Happy Holidays!!

Dear friends and supporters, my best wishes to you and your loved ones! May you enjoy the holidays spending time with those who are important to you and may 2012 bring you the blessings you deserve.

This has been a very important year for me in terms of my education and also in other areas of my life. As of last Monday, I finished my first semester in the doctoral program in counseling psychology at ASU. It was an intense semester, full of unexpected challenges, but I was able to finish with good grades in all 5 classes I enrolled.

2011 Has been a generous year to me, a year when my DREAMs came true. But I would not have been able to make it this far without your support. I want to take this special time to thank all of those who shared my blog and http://www.gofundme.com/germansdream page, those who posted about me on Facebook and Twitter, those who opened doors and invited me to events to share my story, the media coverage, my family, friends, my love, and those whose finances allowed them to donate to my fund. My DREAM of studying in this PhD program is now real, and I will be sure to keep up my effort to make you proud.

I will continue to chase my DREAM of becoming a psychologist in 2012, this is a long and challenging program, and I like every day I study in it. The task of raising funds should be less taxing from now on, as love and life are giving me an opportunity to focus on my studies and have access to other sources of funding.

One of my resolutions for this coming year is to help other DREAMers get to college, and of course to keep fighting for the long overdue DREAM Act. I hope you help me spread the word and  help other students in need. This year has shown that the impossible is attainable when we come together for a common cause. If we believe, we can achieve!

Happy Holidays and thank you for believing!

Chris Weitz Talks to DREAMers

Writer and film director Chris Weitz came to ASU to show his film “A Better Life” and also to meet and listen to the stories of DREAMers and our struggles here in AZ. Weitz is the director behind hits such as “About A Boy,” “American Pie” and “The Golden Compass.” Here’s the coverage by Univision:

http://univisionarizona.univision.com/videos-univision-arizona/video/2011-11-16/-director-de-pelicula-chris

On ABC 15

Here’s a recent interview in reaction to a poll by ASU’s Morrison Institute of Public Policy, which shows that the majority of Arizonan’s support legalization of undocumented immigrants. Pearce’s Recall and this poll give me hope that the local climate about immigration is beginning to change . But of course, we need the courage and cooperativeness of State and Federal legislators to work on DREAM Act and immigration reform.

http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/state/are-arizonans-softening-their-stance-on-immigration

Here’s a link to the poll

http://morrisoninstitute.asu.edu/media/news-events/mi-poll-arizonans-favor-both-immigration-enforcement-and-pathway-to-citizenship

Waking Up in America

 A couple of weeks there was a report about me on Despierta America (Spanish for wake up America), which is Univision’s national morning news and entertainment show.

You can see the interview in the link below. Second part is coming soon!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Bpv5N-gIzY&feature=youtube_gdata_player  

Could AZ DREAM like CA?

Congrats to the DREAMer brothers and sisters in California for the passage of your local DREAM Act. I’m glad your state has finally recognized that it makes sense to provide opportunities for so many talented DREAMers who have the potential of doing good things for this country in the near future.

I wish our legislative leaders in AZ had the courage to DREAM like CA and unite their people for a common cause, the intellectual and economic progress of this state. I think AZ is tired of divisive laws and policies and that’s why positive changes are currently happening in our state. I’m positive that we can arrive to a good place, like California did, if AZ voters ask their representatives to start moving in the right direction.

Here’s an interview that aired on the local CBS on Sunday. They show my opinion as a DREAMer, and the opinion of someone who’s against immigration.

http://www.kpho.com/story/15653719/two-camps-speak-out-about-california-dream-act

Latino Perspectives Profile

Latino Perspectives Magazine also writes a profile on my story on their anniversary month. You can read it at this link:

http://latinopm.com/features/everyone-has-a-story-11294/3

1st Page in AZ Republic

Dear friends, the AZ Republic published an article about my story today on the very 1st page. You can see it on AZ central at this link

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2011/09/13/20110913web-pleas-help-migrants-pay-college.html

Thank you for the continued support!

We Did It!!

Here we are on August 26th and I have already completed my first week of school in the  doctoral program in counseling psychology at Arizona State University. In only 3 months we’ve been able to fund-raise enough to start making the first installments and I have almost all the funds I need for my first semester.

A couple of months ago, when I was told that I could not get any type of funding due to my immigration status and the laws in AZ, I found it hard to believe that I was going to be here today making this statement. But it’s true, we did it, we’ve started the journey!! I could not have gotten to this very place if it hadn’t been for your help. Whether you donated $10 or $1000, whether you have followed my every update or just checked in every once in a while, whether you posted it on Facebook and Twitter or shared it with your contacts through word of mouth, you have been part of it!!! and that’s why WE DID IT!!!

(This is what I saw when I came out of my first class last Tuesday)

I want to take this moment of victory to thank every single person who donated, shared the story, prayed, sent me emails, called, etc. It has been very exciting to work toward this enormous challenge of raising the funds, and I feel very well supported by a community of friends and allies.  I want to give special thanks to the Cesar Chavez Foundation for believing in me and awarding me a $10,000 scholarship for the academic year. This scholarship energized the fundraiser and started to give shape to what we were all making together. Thank you also to Gaby Pacheco and Mr. Jack Harris for their Humanitarian donations of $1000; it’s a great feeling when the help comes from people who are free from fear! Much respect and admiration to you both!! Thank you to the Catholic Community Foundation for awarding me a $1000 scholarship which was the first major contribution to the fund. Thank you to Alfonso Ibanez and Liz Cantu who donated between $150 and $300,  and receive the title of The Dreamer.

Thank you to The Doctors who donated $100 to help me fix this situation: Allan Cameron, Rhian Stotts, Tyler Barratt, Barbara Bronstein, Jamie Clemons, Laura Petrolle, Ana Belen Mayorga, Elizabeth Salvino, Michael Trejo, William Perez, Kelly P. Steel, Michele Rudy,  Betty Teeson, and Araceli Mejia. Thank you to The Fighter Silvia Rodriguez who donated  $75 and reminded me that Si Se Puede! thank you to all The Believers who donated over $50: G. Miguel Arciniega, Raquel Teran, Rita Butterfeild, Juanita Olguin, Ali Askari, Tamara McIrvin, Liz Berry, Thomas Kirsch, Diana Milner, Liang,  and Armando Pina. I am also very thankful for all other donations, every grain of sand has amounted to a solid fund. Special thanks to Luis Avila who has supported me and guided me from the start and to Los Breakers for putting together a golf tournament and dinner in memory of Isac Amaya to raise funds for scholarships. Their foundation is awarding me a $3,000 scholarship and has pledged to match the next $2,000 I raise. Lastly I want to thank my close friends, girlfriend and family for providing me their daily support and encouragement.

Now I must continue to work to raise the funds needed for the rest of the year. You can still donate to my education a http://funds.gofundme.com/germansdream.  I will of course make the bigger challenge my main focus, to successfully advance through such a demanding doc program. I’m ready for it, and so far I love all 5 classes I’m enrolled in. It’s not an easy load, but I’m making sure that every penny that was raised for my education gets the value it deserves. I’m studying in an environment of compassion and empathy, of friendliness and acceptance, of outstanding knowledge but also deep sensitivity. I’m thankful to find such a unique learning environment in this state of AZ, and to learn from respectable professors and amiable classmates. The fight is not anywhere near over, this is only the start of a long journey and I’m eager to continue. I am confident that I will soon reach my yearly goal and for now we can enjoy this moment because we, my friends, we did it!!

CNN Covers the Story

CNN covered my story and aired it yesterday on their Spanish show Mirador Mundial, which is seen not only nation-wide, but also internationally!!

The report is titled “El querer es poder” equivalent to the saying where there’s a will there’s a way!

Thank you CNN!!

http://www.cnn.com/video/standard.html#/video/spanish/2011/08/13/usa.indocumentado.desafios.cnn

Univision

Click on the link below to see the interview with Univision, in which they talk about my situation, which is similar to many DREAM Act students here in AZ. They also highlight the last major donation given by Jack Harris and Gaby Pacheco!

http://univisionarizona.univision.com/mes-de-la-hispanidad/mes-de-la-hispanidad-videos/video/2011-08-09/joven-indocumentado-lucha-para-obtener