This Week At Metro: Graduates cover a broad spectrum of experiences, Eva Vasquez

Eva Vasquez

At 23 years old, Eva Vasquez has experienced a wealth of adversity. When she was in high school, her brother and cousin were killed in the same car crash. "When my older brother Edgar died, I missed school for a month. I was not focused," she says. When high school graduation came, "the school put a seat for him next to me" and she made it through.

Also while she was in high school, her grandparents were assassinated in Mexico. Since then, the Denver native has married and is the mother of two but her husband was deported.

Now, Eva is graduating with a degree in business management and a minor in Spanish. She hopes to start her own business with the guidance of her father, who owns a local Mexican retail shop in Denver. "I grew up working in the store."

She notes the College's TRIO program helped her with the transition from high school to college. "I was in doubt about college. I thought it was too hard. But the TRIO program helped."

The first in her family to go to a four-year college, Eva understands that she is a now a role model.Eva's younger sister is a sophomore at Metro State.