La Familia lo es Todo

Three cell phones lay face down on the kitchen counter. Dahlia Citlalli Carrillo-Sanchez is home for dinner, and this is family time – no time to be scrolling Instagram.

It’s the weekend before finals, and the George Fox junior sits at the family table while the rich smells of traditional Mexican food fill the dining room – birria with pinto beans and rice followed by champurrado for dessert.

Her dad, Lugardo, leads the family of four in prayer before Dahlia, her mom Gabriela and younger sister Aliye launch into conversation.

Dahlia is at peace here. Family is what grounds her. It’s what drives her, pushes her to do things she never thought she could.

So when nerves and anxiety get the best of her as she waits backstage to lead chapel worship in front of hundreds of people, or when she feels like an imposter as a woman of color in her computer science classes – a field traditionally dominated by men – she doesn’t give in to the doubts. Instead, she hears her mother’s voice.

“She says, ‘You come from a background of hard workers and people who are very determined and resilient,’” Dahlia says. “She reminds me that I have all of that in me.”

Gabriela knows resilience. She came to this country as an undocumented immigrant at just six months old. Her family worked in the fields. Lugardo crossed the border, alone, at 18 years old. Both are no stranger to poverty.

They worked hard to grasp every opportunity their new home offered, while staying true to their Mexican roots. So how could Dahlia do anything but the same?

“I think about it almost every day, the sacrifices my parents made for me to be here,” she says. “So when academics get really tough, when I’m doubting myself, the thing that gets me out of bed in the morning is knowing where I come from and who I’m representing.”