EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – The High School Equivalency Program (HEP) at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) has been serving migratory and seasonal farmworkers and their families since 1972, helping those who enroll to obtain the equivalent of a high-school diploma in order to pursue postsecondary education or employment in different fields.
The HEP is a federal program funded through grants from the U.S Department of Education’s Office of Migrant Education.
Maribel Lechuga, the program’s outreach coordinator at UTEP, said the project is funded to serve 70 students per year and produces a 70% General Educational Development (GED) attainment and an 80% placement rate.
HEP teacher and coordinator Oscar Nunez explained that the lifestyle of seasonal farmworkers and their families creates a lot of movement and change, and especially affects their children’s ability to keep up with their education.
“Farmworkers are known to move around because they’re always following the crops. ‘Oh! It’s onion season! It’s pecan season!’ So they move around a lot and for a lot of the students that are younger, the parents are always changing their schools and it’s very hard for them to keep up with schools. Because you’re in one school, they’re going over certain material, and now you change to a different school they might be totally in a different area, and then the social aspect of it. You have friends now and then you have to start over and over until they end up dropping out.” Nunez said.
While Nunez did complete his high-school education and has earned a college degree, he understands the challenges these students face because both of his parents were farmworkers and he experienced that lifestyle as a child. Trying to hold back tears, Nunez reflected on his past.
“My dad took us to the field and one of the things he said was, ‘If you don’t want this lifestyle, you guys have to study’ and that stuck with me. I didn’t want to be on the field,” he said.
Jasmin Duran Mendoza is an HEP alumni and graduate of the 2022 class. Born in the United States, she grew up with uncles as her parents and away from her parents who live in Mexico. She only completed elementary school, and when she sought employment as a teenager, she discovered her opportunities were very limited, and eventually began working as a farmworker too.
“I really did not want to spend my entire life there. But at the time I did not have any plans on how to get out of it, until this opportunity arrived,” Mendoza said.
She was recruited into the program by Lechuga and lived in UTEP housing for two months as she worked towards her GED, where she had the opportunity to experience college life.
“For me it was a huge change, because I did not know any other way of life than being home or working in the fields,” Mendoza said.
Mendoza is now studying communications at El Paso Community College, and she explained that although adjusting to her new lifestyle has been an enormous challenge, she has also learned that it’s not impossible. She described the faculty and classmates as family as she continues to rely on their guidance.
“They keep pushing me to try new things even though I’m not here anymore. They keep caring for me so I’m really grateful,” she said.
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