Capital IDEA was thrilled to join a special event hosted by employer partner Ascension Seton on July 10th. The featured speaker, Abraham Esqueda, is a registered nurse and Capital IDEA graduate. Below is his speech.

My name is Abraham Esqueda, and I am a registered nurse at Dell Children’s Medical Center. My parents made the trip from Mexico to Texas when I was two years old. They did it with no money in their pockets, and they were unsure what they wanted to do when they got here, but they knew they wanted to build a better life for me and my two sisters.

They raised us to rely on our faith in God and hold true to our beliefs, to help others and treat others with the utmost respect and love. I continue to live my life with these beliefs, and I continue to look for ways to help those in need. In high school, I enjoyed learning about science and biology, and those interests, combined with my love for helping people, lead me to nursing as my career choice.

I didn’t realize at the time that I would face barriers to reaching my career goal, not until I was older and a few of my friends started planning trips to go to Europe and around the world. Not thinking twice about it, I asked my parents if I could join them. That is when reality struck. I was not from here. My residency status was undocumented, yet all I’ve known was my life in Texas. I had many questions yet so few answers. For me, Austin is home. It is where I grew up, where I went to school, where I made friends and where I wanted to continue to live and contribute to society.

Due to my status, my parents had to check on me all the time making sure I was following all the rules and not getting into any trouble because the smallest thing could have consequences like being sent back to Mexico, a place I didn’t even remember. I learned to live with this added responsibility.

My status was a concern when it came time to go to college, too. At the age of 16, I was able to qualify for DACA. This allowed me to become a contributing member of society by allowing me to work in the US. Even though DACA opened up doors that were previously closed, there was still little support for those like me when it came to financial aid and other support programs. The cost of tuition and books was high, and my family and I did not have the resources to pay for it. That is why I decided to go to ACC – it was affordable, and I was able to receive State aid and ACC grants to pay for classes.

During this time, I needed to help my family with expenses to ensure my college was going to get paid for. I worked in the Call Center at Ascension-Dell Children’s Medical Center. From the beginning, I expressed to my manager an interest in going to college and everyone in my department was very supportive. They provided the flexibility to allow me to go to school and adjusted my schedule many times to allow me to balance work and school.

One day, I was talking to one of my fellow colleagues, Emily, and she shared that Capital IDEA could help pay for my tuition, books, supplies, and other expenses related to nursing school. Reality struck yet again like it had numerous times before when I saw that the Capital IDEA qualifications included being a US Citizen or Permanent Resident. However, Capital IDEA was running a pilot program for DACA students, and I was grateful to be accepted into the pilot. From the very next semester, Capital IDEA covered my school expenses for the remainder of the nursing program.

After graduating with my ADN, I passed my NCLEX and got hired as a Registered Nurse in Oncology and Hematology. I just celebrated my one-year residency with Ascension Dell Children’s Medical Center. But I am not done. I have plans to return to school, get my BSN and continue to grow in my role. Oh, and as far as my colleague Emily, I thanked her the only natural way a man like me possibly could, by marrying her.

Thank you, Ascension Texas for supporting Capital IDEA and Austin Community College as part of our mission which calls us to advocate for a compassionate and just society with our words and our actions.

And thank all of you for believing in me, for supporting me through my journey of becoming a Registered Nurse.