{"id":10691,"date":"2024-04-05T09:21:36","date_gmt":"2024-04-05T14:21:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin-new\/?post_type=campus_story&#038;p=10691"},"modified":"2024-04-09T10:34:24","modified_gmt":"2024-04-09T15:34:24","slug":"from-spanish-speaking-first-gen-to-uw-platteville-engineer-karla-sanchez","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/from-spanish-speaking-first-gen-to-uw-platteville-engineer-karla-sanchez\/","title":{"rendered":"From First-Generation Student to UW-Platteville Engineer: Karla Sanchez"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"From First-Generation Student to UW-Platteville Engineer: Karla Sanchez\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vKGZ9VoUlIU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_10698\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10698\" style=\"width: 197px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin-new\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2024\/03\/Karla-2-scaled.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-10698\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin-new\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2024\/03\/Karla-2-225x300.jpeg\" alt=\"Photo of Karla Sanchez as a child. Growing up in Racine, Wis., Karla (far left) is the middle child of three sisters. (Photo courtesy of Karla Sanchez)\" width=\"197\" height=\"263\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2024\/03\/Karla-2-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2024\/03\/Karla-2-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2024\/03\/Karla-2-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2024\/03\/Karla-2-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2024\/03\/Karla-2-scaled.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-10698\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Growing up in Racine, Wis., Karla (far left) is the middle child of three sisters. (Photo courtesy of Karla Sanchez)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>When Karla Sanchez was growing up, college seemed like an impossible dream. Born to Mexican immigrants, she spoke primarily Spanish until first or second grade and struggled with her early education.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGrowing up in my household, college was really never a topic of conversation,\u201d Sanchez said. \u201cSo, I kind of grew up with the mentality that it wasn\u2019t a possibility for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Sanchez developed a love of school and sparked a particular interest in science and math. In high school, she decided she wanted to become an engineer.<\/p>\n<p>Enter UW-Platteville.<\/p>\n<p>Upon touring UW-Platteville during her senior year of high school, Sanchez immediately knew it was the school for her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love the small campus,\u201d she said. \u201cI love the Platteville community. It was just heartwarming, the people here are amazing. The campus itself, I just thought was a perfect fit for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<h5><em><a href=\"https:\/\/uwhelp.wisconsin.edu\/find-your-uws\/\">Find Your Fit<\/a> &#8211; <strong>Find out which of the 13 unique Universities of Wisconsin is right for you.<\/strong><\/em><\/h5>\n<p>However, the road to UW-Platteville&#8217;s esteemed engineering program as a first-generation student wasn&#8217;t without its challenges.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_10692\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10692\" style=\"width: 212px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin-new\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2024\/03\/Platteville-Karla-e1711642800930.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-10692\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin-new\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2024\/03\/Platteville-Karla-e1711642800930-226x300.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of Karla, who fell in love with UW-Platteville and the community, calling it a \u201cperfect fit\u201d for her. (Photo courtesy of Karla Sanchez)\" width=\"212\" height=\"282\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2024\/03\/Platteville-Karla-e1711642800930-226x300.jpg 226w, https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2024\/03\/Platteville-Karla-e1711642800930-770x1024.jpg 770w, https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2024\/03\/Platteville-Karla-e1711642800930-768x1021.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2024\/03\/Platteville-Karla-e1711642800930-1155x1536.jpg 1155w, https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2024\/03\/Platteville-Karla-e1711642800930.jpg 1265w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 212px) 100vw, 212px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-10692\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Karla fell in love with UW-Platteville and the community, calling it a \u201cperfect fit\u201d for her. (Photo courtesy of Karla Sanchez)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&#8220;The main obstacle for being a first-generation student was just coming into college without knowing all the support and resources that are around you,&#8221; Sanchez said \u2013 despite getting encouragement from her parents. \u201cThere is a lot of that transition period from a high school to a college student. It is a long tedious process that a lot of people underestimate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With assistance and a little push from UW-Platteville\u2019s faculty and staff, Sanchez faced her challenges head-on and is now reaping the benefits.<\/p>\n<p>After attending a career fair in her sophomore year, she received an internship opportunity at Modine Manufacturing Company in Racine, Wis., and has continued to work there throughout her time at UW-Platteville. Now, she has been offered and accepted a full-time position with the company upon graduation in May.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPlatteville in general changed my life,\u201d Sanchez said. \u201cI feel like I am not the person I am today if I weren\u2019t a student here. I feel like being a student here has really shaped the person I am.\u201d<\/p>\n<h5><em><a href=\"https:\/\/uwhelp.wisconsin.edu\/find-your-uws\/\">13 Universities. Unlimited Opportunity.<\/a> <strong>&#8211; Explore our campuses and apply today!<\/strong><\/em><\/h5>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Written by Ethan Schuh, Universities of Wisconsin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; When Karla Sanchez was growing up, college seemed like an impossible dream. Born to Mexican immigrants, she spoke primarily Spanish until first or second grade and struggled with her early education. \u201cGrowing up in my household, college was really never a topic of conversation,\u201d Sanchez said. \u201cSo, I kind of grew up with the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2141,"featured_media":10700,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[93],"story_category":[],"class_list":["post-10691","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-platteville"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/10691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2141"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10691"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=10691"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=10691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}