Spring 2011 Issue
Moving Beyond Luck and Happenstance: Catalina Hernandez
By Shannon O’Brien
 Catalina Hernandez |
UIS alumna Catalina Hernandez ’08 LAS is driven. She is compelled to do more, try more, explore more. She strives for a larger purpose in life, and aspires for a career that will feed her soul. This type of passion has been the impetus behind her successful pursuit of higher education and her interest in working with others.
Her parents are factory workers, and Hernandez is the first in her family to go to college; this presented challenges when it came time to fill out and file all the required paperwork. “Even though I always had the emotional support from my parents, I didn’t have any one I could go to and ask ‘Hey, how do I fill out the FAFSA?’” she says. “There was a lot of college jargon that I had to take on, and it was very stressful at times.”
When she received her welcome letter from UIS, she said she “freaked out and was relieved.” She attributes much of the success that followed to luck and happenstance. “I really think my journey to UIS is really out of luck; I just happened to learn how to do these documents,” she says. She also took any opportunity that presented itself. “I remember my freshman year, I was looking at the job postings UIS had, and Admissions had an opening for student ambassadors. I thought, ‘I don’t know what an ambassador is, but I know I’m a student, so it’s something I can do.’” She interviewed and received the position, and worked as a student ambassador for three years.
She met many people through that position, including faculty and staff of the University, and it led her to her next opportunity, which was working as a college adviser for the Illinois College Advising Corp (ICAC). After she graduated from UIS with a bachelor’s in criminal justice and communication in 2008, she was hired by ICAC to assist high school students in Springfield, and was assigned to Southeast High School. ICAC targets lower income, under-represented, first generation college bound students, and assists them on their path to college. As a UIS graduate, she was able to tell her students about the rewards of attending the University. “So many of my students really hadn’t considered UIS as an option or didn’t really know about UIS, even though it was only a mile down the road. It was so telling how the students were so unaware of these opportunities. Literally an opportunity they could walk to,” she says. It wasn’t uncommon for her to take her students on tours of UIS, and they appreciated the fact that her knowledge was firsthand, as a graduate. Several of the students she advised decided to attend UIS. “Now we have a relationship forever because we’re both alumni. I’m still in touch with some of those students who went to UIS,” she says.
After two years of working as an adviser with ICAC, Hernandez had the urge to return to academia. She was accepted into the master’s program at the University of Illinois Chicago, where she is studying instructional leadership. She works as a graduate assistant (GA) for ICAC, handling mostly administrative work. She supports the mission of ICAC because she wants to help students who find themselves where she found herself when she started on the path to college. “I tell my students that college success should not be out of happenstance, which is what happened to me,” she says. “It’s about ensuring you’re going to put yourself in a position to make these opportunities happen.”
As a GA for ICAC, she’s participating in the creation of a college retention initiative. Part of this includes working with a team to write a grant request for Texas Guarantee organization. “College access is just part of the journey,” she explains. “College completion is the ultimate piece of the puzzle. This grant would allow us to follow our students from high school and through their college years. This grant is to support the retention initiative. We’re (ICAC) not just college access; we’re college completion.”
When asked about what made her decide to pursue higher education, she said she had always liked school. “For me, college was my option. Two of my brothers went into the military, and two went into the work force…my parents would say ‘Catalina, you can have a career, not just a job,’” she says. “My parents are an inspiration. I think if I really had to analyze my persistence with a college degree, they’ve been there from day one. And I think part of that is they also instilled a rich work ethic in their kids; I think that’s part of my drive. It’s the intellectual curiosity, but it’s also a willingness to commit with something and keep at it.”
Currently, she’s interning with the Cook County jail, assisting teachers who work with inmates, and she says it has been a great learning experience. During one of her workdays at the jail, she was formally introduced to a classroom of students, and the inmates were allowed to ask her questions. Based on an answer she had given earlier, one inmate asked if she was there to help them. She told him she wanted to clarify her previous answer by saying she was there to learn with them, and to work with them, and if something she said made a difference to them, or helped them, then that would be great. But, she emphasized, any change they wanted in their lives would be determined by the hard work they were willing to invest in themselves.
This seems to be one of Hernandez’s fundamental principles: she is confident that the path to change begins with the individual’s determination and willingness to work hard, but knows it’s equally important to have people there who offer encouragement. “Everyone needs at least one person who can say, ‘yes, you are capable,’” she says. Hernandez has been fortunate to have that type of support in her life, and she tries to do the same for others. She enjoys running, and is a coach for Chicago’s branch of Girls on the Run, an organization dedicated to helping preteen girls develop self-confidence and a healthy lifestyle through running. When she lived in Springfield, she volunteered as a running buddy for the organization, which meant running with one of the girls, and offering her support and encouragement along the way.
Her involvement with this group demonstrates another quality that makes her stand out: she wants to connect with people, to engage with members of the community. She is a charming conversationalist with an easy rapport, and quick to smile. Part of this could be in thanks to working with Carolyn Blackwell, who was Hernandez’s postsecondary coach through ICAC. She calls Ms. Blackwell a “professional angel.” “She had a real way of talking to students. She was a really good listener, which made me want to be a better listener,” Hernandez says.
Hernandez should be finished with her master’s degree by the end of this year. When an inmate at the Cook County jail asked her where she saw herself in ten years, Catalina told him she couldn’t say exactly, but she knew she wanted to be in a career, which is distinct from having a job. A career fulfills an inner drive, an inner passion.
She does, however, know this about her future: “Earning my doctorate degree is my ultimate educational goal, to become Dr. Catalina Hernandez.”
