Meet First-Gen Grad Ashley Batista '19
Congratulations to all our First-Gen Graduates!
“[My] parents came here to give me a better life, and I’m living it.”
Ashley Batista ’19, biological sciences, is the first member of her family to graduate from college. Her parents emigrated from the Dominican Republic in search of new opportunities, and Batista was determined to make the most of her college experience. She chose to attend UMBC after hearing a woman of color speak at a UMBC event about the opportunities she was able to access as a UMBC alumna.
“I felt like she represented me,” Batista says. “I just felt really empowered, and I enjoyed how rigorous the coursework would be here. I thought it would challenge me but also prepare me well for whatever I choose to do after.”
Ashley Batista ’19, biological sciences, presents her first research poster at SURF 2018. Fernando Vonhoff (left) is her research mentor. Photo courtesy Ashley Batista.
Once on campus, Batista was particularly excited to hear about the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation summer research fellowship—a program that supports students in historically underrepresented groups in STEM. But because she didn’t have a faculty mentor or research project lined up, she put the application aside. That was until Peter DeCrescenzo, project coordinator in the Office of Academic Opportunity Programs, reached out to encourage her to apply, offering to help connect her with a mentor.
That summer, Batista started working on Alzheimer’s research with biology professor Fernando Vonhoff, and it’s changed her life.
Being in the lab “opened a lot of doors for me to network and to figure out opportunities and programs I could be involved in after graduation,” she shares. She notes that the research itself “was really gratifying. It changed my whole perspective and my goals.” A reproductive health-focused Alternative Spring Break also helped Batista identify her path forward toward an obstetrics or pediatrics career.
On top of her research experience, Batista began organizing multicultural learning events for the UMBC community as a sister in the Zeta Sigma Chi Multicultural Sorority, Inc. That work “helped me understand and teach others about different perspectives, and create an environment where people can be open to discussion, respectful, and nonjudgmental,” she shares. “ I think that’s something that I can transfer wherever I go.”
She adds that her sorority sisters have been a huge source of support during her time at UMBC.
Batista says that while it adds challenges, being a first-generation college student has been motivating. “Whenever I’m feeling overwhelmed, I remember that my parents came here to give me a better life, and I’m living it,” she says. “It motivates me to keep going and make them proud—and to make myself proud, because I know it will be rewarding in the end.”
Ashley Batista ’19 (standing, second from right) and sorority sisters from across the East Coast volunteer at the non-profit Share Baby. Photo courtesy Ashley Batista.
Posted: May 21, 2019, 10:06 AM
