Student Took Graduation Pictures In The Field Where Her Parents Work As A Tribute For Them

Jennifer Rocha comes from a family of immigrants. As soon as her parents landed in Mexico, US, they had to start working on the field to make ends meet. Life was never easy for the family and they never dreamt of going to college themselves.

So when Jennifer finally made their dream come true, she returned to her roots and took her graduation pictures at the field that made it all possible.

Jennifer’s family never managed to achieve higher education themselves, but they don’t want their daughter to neglect that aspect. Hence, they encouraged their girl to attend college and tried to help provide the funds for her to stay at the dorm and focus on her study.

But things didn’t go well financially. The following years, Jennifer’s family wasn’t able to afford her a dorm, so she returned to the field and have to spent a lot of time commuting from the field to school and work two places.

She barely get 2-3 hours of sleep every day and shared, “Many times I wanted to give up, but my parents and their pieces of advice and support were the reason I kept going.”

“I continued working in the fields even after I had left for college on weekends or on breaks even though I had a job with UCPD,” shared the graduate.

“I wasn’t able to dorm at school because my parents couldn’t afford it, so I had to commute from far distances like Oceanside and Lakeside. Having to work two jobs, commute, and go to school at the same time was a struggle.”

But she did it and for her graduation pictures, she wanted to make a tribute for her parents that made it all possible.

“If it wasn’t for how my parents raised me I don’t know who I would be today. Coming from a field worker background has motivated me to work hard as my parents took my sisters and I to the fields in order to understand how difficult labor is.”

She took this opportunity to also bring the spotlight to hard workers, labor jobs that keep basic functions of the society alive.

“Nobody thinks about nor sees what happens behind a vegetable you grab at the grocery store. But behind it is someone who breaks their backs every day working in the fields.”

We’re here celebrating not just this woman’s amazing achievement, but also her parents as labor workers.