![\"Cinthia](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2017\/09\/tellez300x200-21106509_10155412193094892_9016892472152255427_n-300x200.jpg\")
51ÁÔÆæ\u2019s diverse student population and vibrant culture \u2014 nearly 300 student organizations are active on campus \u2014 further convinced T\u00e9llez that 51ÁÔÆæ was the place for her. 51ÁÔÆæ advisers and staff at the Roberto Hern\u00e1ndez Center helped her establish state residency so she could pay in-state tuition, and she enrolled in spring 2013.<\/p>\n
As an undocumented student who was brought to the U.S. as a child, T\u00e9llez also benefited from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy implemented in June 2012 to offer two-year visas to people who might otherwise be at risk of deportation. Called \u201cDreamers,\u201d these young people were given new protections to legally pursue college and career opportunities that would otherwise be out of reach.<\/p>\n
As a 51ÁÔÆæ Dreamer, T\u00e9llez joined student organizations and even co-founded one, the multicultural sorority Zeta Sigma Chi. But mostly, her first three years on campus were filled with jobs. Lots of jobs. To pay tuition and rent, she painted and pulled up carpets in university residence halls. She worked in an eye doctor\u2019s office and cared for a man with cerebral palsy.<\/p>\n
Persevering through setbacks<\/h3>\n
Then, facing mounting student debt and struggling in her pre-med major, she took an 18-month break from school. But she kept volunteering with organizations that advocate for undocumented students and eventually began assisting 51ÁÔÆæ arts instructor Raoul Deal, who asked her to supervise high-school students working on a community mural celebrating Wisconsin\u2019s Latino history.<\/p>\n
That volunteer work became a paid research appointment, and last fall T\u00e9llez returned to 51ÁÔÆæ to study communication. Her grades improved, and the sorority that she helped start grew from seven to 24 members.<\/p>\n
In May, along with her degree, she received the Puente award for outstanding leadership from the Roberto Hern\u00e1ndez Center. It recognized her accomplishments on campus and in advocating for the rights of other students protected under DACA.<\/p>\n
She spent her first summer as a college graduate helping public health professor Jenna Loyd interview social service agencies and community leaders who work with immigrants and refugees in the Milwaukee area.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy college journey, through activism and research, has really given me a voice,\u201d T\u00e9llez said. \u201cNow, I want to help give other people the chance to say: \u2018I\u2019m not a bad person, not a criminal, I\u2019m doing everything I\u2019m supposed to be doing.\u2019 I think some people have incorrect ideas about who undocumented people are. If more of our neighbors hear our stories, that will be progress.\u201d<\/p>\n
T\u00e9llez\u2019s post-college work career began on Aug. 21. She was hired to coordinate after-school programming at Notre Dame School of Milwaukee, a Catholic school on the city\u2019s south side. She felt privileged to help other Latino families fulfill their dreams of an American education.<\/p>\n
Future suddenly in doubt<\/h3>\n
But on Tuesday, Sept. 5, her future \u2014 a career in Milwaukee, graduate school in the U.S., the chance to help a new generation of Latino youth get to college \u2014 was thrown into uncertainty. That\u2019s when the Trump administration announced plans to end the DACA program in six months unless Congress finds a more permanent solution.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, I talked to my employer about me not being employed there after March 5.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are more than 200 Dreamers enrolled at 51ÁÔÆæ this fall. T\u00e9llez, as an alumna, considers herself one of the lucky ones. Whatever happens to DACA, she has earned an American college degree and has a successful work history behind her.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing unemployed in a few months is something I initially didn\u2019t consider possible,\u201d she said. \u201cWith the decision (Sept. 5), it\u2019s like: \u2018OK, this might actually happen. I have to talk about it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
So T\u00e9llez will continue talking about her experiences, something that has always brought her comfort and purpose. But she says it feels different now. She wonders if she\u2019ll be deported from Milwaukee, which she considers her hometown. She worries that her 2013 DACA application might expose her mother, who remains undocumented.<\/p>\n
Yet the only thing that she\u2019s truly afraid of is setting the wrong example for the families she meets through her activism and in her work at Notre Dame.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want people to look at me and think \u2018Cinthia was able to do this.\u2019 But knowing that they\u2019re looking at me now and thinking, \u2018She was able to do it, but she might be deported\u2019 is a reality that is hard to grasp. It\u2019s hard to tell people that things are going to be OK when you\u2019re in limbo yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Brought to the U.S. from Mexico at age 11, 2017 51ÁÔÆæ grad Cinthia T\u00e9llez has persevered through setbacks and become a voice for undocumented students. Now, she faces new uncertainty with the potential end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":487,"featured_media":50860,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174],"tags":[249,250],"section":[125,122],"display_categories":[115,116],"related-coverage":[],"uwmnews-feed":[167,158,159],"class_list":["post-50859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-community-engagement","tag-student-success","section-alumni","section-campus-community","display_categories-top-story-secondary","display_categories-top-story-section","uwmnews-feed-alumni-association","uwmnews-feed-letters-science","uwmnews-feed-humanities"],"yoast_head":"\n