UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — For Yamel Padilla, a college education is about more than preparing for her future. It is an avenue to support her mother and honor her immigrant father.
Padilla, a second-year student, moved to the United States from the Dominican Republic with her father, stepmom and two of her sisters when she was five years old. Since then, she has had one goal: to obtain U.S. citizenship and bring her mother and 9-year-old sister into the country.
On Sept. 13, Padilla accomplished the first step of this goal by becoming a U.S. citizen.
“[My mom] has been waiting since I was little. I remember when I told her I attained my citizenship, she started crying,” Padilla said. “That was one of my happiest moments — a great memory.”
Penn State Student Legal Services helped Padilla through every step of the citizenship process. She visited the office in September of 2021 to renew her green card, after which her lawyer began walking her through her citizenship application.
Student Legal Services, a unit of Student Affairs, is a law office available to assist students with their personal legal issues. Through five full-time licensed attorneys and two law clerks, the office can provide representation, advice, document drafting or referrals, and it handles a variety of criminal and civil cases.
Padilla said earning her citizenship made her a “proud immigrant.”
“This is what my parents want, so accomplishing it felt good,” she said.
Though Padilla looks forward to voting in her first U.S. election on Nov. 8 and receiving her U.S. passport, her long-term focus lies in bringing her mother and sister into the country when she turns 21.
Padilla added that achieving her citizenship was “like a spark” that motivated her to do well in school.
“In order for me to even apply for government jobs, I have to be a citizen,” she said. “I can attain citizenship, but I also need to study so I can get that job working for the U.S. government.”
Dual majoring in education and public policy and global and international studies, Padilla hopes to impact international education.
“I want to be a part of that change to give access to higher education to different international countries, allow more women to have education… and provide resources for students,” she said. “If students want to study internationally but money is a barrier to that, I want to be able to make that possible for them so that people aren’t limited.”
Padilla said her parents inspired her to become a first-generation college graduate.
“My dad passed last semester in January. Even his stories — looking back and repeating them in my head — create a bigger drive for me,” she said. “My biological mom still lives in the Dominican Republic, so it forces me to go even harder in everything that I do. I can’t pump any breaks, because there are things I have to do to bring her into the United States.”
In addition to her academic responsibilities, Padilla is the vice president of communications for Latino Caucus and the community outreach chair for the Dominican Student Association. Latino Caucus is the umbrella organization for all Latino and Hispanic organizations on campus, including the Dominican Student Association.
Both organizations seek to unify Latino and Dominican students at Penn State and connect students with campus and community resources. The groups also aim to spread awareness of their missions and educate the community about their cultures.
Padilla said making connections with people of similar backgrounds through Latino Caucus and the Dominican Student Association helped her find a home at Penn State.
“There are many students who have immigrant parents, so we understand the struggle of coming from immigrant parents or even just being immigrants ourselves,” she said. “We all use this to motivate ourselves, and it gives us a passion for why we are in school — to become the first-generation students and college graduates that our parents expect us to be.”
Student Legal Services is located at 248 E. Calder Way in Suite 303 and offers in-person and virtual meetings. Students can request services by completing an intake form. Students can make an appointment to meet with an attorney or visit drop-in hours on Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
In addition to immigration matters, Student Legal Services helps students with matters, such as traffic tickets, summary offenses, tenant-landlord disputes, name changes, divorces, consumer issues and estate planning documents.
Director, Kelly Mroz, encourages students to reach out to Student Legal Services with any legal questions or issues they may be facing even though the office may not always be able to provide advice or representation.
“At the minimum, we can always provide referrals, and sometimes we can give some helpful referrals that really get students where they need to be,” Mroz said. “They should never not reach out to us.”