Ms. Patricia Castaneda

My story begins after completing high school in Mexico. Immediately afterwards, I began to work in different places, doing different jobs. My first job was in Florida, picking oranges and different citrus. After my time in Florida, I moved to Illinois were I worked in a factory as an operator. At that time I was blessed with my first son (Brian) and then blessed with another (Alan) a second time two years later. I was the happiest woman in the world but a thought was telling me that I had to take control of my personal goals, which was to finish my education. By this time life wasn’t so good, I felt as if I let my life pass me by, I was separated from my children’s father and had to take on the responsibilities of caring for two growing boys on my own, I was overwhelmed.

Although at the time I was offered an opportunity to advance in my current position as a Quality Control Inspector, I realized that that was only temporary and I needed to secure the future for my children and myself permanently. I then took control of my life and reset my goals and enrolled at Texas A&M Commerce. I worked hard to challenge myself by becoming a full time student, part time job and full time mother. I am so glad and happy that I am a sophomore at this campus because it has helped support me in many aspects towards reaching my goals.

Thanks to Student Support Services / Mach III (which are available to all level of classes that qualify for their services) I have access to an array of educational tools that help me achieve above satisfactory academic progress, such as the Olga Perez Leaning Center/Computer Lab, registration assistance, financial aid advice, and Part-Time Employment. This program informs the students of any other outside resources that would complement their efforts towards completing a class productively. The benefits are voluntarily provided from the organization all out of the kindness of ensuring that every student enrolled has equal opportunity of being successful throughout their college experience.