Whilst other college freshmen were relishing in the freedom and novelty of attending university, Analiz Salazar found herself stuck in a life where she didn’t belong. At 19 years old, attending university in Texas was nothing like she had dreamed of. Feeling lost and alone in her journey, she decided she needed a change.

Now, Salazar has found her place at Elgin Community College, starting her first semester this fall majoring in Human Services. However, getting to this point in her life proved to be a journey in itself.

Salazar was born in Texas, but spent most of her life growing up in Illinois. After graduating from Larkin High School in 2021, she decided to return to her roots and attend University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas.

For two years, Salazar navigated through college feeling lost. Originally majoring in elementary education, Salazar found that she didn’t feel the same passion her classmates had for school. She loved working with people, but had trouble integrating into the university.

“I was just not being myself [in Texas],” Salazar said. “I started seeing that I wasn’t improving in my classes [at university], that’s when I got tired of it.’”

Initially, Salazar was scared to break the news to her parents, but attending university was becoming more of a burden than a privilege. She felt that she had no choice but to leave. She knew such a sudden change in plans came at a cost, both financially and emotionally.

“At first, when I told my dad that I didn’t want to be at [University of the Incarnate Word] and wanted to transfer to a different university in Texas, he kind of flipped out.” Salazar said.

Tensions between Salazar and her father grew alongside the stress of suddenly changing career plans. She realized that the only way to fix things was to leave behind her life in Texas and come back to her home in Illinois.

“It was tough [between us], but then [my father] said, ‘O.K., come back,’” Salazar said. “My mom was like ‘As long as you enjoy [ECC], you’re O.K.’”

After working things through with her parents, Salazar was ready to return to the Elgin area and begin studying at ECC. However, lingering fears emerged as she began the transfer from university to community college.

“Are they going to judge me?” Salazar asked herself. “They’re going to say, ‘She didn’t finish her goals’ and ‘I thought she said this and that and now she’s back.’”

These fears of judgment were founded in Salazar’s upbringing. Growing up, she was taught that attending community college was inferior to attending university. As one of the youngest in her family, she looked to her older cousins for guidance on college decisions.

“Whenever I got a chance to see [my cousins], they would talk to me about going to university,” Salazar said. “They didn’t really see the option of community college, they were always like ‘four-year this, four-year that,’ so growing up I thought, ‘Oh, you’re supposed to go to a four-year. Community college wasn’t an option.’”

Despite the constant pressures and difficulties she faced, Salazar was set on applying to ECC. For her, attending school wasn’t merely a matter of completion, but rather a step towards achieving her dreams.

“I’m not really a school person,” Salazar said. “But ever since I was little, I’ve wanted to get my doctorate degree. Yes, I might have taken breaks, I might have changed majors, but in the end I think ‘I have to get that doctorates degree.’ That’s my motivation.’”

This past fall, Salazar enrolled in the Human Services Generalist program at ECC; however, she has faced some challenges whilst readjusting to life in Illinois.

“I was having trouble managing my time with school, work, home, and other things that I have to do,” Salazar said. “I found that my way of managing things was not working. That’s when I was like, ‘I’m not going to wait to last minute, I’m going to look for help.’”

That’s how she discovered ECC’s student success coach program, a program designed to assist students with things like time management and feelings of self-doubt. 

Now, Salazar is thriving in her education and thoroughly enjoying life at ECC. Things have changed for the better, and she finally feels like she is on the path to success.

When asked about what advice she would give her younger self, Salazar stressed the importance of prioritizing yourself during hard times.

“Don’t worry too much about the future and listen to your feelings,” Salazar said. “A lot of the time, I put my own feelings aside and cared more about what others thought of me, or what other people were doing. I feel like a lot of the time, people stopped me from growing. In the end, everything will be O.K., it will come to it’s place.”

Although the past two years have been difficult, Salazar doesn’t have any regrets. To her, being in Texas was the break she needed in order to succeed in Illinois. Reflecting on her journey now, she encourages those thinking of attending community college to take that step in furthering their education.

“In the end, you shouldn’t care about what others think about you going to community college,” Salazar said. “You’re doing it for yourself. At the end, it always comes back to you.”