In 2010, right after one of the worst years in the history of newspapers, I graduated from UTEP with a bachelor’s degree  in print media. You would think that walking out of commencement into an industry that was being turned on its head, with the rise of professional bloggers and the decline of newspaper readership, would have had my fellow graduates and me shaking in our caps and gowns. But you would be surprised. As a UTEP student, I learned so much more than what was on my degree plan. Many of these lessons wouldn’t be evident until much later—until the challenges had been met and conquered—but I can always look back and identify where I learned to look at a challenge and think, ‘si se puede.’

Like for many of our students, UTEP has been a lifeline for my family. I was a mini-Miner since I was in elementary school because both of my parents worked on campus. My dad still works in facilities services; he’s been sporting the UTEP logo on his uniform for as long as I can remember. We occasionally bump into each other in the halls across campus.

My mom worked on campus for more than 10 years. She was a janitor in the Liberal Arts building, who was first encouraged by a faculty member to learn English and later, to enroll in college courses. I often watched her doing homework late into the night and I still remember how her books smelled of cleaning supplies from spending the day in her janitor’s closet until she would take them out for her evening classes. In May 2005, she obtained her bachelor’s degree in education from UTEP – all while having two kids, a husband and a full-time job. Her mantra to me was always, “if I can do it, you can do it even better.”

And thus, I came to UTEP. Then, I graduated and left. Like many young El Pasoans, I was hungry for new adventures. I found them in Boston, where I went to graduate school, and in London, where I happily spent my last summer days as a grad student. I became a market researcher for Penn State University and I married my college sweetheart, also a UTEP grad. We both spent five years out of this region, making friends, learning new things and pushing ourselves to be better. We recently returned to El Paso for the same reason many Texpats come back—our family. But I also came back for the opportunity to share some newfound knowledge about what it means to be a Miner outside of our beloved desert bubble.

When students at other universities talk about legacy, they look back at past generations of their family that attended a particular institution. They pick their schools because their parents, grandparents, great-grandparents picked that school. At UTEP, half the student body is made up of first-generation college students. That means that when our students pick UTEP, their choice is an impulse forward. When we talk about legacy, we are looking ahead­—at what we will build and the mark we will leave and the roads we will pave for the generations to come.

Now that I’m back at UTEP as the new career development manager for the College of Business Administration, I help students take their first steps out of the classroom and into their future careers. I work closely with the University Career Center to connect them with the opportunities that will provide the foundations for them to build their own legacies. But the best of all my new responsibilities is the honor of reminding students that within them is all the grit and strength and spirit they need to go out into the world and succeed—that they can do it, even better.

Pamela Prieto was assistant news editor for The Prospector from April 2009 to January 2010. She returned home to El Paso in July with her husband, Jose Luis, and their dog, Guinness.