Scientists travel many different paths—sometimes quite circuitous—before reaching their destinations, which are not always final. What’s your story and what takeaways might help others?

My story is one that I could have never predicted. As a child of Mexican immigrants, I had no idea of what I wanted to pursue for my career. I grew up in Southern California, mostly in a community made of Latino immigrants. My mom stayed at home to take care of me and my siblings, and my father worked the night shift at a grocery chain as a stocker throughout my entire childhood. My life consisted of school, sports, and being with my large Mexican family on the weekends—birthday parties or just spending time together. However, none of my extended family, nor my parents nor my siblings, had any higher education training.

One thing that my household prioritized was obtaining an education after high school. My parents emphasized when I was younger how they didn’t have the same opportunities we had. The schools they attended were extremely far away and had teachers who did not care to be there. The economic opportunities they grew up with did not prioritize education; they had to work at a very young age to pay for bills and help take care of their family. Pursuing education was my way of thanking my family for the opportunity to be in a country where the opportunities were more plentiful and easier to access. I had this mindset throughout my K-12 education and in my high school years, math and science courses felt the most exciting to me. I took honors biology, chemistry, AP chemistry and AP biology, college environmental science, and college conceptual physics. As for my math classes, I took precalculus, AP calculus, honors algebra 2 and geometry. These classes sparked my interest, but the mentors I found along the way were crucial to my trajectory: Mrs. Laurie Pertile and Mr. Donald Lahti.

These two mentors, educators, and leaders were the most influential people in my educational journey. Science and engineering found me because of these two phenomenal human beings. What inspired me to join the field was not only how they communicated their work, but how much effort and time they put into their classrooms and into myself. They believed in me; they cared about my well-being in their courses and in our conversations. No matter the struggle or silly questions I had, they were there to help me out. They were dedicated enough to meet with me before school, during lunch, or after school. They were the people who put the time in. As an adult who values my work-life balance, I know they were extremely extended and tired, working with over 150 students on a daily basis. But they still cared and put in the time to nurture me.

As college application season came along in high school, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do. All I knew for certain was that I wanted to make my family proud and become a first-generation college student, taking advantage of my family’s immigration to the US. I didn’t know anyone that pursued the STEM field, but I knew my aptitude for math and science was high. The only jobs I knew of were in the medical field, but I knew I didn’t want to pursue that area of the workforce. My favorite subjects were calculus and chemistry, so I married the two and applied to schools with chemical engineering as a major. I had no idea what it was or what it entailed. I didn’t know a chemical engineer personally, but I believed it made sense because I had instructors who believed in me and cared about me. That is what led me to science. I was terrified of joining an engineering field, but I took a leap of faith, trusting my upbringing and my family and mentors who believed in me.

Once I was accepted to and attended UC Davis, I was fortunate enough to join pipeline and supportive programs to prepare me for graduate school like the McNair Scholars program and California Alliance for Minority Participation (CAMP) that allowed me to obtain research opportunities and get paid for it. A privilege, looking back, that most people do not have at a public university. These programs were critical to my growth as well because I was in a cohort whose background was similar to mine and had staff who didn’t mind answering the “dumb” questions I had. Research was scary—looking at an extremely complex problem with minimal experience. But I believed in myself because others had lit my fire previously and gave me the confidence. My passion for solving complex issues led me to graduate school in bioengineering.

The most important takeaway from my journey to undergraduate and graduate school was finding mentors who I could look up to and who believed in me. Find those who you trust, who you can lean on, and who are willing to support you unconditionally. They don’t need to have all the answers. Heck, they don’t even need to be related to your career path. Trust the process and lean on your network, and you can inspire your current self and find what you are passionate about trusting how people feel about you. All of this has taught me that the path is never linear, but the ability to adapt, find mentors who believe in you, and trust yourself are the keys to not only surviving but thriving in your unique journey.