Foundation

Mendoza Transcript

Michelle Mendoza and Adriana are shown in several home settings.

Michelle:

My daughter's name is Adriana. She's a handful. She loves to run and play. She always has to stay busy and occupied. And she always likes learning new things and getting her hands on new things. She always has to run and tell me, "Mama, Mama," and tell me all the new things that she has learned. I am single with my daughter. Her father is not in her life.

There are a couple shots of Michelle at Chemeketa, and then back to Michelle in a home setting, as she says:

I go to school full time. I enroll at Chemeketa because I knew that if I didn't get an education, that this was going to be me and my daughter's future, that I wasn't going to be able to spend time with her and be there when she needed me, that I was always going to have to be working to pay the bills. And I knew that if I had an education, then some of that might change; I'd have a better opportunity to prepare for our future financially.

There is an old photograph of a couple girls in front of lush vegetation, and then we see Michelle speaking:

I had grown up in a small town where everybody gossiped a lot so I had got into a little bit of trouble so I became the outcast. Nobody wanted to play with me because I was a bad girl. I just wanted to get out of the small town so I ran away when I was twelve years old.

Photograph of Michelle at thirteen years old, then picture of a little boy on Michelle's chest:

At thirteen years old I moved home with my mom and I was pregnant. When I was fourteen I had a little boy named Adrian. At a month and three weeks he passed away. After he passed away, I just stopped caring about what happened to me; anything that happened, I didn't care; I just didn't want to live anymore without my son.

Several photos of Michelle with a bunch of girls about her age:

So I jumped into a gang and we just went and started doing drugs and partying, trying to take away the pain. No matter how high I got, it was just there, so I just tried anything I could do to take away the pain.

Picture of Michelle alone, then back to showing her saying:

When I was sixteen years old I had dropped out of school for three years already and my mom begged me to go back to school. I had her, "Ok, Mom, I'm just going on one more trip and then I will be back and I will go to school when school starts."

Scenes reminiscent of a car accident:

On the way to Idaho I was with my step-sister and we got in a car accident on Highway 22. My step sister walked away without a scratch, but I bounced back and forth across the whole highway, being struck by cars. I wound up in a ditch. A pastor from a church in Dallas was the first one on the scene and he had went and told his congregation the next Sunday that it would be a miracle if I lived.

Stylized hospital scenes from the view of a hospital bed, most blurry:

I suffered from cerebral hemorrhaging. I remember I was on so many drugs that I couldn't think; I was in bad condition. I remember waking up in the hospital and I seen people and I didn't know who they were. It was my brother. I asked my mom, "Who's that?" and it was my brother; I didn't know who my own family was.

Michelle speaking, then showing Michelle holding a pencil to paper but unable to control it:

I was in physical therapy, learning to walk and do basic functions, learning all that over again. I couldn't start school because I couldn't write.

Michelle face shot, she is laying on her back.

After my car accident, the Lord spared my life, I realized that not one of my gang member friends went to visit me in the hospital; not one of them stopped by to say, "Hey, how are you doing?" My family was the only ones there for me. They helped pick up the pieces that I had made of my life.

Scenes of Morrison Secondary School:

I found a great school in Dallas. I went to school the first day at Morrison, which is a branch of Dallas High School. I sat in the math class. The teacher asked a couple of algebraic questions. I knew it that I knew it, but I couldn't do it; I couldn't think. She sat down with a piece of paper and she wrote down an addition and subtraction equation, and I couldn't do it; I couldn't add and subtract. I just felt so overwhelmed and I wanted to give up.

Shots of a couple teachers, report card with A's, and more instructors:

My teachers were so great. They set down ground rules which I had to follow if I wanted to succeed. The math teacher taught the whole class starting back at addition and subtraction, saying, "These are the basic skills that everybody forgets so we need to review them." And from that I caught up and I started getting A's and A's and A's; I caught up quickly. That was the first time that people welcomed me in without pitying me or feeling sorry for me or being intimidated by me. That was like, "You know what? These people care; they want to help me. But I have to do my part."

A photograph of developmentally disabled students, then an exterior shot of the Polk Soil and Water Conservation District office:

I wanted to give back to the community. In high school I started volunteering with developmentally delayed students. And then I started volunteering at the Polk Soil and Water Conservation District so I could start learning office stuff and how to succeed at the work place and get some experience under my belt.

Photograph of Michelle snuggling up to a man:

I moved out from my mom's house and got a job and started working. And then I met my baby's dad and we got together. And after I got pregnant with my daughter, he wasn't around.

Michelle lying in bed alone, then a shot of her holding her daughter, and then several shots of the daughter:

When I first found out that I was pregnant, I was so scared. When I was in the hospital, I remember praying to God, just saying, "Please, let my daughter stay with me." When I thought of when I held my son, I thought of all the things I would never do with him: I will never get to hear his first word or see him walk. And when my daughter was born, I was so scared. Who was going to watch my daughter? Who was going to keep her safe when I couldn't be there?

A clear shot of the Chemeketa Community College sign at Lancaster Drive NE and Cooley Drive NE., outside of Building 2, the counter to the Financial Aid office, the entrance to the President's Office, and then a shot of Otilia helping Michelle:

My sister came by one day and said, "Hey, let's go apply at Chemeketa. So we went. When I got there, the lady at the Financial Aid office said, "Have you applied for scholarships?" I said, "No, what's that about?" So I went to the President's Office, and I talked with Otilia. She said, "Yea, get this packet at read it and apply for them."

About three months later I got a call. I was volunteering at the Oregon State Capitol and I got a call that said, "You got the SOL Scholarship and that pays for everything: full tuition and books." I was at work, in a little cubicle, so you can't really jump and scream, but it was just, wow, I had enough money to live off of, but I didn't have enough for child care.

Several classroom scenes, a few Day Care shots, and more Chemeketa shots:

I started going to school, I applied for the Child Care Scholarship, but the first term I didn't get it. I thought, Ok, it will come through. And then the next term I got the Child Care Scholarship and now my daughter can go to a place where I know she is going to be safe; I am not going to have to worry about whether she is getting the care she needs. Right now my GPA is 3.8 and I feel that is because I know my daughter is at a good Day Care. I can go to school and then have time to study and I have arranged that with Day Care. My daughter is having fun playing with her friends at day care so I know that she is in good hands so I can study and do my best at school.

Tutoring Center scenes:

I think Chemeketa is a great place. The teachers there are ready to help and they will take time out of their day to help you. And the Tutoring Center is free; that is great—other students helping students so you don't feel lower than them. It is great at Chemeketa—the staff and everyone at Chemeketa just have a friendly face. Sometime when you are feeling sad or upset you can go to Chemeketa and you see people smiling and it makes you feel better. It's a great place to be.

Library scenes, Michelle, Michelle on a PC:

I'm graduating from Chemeketa next year and then I'm going to transfer. I want to go into Criminal Justice. I want to work as either a Probation Officer or a Corrections Officer for juveniles because I was in a gang and so I know how they feel, where they are coming from. I know sometimes it just takes somebody believing in you, putting their time in you, for you to succeed. So I want to be able to give kids that chance that I had for them to succeed.

Shots of Michelle and her daughter interacting:

If I didn't get the help and the encouragement from the people and the scholarships, I know that I would be working two jobs and that I would miss my daughter's first word, that I would miss her first steps. So, thank you! I don't know what else to say. Because of everybody's help and support, I get to see my daughter grow up and know that I am going to give her a good future.

Closing scene has Michelle pushing her daughter on her tricycle.

Updated May 2007 by the College Advancement Department.