Alice Peterson

Once, when I was in the third grade, my mother came in tears. She began to explain her dreams on her eve. In my dream, I didn’t have the paperwork, so all my friends refused to come home from school. Until that day, she had never actually faced the impact of the undocumented status of our family on the lives and opportunities of her children.

My parents’ accounting degree in Mexico was irrelevant here in the United States. There, both parents work in a fast food restaurant. All their school education, work and livelihoods now make no sense. They feel alienated in a country that did not welcome them with their arms open from the beginning.
Our life in America was full of struggle and blind faith. My parents do anything for our family. And it’s thanks to them that I realize my dreams in America, the only country I’ve ever known.

My status didn’t really start to put pressure on my life until I was 16 years old. Before that it was something I knew, but I didn’t really have to deal with it. I always had a group of very close friends, a great school to go to, and a bed to sleep on. Before I was 16, I had to do everything that everyone else had to do. In high school, he was a member of the National Honor Society, American Justice, Exercise Training, American Health Vocational Students, and the Student Senate. But given my undocumented status, driving, finding a job, going to college, etc. all seemed like distant and unattainable possibilities.
Then DACA came. This program gave me the opportunity to find a job, build the future, pursue my dreams, and seize the opportunity to help others do so. I felt empowered without fear of bringing my thoughts and passions into this country.

Now, thanks to God’s grace, parents and sister, DACA, and The Dream.US scholarship efforts, I proudly hold the title of a first-generation college student. American university. I am starting my college career at the University of Houston. I plan to study sports science and want to work with athletes.
DACA, and The Dream.US, provide all students with the opportunity to demonstrate their positive contribution to society, regardless of background. If DACA is revoked and the law is not passed, I may be forced to return to a country I do not know and is not called my hometown.