A Life of Breaking Down Barriers

No one in her family had ever attended college. Neither of her parents had received any schooling beyond the sixth grade. But Mayra Rodriguez '88 knew she wanted more.

"[My mother] had heard there was a really good school on the East Coast," says Rodriguez. "I know it's cliche-ish, but she told me if I worked hard, I could do whatever I wanted to do, and that I could go to that school."

The daughter of a poor migrant worker family in McAllen, Texas, Rodriguez will become her family's first college graduate today. Rodriguez has five natural brothers and sisters, as well as seven step-brothers and sisters. She is a perfect example of the Harvard success story--disadvantaged kid makes good in the Ivies. But the going has not always been smooth.

"It's a little bit difficult," Rodriguez says. "I tell my family I am doing a thesis, and I have to explain to them what a thesis is."

Despite the occasional communication gaps, and the to-be-expected sibling rivalry--two of her younger brothers are currently attending college in Texas, another is in the Navy, but none have followed her to the East Coast--ties to her family, and to her mother in particular, remain strong.

"My mother is very supportive--she says I should do the best I can," Rodriguez says. "As long as I'm happy, she's happy. My mother could be distressed I'm running off to Moscow or somewhere else, but she's not."

Moscow, because Rodriguez is fluent in Russian. As well as in German, English and Spanish.

Though the multi-lingual Rodriguez stands only 5-ft., 1-in. tall, she has a dominating presence. Her voice sparkles after years of training in speech and debate, an extracurricular activity that won her some 60 trophies in high school.

Rodriguez has come a long way from McAllen, although her friends say she arrived at Harvard as self-assured as she leaves it.

"By the time she had gotten here, she had already established herself," says her Lowell House roommate Natalie J. Mai '88. "I would say she was confident in herself. There was some breaking away from home, which was to be expected, but she has been pretty stable throughout."

And despite the many obstacles confronting her, Rodriguez has relied on extraordinary inner strength to achieve seemingly improbable goals.

"I've overcome a lot of barriers," Rodriguez says. "Financial barriers, familial barriers. It wasn't culture shock. I just had to do a lot on my own."

She has not enjoyed the luxuries her often richer classmates take for granted. She has spent four years on work-study to support her studies. Throughout it all, Rodriguez has thrived, prompting Lowell House non-resident law tutor John Nichols '80 to comment, "she has mastered the Harvard financial aid system."

"This is a place that has allowed me to do what I want to do," Rodriguez says. "I've never been in a position where I needed something and I didn't get it. It's been a positive experience because I've been ambitious."

She adds, "I'm extremely resourceful, and I know which doors to knock on."

One door Rodriguez has made a habit of knocking on is that of Admissions and Financial Aids Officer David Illingworth. "Because she is a Slavic concentrator, there hasn't been a lot of financial aid," Illingworth says.

"She would come in and see about financial aid for her latest venture, and I would tell her, `I don't see how you will be able to do that'," Illingworth continues. "Then she would pop in two or three weeks later and tell me she was headed for Leningrad or Berlin, or somewhere else."

Sometimes Rodriguez has garnered financial support from fellowships and research grants. Other times she has managed to scrape money together from outside sources--a strategy she first utilized when her football-crazy high school refused to allocate any money to fund her trip to a national speech competition.

The scope of her travels has expanded since high school days, and international trips have become almost habitual. Rodriguez has studied in Moscow, West Berlin and Poland. And the Sherman Fellowship she won her sophomore year will take her to Leningrad after graduation. Her long list of honors includes the Radcliffe Murray Fellowship and the Lowe Foundation Fellowship, as well as two awards from outside organizations--one from the American Council of Teachers of Russians, and one from the Council on International Educational Exchange.

Her travels overseas have allowed her to immerse herself in other cultures, and to practice her language skills.

"Spanish and English are my natural languages," Rodriguez says. "I studied Russian for the last four years, including an intensive summer in Moscow the spring of my junior year."

"I was interested in Russian politics from the German view," she continues, adding, "I wanted to study Russia to get a better understanding of international politics."

While in Cambridge, Rodriguez has spent much of her time helping Soviet emigres adjust to life in America. She has been a volunteer at the Jewish Family Center since her sophomore year, and has worked with a Soviet couple for the last three years.

"It surprises a lot of people when I say I'm involved in it," Rodriguez says. "Most people don't expect someone Hispanic to be a Slavic concentrator. I was brought up in an international culture, and I know the problems of assimilating. I try to help them function in society and still keep their roots."

"I try to help my Soviet family with the little things," Rodriguez continues. "Going over the shopping bill, and explaining what an AT&T bill is. Some teach them with books; I try to help with the day-to-day living. I tell them to watch TV. It's the quickest way to learn a language."

To make ends meet, Rodriguez has worked up to 30 hours a week under Harvard's work-study program--but her own needs have never stood in the way of her contributions to others, and her jobs have often been service-related.

"I would like to say I have pride and did not have to work," Rodriguez says, "but pride is for those who can afford it."

She worked as an assistant at the Harvard Ukranian Research Center as a sophomore, where she researched and proofread articles about the Ukraine. As a junior, she served as an assistant to Professor Richard Zeckhauser at the Kennedy School of Government. Rodriguez has also interned at the office of the Commisioner of Banks, and has worked as an interpreter at Boston's Beth-Israel hospital, translating Russian, Spanish and German.

In between the paid jobs, Rodriguez has found time for volunteer work. In addition to the Jewish Family Center, Rodriguez has volunteered at the Lutheran Homeless Shelter, where she prepared and served food for the homeless, and at Centro Presente, a Central American refugee center.

And in between the jobs, paid and unpaid, Rodriguez has found time for academics. "I feel now that it hasn't been too bad," Rodriguez says. "If I get back a grade and it's only a B, I can't be upset because I have done a lot of things."

Rodriguez wishes similar success, and similar opportunity, to other Hispanics and Blacks who have been unable to break out of constricting environments.

"A lot of poor Hispanics and Blacks allow the poverty-level problem to perpetuate," Rodriguez says. "Because I am so ambitious and resourceful, it hurts me to see those having problems going to school and getting involved with drugs. I hate to see people waste away their lives."

A schedule that may seem overwhelming to others is, for Rodriguez, an attempt to avoid waste--of precious resources, precious time.

"Whatever she has gotten involved in, she has tackled it with more gusto than most people," says tutor Nichols. "She has extraordinary drive that is rare to see in anyone."

Illingworth concurs, describing Rodriguez as "a very strong individual who sets high goals for herself. She is very purposeful," he adds, "and she has a sense of humor about it."

Rodriguez's trademark determination extends social pursuits. Her roommates recall the time she tracked them down in Munich.

"She was in Berlin," Mai says, "and the other three of us were in Munich. She knew we would be in Munich, but she didn't know where or anything. She found us anyway, and we all ended up spending the day together, eating and having fun."

Rodriguez is involved in other activities that, according to Nichols, "she doesn't just do to pad her resume."

She is an accomplished dancer--tango, salsa, waltz and swing. She learned how to salsa while in Berlin last year. And when she wasn't studying or salsa-ing, Rodriguez worked at the Knecht Auto Oil Filter Company. Her duties at Knecht ranged from data processing and bookkeeping to serving on an assembly line.

"It's hard for an American to get employment in Germany," Rodriguez explains, "so I worked there [at Knecht]. It was tough and interesting, and I will just say it was difficult."

"It's important to do other things than just study," Rodriguez says. "I feel that when I put my mind to it, I can do whatever I want to do."

Whether that means cooking meals for her Russian emigre family, or organizing a spur-of-the-moment, May Day waltz on Weeks Bridge with her roommates, Rodriguez is up to the task.

Following her studies this summer, Rodriguez plans to move on to Argentina to work with a consulting firm. A year from now, she will enter the masters program at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

The awards continue to pile up for Rodriguez. Her thesis, titled "Berlin Blockade 1948," received a magna, and earned her the Russian and Soviet Studies Award.

Fifteen years down the road, Rodriguez says she sees herself married, with a large family, and involved in the local Catholic church. "I have a firm commitment to working at the grass-roots level," she says.

Today Rodriguez will graduate from Harvard. Her mother and her youngest brother will make the trip. The two Soviet emigres she has helped will also attend Commencement.

"It will be quite a circus," Rodriguez says. "They won't have languages in common at all, and my little brother will be stuck translating."

But they will all have Mayra Rodriguez in common. Rodriguez, who has made a life of understanding and bringing people together, breaking seemingly impenetrable barriers, will step in and calm matters down.

"My mom and little brother will be a part of this," Rodriguez says. "She has never been to this part of the country."

But Mrs. Rodriguez knew there was a college out there, somewhere on the East Coast, that her daughter should attend.