Carmen Patricia Tovar
Bachelor of Arts in Spanish, Chicano Studies & Psychology

A native of Mexico City, Tovar immigrated to East Los Angeles with her family in 1990 at the age of 16. “I am the oldest of four children and the first one to go to college,” Tovar said proudly.

“My first whole immersion to the English language and to the culture was when I got to CSUN in 1994,” said Tovar, 25, of Reseda. “My family and all my friends were Spanish-speaking, so I never had to speak English other than in the classroom.”

On Tovar’s first day of college, she rode the bus from East L.A. to downtown, then realized she had no idea where she was going. She asked for directions, but no one knew where CSUN was located.

“So I got on the bus, and I went back home with a desolate heart because I felt I had failed,” said Tovar. But Tovar’s father mapped out a route for her. “For the following four years, I rode the bus for two hours to get to CSUN, getting on different routes until I found the one that took the shortest time,” Tovar said. She left the house by 5:45 a.m. and didn’t get home until 6 or 7 p.m. Tovar used the four hours she spent on the bus daily to study or read.

“Then I got involved in campus activities, so I would leave the school at 9 p.m. and get home by 11. Sometimes, I’d be, ‘OK, do I want to eat or do I want to sleep? No, I want to sleep. I’ll eat tomorrow,’ ” Tovar recalled. Tovar frequently found herself alone at a bus stop in downtown Los Angeles at 10:30 p.m. “I’d try to dress like a guy and be very tough. I’d wear big jackets and beanie hats and hide my hair so they wouldn’t see my face, my hair or my body,” she said.

“The last year I was on the bus, I would just get on the bus and go to sleep. I told my Dad, ‘I have to move to the Valley. I’m so tired.’ ”

Tovar received her green card in March 2000. Although she was at the top of her classes, the prior lack of a green card kept her from applying for scholarships and special programs. Now Tovar wants to earn her doctorate and become a professor of American literature.

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