The College Assistance Migrant Program, or better known as CAMP, is a federally funded scholarship program designed to help migrant and seasonal farmworkers, or their children, pay for their first year of college. The program's goal is to help students academically while preparing them for a successful future. The program at New Mexico State University has helped almost 380 students since 2002.
As Brenda Carrillo, a senior at New Mexico State University, prepares for her final year in college, she can’t help but reflect on how far she’s come from working in the onion fields alongside her parents in Deming.
“When I worked at the onion shed- me and my sister both worked there- what I hated was that all day, you stood there. Some days we would go in at like seven or eight and wouldn’t get out until like 3 o’clock in the morning”, says Carrillo.
Growing up, Carrillo says her parents told her that they didn’t want her working in farms and fields and encouraged her to take advantage of any opportunity she had to pursue an education.
“My parents always encouraged me that I shouldn’t do what they did. That I should do more and that I should go to school. My parents would’ve loved to go to college, but they didn’t have the opportunity to when they were younger because they worked for us”, says Carrillo.
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College can be intimidating, especially for first generation students. Carrillo says that it was with the help of the College Assistance Migrant Program, or CAMP, that she was able to successfully transition into college life at NMSU.
“I was able to overcome my fears of how hard school was gonna be and how long the journey was. Next December I’ll be graduating, this passed by so quickly and it’s all because of CAMP. They really supported me and they really helped me”, says Carrillo.
The CAMP scholarship helps students with housing, meal plans, book stipends, and training stipends. Cynthia Bejarano, the principal investigator for CAMP at NMSU, says the program is more than just a scholarship program. She says it’s also a support system that helps students beyond their freshman year.
“Our mantra is ‘we’re a home away from home. That means not only assisting our students academically to be successful, but also to holistically feel like they have a place at NMSU where they feel comfortable, where they feel they can receive that home away from home type of feel”, says Bejarano.
Bejarano says she enjoys seeing the students in the program make the journey from freshmen to graduates.
“It’s incredibly rewarding to see students come through the front doors of the university that are very timid, very shy, and apprehensive their freshman year, and then see them graduate to be poised, very confident, working as professionals”, says Bejarano.
Carrillo says that through CAMP she was able to discover even more opportunities, like finding a job and getting involved on campus. Also, she was able to land a valuable internship that took her across the country.
“CAMP is just to boost you into school. Once you drift off of CAMP, there’s so many organizations and activities to do based on your needs and your happiness, and it’s worth it”, says Carrillo.
When Carrillo graduates, it’ll be the end of one long journey and the start of a new one with even more opportunities.
Ximena Tapia, is a KRWG Intern for Fall 2015 from the EXCEL Program at Las Cruces Public Schools.