‘Ponte las pilas’: The advice that carried Dulce Cortez to graduation

Dulce Cortez will cross the graduation stage at Utah State University on May 1 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and human development and family studies. She finished the degree in three years while working full-time. In the fall, she plans to start pursuing a master’s degree in special education. For Cortez, her graduation as a first-generation student also symbolizes changing the cycle and earning a degree for previous generations. 

“They’re going to live their life through me — the life they weren’t given the opportunity to live — just to show them that it is possible for people like us Latinas to get degrees,” Cortez said. 

In the audience of Cortez’s graduation will be her mother, Fabiola Perez, who sold her home in California and moved to Logan seven months ago just to be at the ceremony.   

“It feels like I achieved one of my biggest goals in life,” Cortez said. “It just feels like a dream come true.”

Cortez grew up in South Central Los Angeles, raised by Perez and her grandmother. These are the two women Cortez said gave her every opportunity they never received. 

Perez crossed the border from Mexico at 11 years old and raised Cortez as a single mother. When scholarships left them with a gap in funds, Perez stayed after her dental office shifts to clean the entire clinic — mopping floors, sweeping — and sent whatever extra she could to Cortez for school. 

“I did it with love,” Perez said. “It wasn’t something I was ashamed of. I was proud of doing whatever it took.”

While Cortez was growing up, her mother enrolled her in soccer, volleyball, piano and science programs. She always worked, Perez said, and always pushed for better opportunities.

“I always knew she needed to be out there making a difference,” Perez said. “She came to this world to save me.”

The advice Perez passed down stayed with Cortez through all her hardships. Cortez said it was her motivation to keep going when things were hard. The first was “ponte las pilas” — put your batteries in, get it done. The second was, “You stand as one but come as 1,000,” meaning the people who came before you are always in the room.

“My ancestors who crossed borders, who have been killed, who have been tortured, for me to get this opportunity  — this degree is not only for me. It’s for them,” Cortez said. 

Cortez worked full-time as a registered behavioral technician throughout her degree. She moved and completed her full-time coursework online to balance both. She became drawn to applied behavior analysis, or ABA, after working as a paraprofessional at Providence Elementary, where she was able to watch a board-certified behavior analyst build individualized programs for students in her class. 

“I really liked how dedicated they are to every kid and their needs,” Cortez said. 

Kylee Lewis, clinical director at Opal Autism Centers in Logan, has worked with Cortez across two clinics. 

“She loves the clients she works with, and you can definitely tell she cares about what she is doing,” Lewis wrote. “She is great at reflection and deciding what to do to help make the situation better.”

Cortez applied to USU’s special education graduate program and was accepted. She plans to become a board-certified behavior analyst at Opal.

Cortez said her experience as a first-generation Latina student shaped the way she shows up for her students and the families she works with.

“When there’s a family of color who comes in looking for ABA services, I feel so close to them,” she said. “I am here for you. If you need translation, I am here. If you need support, I am here.”

Through every essay and discussion board written on her phone, Cortez said she kept showing up for the same reason: She was not doing this alone.

“She was always the loudest one cheering in the background,” Cortez said of her mother. “I’ve never noticed anybody else because she was always the loudest one there.”

Cortez wanted to break the cycle, not only for herself, but for who comes after her. 

“I wanted to break that cycle and make a new one so that way my future kids can continue that new cycle,” Cortez said. “I am so lucky that they have worked every day, so many hours, to help me pay for this future.”

For Cortez, May 1 was never just her day. Her grandmother, who helped raise her alongside Perez, is in California receiving chemotherapy for leukemia and cannot be there in person. Cortez said when her name is called, all three of them will cross that stage together in spirit. 

“She always tells me, ‘We did it together,’” Perez said.

For other first-generation students just starting out, Cortez’s advice is to approach it with love, not stress.

“If you even have that itch of going to school, it’s because you’re meant to go,” she said. “You belong there. Just because you’re different from everyone else doesn’t mean you can’t do it — if anything, it means you can do it 10 times more.”