Gabriel Cabrera Ruiz is pursuing the fast track towards a career protecting the environment.
“I feel like these problems are very urgent, and it's not like they're not gonna wait for me.” Cabrera Ruiz said.
This is his first semester at Yale University, where he received a full ride scholarship to pursue a master’s degree in environmental management. Over the summer he became familiar with the campus as he took a GIS mapping workshop.
“And I thought it was going to be very competitive,” he said. “The name is recognized everywhere, but it took me by surprise - Everyone's so friendly, everyone's willing to help you succeed.”
His goal is to become a renewal project manager “which is basically you're taking renewable energy technologies and applying them at larger scale.”
He graduated from Northern Illinois University in the spring with an undergraduate degree in environmental studies. He said the campus and surrounding communities in Connecticut feel very different from DeKalb.
“It was definitely more city vibe the city of New Haven,” he said, “a big change from cornfield at NIU.”
The NIU graduate has his mind set on what he wants to achieve, but his path as a first-generation college student wasn’t always clear.
“There was a period of time where I didn't even believe that I was going to pursue a higher education, mostly because I'm a DACA student,” Cabrera Ruiz said.
The DACA program provides work permits for people who arrived as children without legal authorization to enter the country. It’s currently on hold as it is being challenged in the courts.
Under law, all children in the U.S. have a right to an education, but undocumented students don’t qualify for federal aid for college.
“My parents couldn't really help me out,” Cabrera Ruiz said. “Even for applying for a student loan, it's very difficult as an undocumented student.”
He first earned his associate’s degree at Elgin Community College, while working to help pay for it.
“I thought the associate's degree, that was it. At least I did something, right?” he recalled. “And I worked for almost two years after my associate, and I was not happy.”
So, with his savings and advisors like Dr. Sandy Lopez, who now leads NIU’s Undocumented Student Resource Center and connected him to funding programs, his time at Northern Illinois University became possible.
His decision to further his education, in addition to attending a prestigious school, came with some doubts, but with encouraging words from his family, and support network, he overcame them.
“I didn't get in just because they were letting people in,” he said. “They saw that I had all the requirements, a good amount of experience, and that I was qualified for that next step.”
Cabrera Ruiz advises folks who are unsure they have a future in higher education to first find people they can trust in higher education.
“If you are in the same boat as me or even if you’re first generation, you want to find people that you're able to ask those questions, or that they're able to give you some resources,” he said. I feel like that's one of the most important steps.”
He admits it wasn’t easy revealing his circumstances.
“I was not that comfortable sharing that part of me because there was a lot of negative connotations or negative views that were associated to being undocumented,” he said. “And my biggest fear was just people seeing me different or people not wanting to be associated with me.”
His other piece of advice is to appreciate your path, even when it doesn’t look like your peers.
“There's still going to be similar opportunities no matter wherever you go, and that no one's path is the same,” he said. “It's going to help you plan for whatever you're trying to do."
Also, Cabrera Ruiz says it’s important to realize the path can be difficult. He recalls the numerous times he felt frustrated when his legal status and financial challenges posed barriers.
“Like, ‘okay, this is it?’” he said. “’This is the end of my path?’” “But just realizing that it’s just one moment in time, and then you can focus on whatever you can control at that moment and seeing later on what's available.”
Since the 2022-2023 school year, in Illinois every institution of higher education must have a designated undocumented student liaison to help undocumented students navigate their education.
And while undocumented students don’t qualify for federal aid, since 2020, they can apply for state funding.
