{"id":3538,"date":"2020-11-13T17:57:24","date_gmt":"2020-11-14T00:57:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nau.edu\/yuma\/?p=3538"},"modified":"2023-06-23T15:04:18","modified_gmt":"2023-06-23T15:04:18","slug":"first-generation-yuma-grad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/yuma\/blog\/first-generation-yuma-grad\/","title":{"rendered":"Graduate Kenia Guzman: For this first-generation Yuma grad, education was a priority at a young age"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Kenia<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Kenia Guzman<\/strong>, a senior studying psychology at NAU Yuma, always wanted to be in the field of helping people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI never had a specific job position in mind because even as a child I understood the restrictions behind labels,\u201d Guzman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growing up in the U.S.-Mexico border town of San Luis, Arizona, Guzman understood the importance of education at a young age. She was raised in a multi-generational household of eight, three of whom Guzman considers her moms: her great-aunt, her grandmother and her biological mom. Guzman will be the first in her family to graduate with a bachelor\u2019s degree;  both her grandmother and great-aunt had to drop out of school in third grade to help raise their younger siblings while their parents worked in the fields. She recognized the upward mobility a bachelor\u2019s degree provides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHopefully, my success will inspire current and future generations within my family to pursue higher education,\u201d Guzman said. \u201cI\u2019m forever grateful that I had the privilege to graduate high school and pursue higher education. My time at NAU meant a lot to me, but I know for a fact that it meant the most to my family because this is exactly why they moved to the US\u2014to have the opportunity to better ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guzman started at Arizona Western College (AWC), where she earned an associate\u2019s degree before transferring to NAU Yuma. It was there that she met a psychology professor, Brooke Ayars<\/strong>, who also taught at NAU Yuma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe made every single one of her lectures interesting,\u201d Guzman said. \u201cI knew I wanted to study psychology under her so I \u2018followed\u2019 her to NAU Yuma.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the biggest class size being about 40 students, she liked how everyone knew everyone. Guzman and her peers were able to work closely and lean on each other when needed. Sometimes they even formed individual study groups and tutored each other when classes were challenging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fascinated by the human mind, Guzman\u2019s curiosity led her to contemplate how different siblings are despite having the same upbringing. She decided to focus her capstone project on relationship maintenance and the social learning theory of relationships. She analyzed and discussed techniques used to maintain relationships and how relationships with parents (or primary caregivers) affects future relationships as adults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\"Kenia<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe close-knit community that I come from has allowed me to improve upon my interpersonal communication skills which will be beneficial for when entering the workforce in counseling,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guzman is pursuing a master\u2019s degree in counseling either at ASU or NAU North Valley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

McKenzie McLoughlin | NAU Communications
(928) 523-4789 | McKenzie.McLoughlin@nau.edu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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