I learned to balance everything." In April 2005, Alcantara was one of 60 students selected nationally to present their research at the annual "Undergraduate Research Posters on the Hill" event in Washington, D.C.
Alcantara graduated from Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi, in December 2005 and started her master's program the following May. "The transition was not difficult at all. I knew how to do research, present my work, and teach," she says. "Now I can enjoy what I am doing."
She hopes that her experience will encourage the younger members of her extended family to follow in her footsteps. "My doing this is telling them that they have a choice. They can do something different," she says. "You don't have to be a genius. You just have to work hard. Getting an education is possible."
As she prepares to graduate in spring 2008, Alcantara, who is now 26 years old, is applying to M.D./Ph.D. programs across the nation. Coincidentally, her mother is close to obtaining a bachelor's degree in English. "She started working on it before I was born, when she was 20," says Alcantara. "We will be graduating together."
|
