After winding journey to college, Maria Pacheco evolves into leader at URock

May 10, 2024

Maria Pacheco is one of many 2020 high school graduates who’ve made the most of their time in higher education, after the COVID-19 pandemic changed the world just before she earned her diploma.

Pacheco, whose family moved to the United States from Mexico, was going through the process of acquiring permanent residency as a senior at Janesville Craig High School in 2020. As part of the process, she moved back to Mexico and was unable to come back to the U.S. for more than one year due to the pandemic.

As soon as she was able, Pacheco moved back to Wisconsin. With aspirations of going to college, she took a year to work and save money. She began studying in the fall of 2022 and evolved into a student leader on campus of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater at Rock County.

Fast forward two years, and Pacheco will cross the stage this Tuesday, May 14, to receive her associate of arts and sciences associate (AAS) at UW-Whitewater at Rock County’s commencement ceremony. She plans to begin classes at UW-Whitewater this fall as an international business major.

Pacheco and her family moved from Durango, Mexico — a city located approximately 560 miles northwest of Mexico City and approximately 500 miles from the U.S. border — to Wisconsin when she was four years old.

As a child, Pacheco’s love for school was so strong that her mother would threaten to not take her to school the next day if she misbehaved.

Pictured right: Maria Pacheco, an arts and science and international business major, will graduate from the UW-Whitewater at Rock County campus on Tuesday, May 14, and continue her studies at the Whitewater campus this fall. She is shown on April 18, 2024.

Pacheco’s desire to lead and serve shone through while she was a student at Janesville Craig High School. She helped the school start a League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) chapter.

“I found it very helpful for a lot of students who were scared to ask questions,” Pacheco said.

Her passion for learning, coupled with her mother’s push to continue her education, led Pacheco to become a first-generation college student. She enrolled at Rock County in 2022 after being encouraged to do so by some of her classmates from Janesville Craig who started on the same path two years earlier.

“They were giving me information that going through URock was going to make it easier for me and help with the whole process of going from high school to college,” Pacheco said.

Pacheco was hesitant to get involved when she first arrived on campus — she noted that she “just kind of stepped into it without knowing anything about it” — until she met Abdel Hamed, the president of student government, in fall 2022 and spoke to her academic advisor, David McKay.

“Abdel really encouraged people to join,” Pacheco said. “That’s how I started knowing about all of the committees and all the other activities that were around as well as speaking with my advisor, who has been a huge help with managing all of that and helping me understand more of how everything works.”

Pacheco started as a senator for student government before moving into the position of vice president. She currently serves as president of the organization.

 

 

Pacheco was also heavily involved in URock’s Latinos Unidos. She joined the school’s volleyball team last fall and assists the URock staff with campus tours for high school students.

As a result of her leadership and involvement, Pacheco took home a bevy of URock awards for the 2023-24 academic year. She earned the school’s Rock Star Award, was inducted into Phi Theta Kappa, a national two-year colleges honor society, and was recognized for her leadership with student government and as a TRIO student of distinction.

McKay, who is also a senior lecturer of history at Rock County, has been Pacheco’s advisor since she started as a student.

“Maria came in and wasn’t sure whether she belonged here or would do well here,” McKay said. “As she’s gone through and gotten more comfortable here, she’s gotten more involved in things. She was trying to get a LULAC chapter here, which requires a great deal of paperwork and national-level authorization — that tells you the drive and energy she has.

“She’s blown through this place. She is going to make Whitewater a better place.”

 

 

As a first-generation college student, Pacheco qualified for the TRIO program, a federal initiative that provides structured academic, personal and career assistance to students as they complete their college education.

McKay, who advises TRIO students, said URock is a place where students who encounter obstacles can — and do — thrive.

“One of the things Rock does well is we take students who don’t fit the usual profile of a four-year school,” McKay said. “Rock exists to take those students, gear them up, and get them ready for a four-year school. We do that well.”

Pacheco credits Hamed, now a journalism major at UW-Whitewater who earned the Outstanding Student Award for the College of Integrated Studies in 2023, and fellow peer Angel Gomez-Soto, also a UW-Whitewater student, for helping her visualize the transition to the Whitewater campus.

She also shouted out McKay, George Jones, professor in the College of Integrated Studies, Janine Peterson, student affairs program specialist, and Samantha Soddy, outreach specialist, athletic director and volleyball coach, for their support throughout her tenure at URock.

“URock has a family-like community among the faculty, staff and students,” Pacheco said. “That really helps students boost and grow their confidence and makes them feel like they belong at URock. It’s a supportive environment that helps us transfer successfully to a four-year college by providing essential skills for our chosen career path.”