Emilia Cordova

All you have to do is start. I'm not special or better than anyone else, if I can make it, so can you.

My journey to even consider college began back in 2022. A year that I like to call the series of unfortunate events. To begin the year my truck had stopped working, no one could seem to figure out why and I didn't have the money to keep throwing at it. A month or so after that my apartment flooded, despite losing some personal items it mostly damaged the apartment flooring, at this time I felt lucky to just live on the ground floor. The next month, a new person at work and I had gotten into an argument and, by work standards, we had gotten into an altercation leading to both of us getting fired. I tried to make it work, I lived off my savings while looking for a new job, I got a new job and had to walk to work every single day. Despite my best efforts, I was still a day late and a dollar short, in June I got notified that I was being evicted while at work. I was panicking and calling everyone I knew or could think of trying to find a place to stay even if it was temporary. My aunts in Alabama, even though we were not close at all, said I could stay as long as I needed to get myself back on my feet. At the end of the month I took the last bit of money to my name, got a Uhaul and drove 10 hours to Mobile, AL, a city and state I have never been to before. Things seemed to get better after moving, I got a job quickly and even met my now ex boyfriend by the end of 2022. By 2023, my hopes of a better life already seemed to be faltering. I was working two jobs, clinging onto an abusive relationship and still felt like I was on the verge of losing everything once again. I got fired from one of my jobs and tried to just take extra shifts at my other job to make it work. I was starting to have car troubles again on top of cycling between highs and lows with my ex. During a period of calm with my ex, I told him I wanted to go back to school since I was finally qualifying for in-state tuition and my job would help me with paying for the first semester. I was immediately shot down, told I wasn't smart enough for that and it was a waste of time. I felt conflicted because this could be my way out and this is a college educated man telling me this. In secret from him, I applied for Bishop, got accepted, submitted my paperwork to my job and got my semester paid for. I couldn't celebrate, I just kept myself busy. The end of 2023 was a whirlwind. I found out I was pregnant, my ex left me, I lost the child, my car stopped working and yet the world kept on spinning. While I could say I had a roof over my head, was able to find a way to work and school still lined up, I still felt like I lost everything all over again. I felt stranded, helpless and useless. January 2024, my first semester started. In this time of course, my ex wanted to help and apologize for not being there when I needed him the most. I would go between letting him drive me to school and endure hearing how i was worthless, too dumb for my own good and wasting my time and money going to school, and just taking the city bus, the hour long commute i would wonder if I'm doing the right thing or not. February I saved enough to buy my car. I remember crying from feeling relief for the first time in months, while the pressure of work and school didn't stop, I could finally do things for myself again. One flat tire later and I had to start working a second job. Going to school full time, working a full time and part time job meant there was no time for anything else, it was just going from then on. I completed my first semester, enrolled in my next and kept going.