Veronica Uribe-Kessler serves as Migration, Environment, and Climate Change Unit Intern at the International Organization for Migration at the United Nations in Dakar, Senegal. Veronica is supported by a grant from the UNA-USA Fellowship Initiative.

My name is Veronica Uribe-Kessler. I am a Colombian American, a first-generation college student, and currently a Master’s student at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. I recently became a UNA-USA Fellow while completing my summer internship at the International Organization for Migration (IOM-UN) Country Office in Dakar, Senegal. This internship is part of my MA program in Global Human Development, which aims to prepare the next generation of development practitioners to become leaders and serve underserved communities to make the world a more just place.

The Power of Persistence: Turning Challenges into Opportunities

My journey to higher education hasn’t been easy, but it’s a journey worth sharing because it highlights the power of perseverance and the support I’ve received throughout my academic and professional career. In this blog, I will share my reflections about three things that have accompanied me throughout the years: purpose, making allies, and rejection.

1st Purpose: I always dreamt of having access to higher education.

I always dreamed of having access to higher education but growing up in a rural area of Colombia and having parents with little or no education meant that when I graduated from high school, I had no educational or professional role models to emulate. For years, I felt lost and unsure of how to make this dream a reality.

In 2015, I embarked on a journey to the United States as an au pair, and learning English was my first step. Enrolling in ESL classes was just the beginning, and Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland was my launching pad. That was the beginning of a path that magically and perfectly unfolded. As an international student and having received most of my education in Colombia, there was so much I did not know about education in the U.S. I took every opportunity as if my life depended on it. I joined Phi Theta Kappa (PTK), the two-year community college honor society, and was accepted into the honors program. These programs weren’t just about getting good grades, they were where I found mentorship, guidance, and community. Today, I attribute my initial academic success and the doors that opened to both PTK and the Renaissance Scholar Program because it was these opportunities at the college level that set me up for success. The friendships, camaraderie, and academic challenges paved the way for me to attend Smith College in 2019 on a generous scholarship and thrive in a rigorous academic environment.

2. I have always strived to make allies wherever I go.

When I finally transferred to Smith College in 2019, just one semester into my new adventure, the world faced a global pandemic. COVID-19 made us all retreat. Finding community and bonding became increasingly difficult. The academic life, the college plans, the activities I had dreamed of were suddenly shattered. My plans to study abroad fell apart, in-person internships went online, and school trips and traditions were put on hold. When things began to return to normal in 2021, I applied to study abroad again, but time was not on my side; I only had two semesters left, and according to school protocols, seniors could not study abroad. I had to appeal the decision not

once, not twice, but three times. I talked to professors, the dean of the college, and everyone I could to gather support and advice. Then I received words of wisdom from a dear professor, Ginetta Candelario. She said: “Vero, there are no impossibles at Smith.” I had her support and the support of two other professors who supported me. In my final semester of 2022, I flew to Geneva, Switzerland for my semester abroad, and shortly after I started the internship I had secured with the International Organization for Migration-UN. This opportunity landed me a full-time consultant position right after graduation. I would not have gotten there without the network of supporters and allies I built and my self-advocacy.

3rd I’ve been rejected many times, but I’ve learned that it doesn’t define me.

I have been a semi-finalist many times. When I was graduating from Montgomery College I applied for the Jean Kent Cooke Scholarship, it was the first time in my life that I cried while writing an application. The pain, frustration and despair of not finding the right words to tell MY story. The “make it compelling”. When the first email came in with the news that I had been selected as a semifinalist, I was thrilled. But then the final round came, and I had my first major disappointment. Life had moved on without me, and I had to move on too. When I first applied to Georgetown as a transfer student, I did not get in, but later I understood that it was the best outcome because instead I went Smith College, where I had countless opportunities that really prepared me for where I am today. One of my favorite quotes by Terry Savelle Foy is “You are where you are because that’s exactly where you were meant to be”. Later in 2022, while looking for funding for my graduate program, I put together applications for another 5 fellowships, and again I became a semi-finalist for several of them including Fulbright but still not finalist. Imagine the disappointment I felt being so close to the finish line and failing in the very last minute. However instead of looking down and allowing defeat to overcome me, I lifted up my chin, and having under my belt these recognitions, and acceptance letters from both the University of Oxford in the UK and Georgetown University, I managed to advocate for a higher merit scholarship to a mostly funded degree. And that’s how I am here pursuing the highest degree I dreamed of for the past 9 years since I stepped into this country.

At first, rejections really upset me, but over time, I understood that the only reason I get so many of them is because I keep trying to overcome my circumstances and follow my dreams, and rejections are only a small part of that journey. My favorite author, Brazilian Paulo Coelho, says, “Pitiful is the person who is afraid to take risks. Maybe this person will never be disappointed or disillusioned; maybe he won’t suffer the way people do when they have a dream to follow.”

Conclusion

So here I am, always knocking on doors, always trying. Even though all these years my family have never seen me graduate or celebrate my academic milestones with me because they still don’t have a US visa, and despite the devastating loss of my father in the middle of my penultimate semester of undergraduate school, I have a clear reason for embarking on this journey. I am driven to lift my family out of poverty and to help other women from similar backgrounds realize their full potential. Education has allowed me to see the world with more appreciation and has become a path of enlightenment and endless possibilities.