As she stood in front of a mirror, Jeanette Mendoza used her hairbrush as a microphone and sang her heart out to the plushies in her room.
That was over a decade ago. And now at 18 — the part-time mariachi singer and violinist — says it’s the way she chills out.
“My biggest thing is listening to music and dancing or performing the music,” the Sunnyside High School senior said. “I’ll pretend I’m on a stage. It’s combining my two greatest joys: Violin and singing, it connects with the people around me.”
More than 20 miles north of Jeanette, Tae Esperanza Cooper sometimes relaxes in Oro Valley with the video game Monster Hunter Wilds. She will earn her high school diploma from Sequoia Choice Distance Learning (based in Mesa), but has been dually enrolled in Pima Community College classes since seventh grade.
On this graduation week, these two seniors earned those musical and gaming distractions — and Arizona’s most prestigious scholarship, the Flinn.
Tae and Jeanette are the Tucson area’s two Flinn scholars — each with full ride scholarships to the University of Arizona valued at more than $135,000 over four years, including the cost of tuition, fees, housing, meals, and at least two study-abroad experiences. This year, 20 students statewide were awarded with Arizona’s most distinguished merit-based award.
After college, they aim to enter the STEM workforce. Only 8% of Latinos work in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) labor force nationally. For Latinas, the representation is even less, according to a PEW research study.
They are ready to represent, they say. Tae and Jeanette are each the second Flinn recipients from their respective schools in the 40-year history of the program.
Here’s graduation wisdom — and not just for students — from the two Tucson-area honorees as they embark on new life chapters:
Do what you love. It creates balance.
“My family plays mariachi and my mom suggested I do a summer camp and I fell in love with it,” said Jeanette, who plays in two groups: Mariachi Herencia De Corazón and Mariachi Los Diablitos de Sunnyside High School. “It is one of the greatest joys when I get to play for somebody’s nana and she has tears in her eyes because it reminds her of her history.” Playing and singing is part of repaying her community and she wants to continue mariachi while at the UA, she said, adding studying biomedical engineering and molecular and cellular biology, maybe going into genetics will also be a way to give back.
Make connections everywhere.
Whether it’s talking with parents and students at elementary school science nights or asking questions at a summer workshop at Stanford, Tae says “Network, network, network.” Talk with everyone, be interested, get involved and stay involved, she said, adding she started her website, Barrio STEM in 10th grade as a way to connect with younger students through STEM exhibits at school events throughout Tucson.
An ability to notice is telling.
“When I was little, I observed ants,” Tae said. “Why do they bite and what do they eat?” Her parents understood this attention to detail and steered her toward science and math, she said. She will rely on that cognizance as a double major in physics and computer science and as a path to a doctorate in computational quantum physics.
Fear exists. Move through it.
Tae “can’t handle insects, especially flying ones,” she says. “But honestly, driving. It’s so scary. I have my license, though and I would like to be more independent. It’s coming.” Jeanette knows “when it comes to fears like confrontation or meeting new people, I try to act courageous even if I feel scared. I have found that by acting brave I become brave. Although my heart might be beating a million times in a second, I begin to speak and take actions as a courageous person, just to discover that I am a courageous person after all.”
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