Guadalupe Lamas

“For the first time, I think, in my life I realized that I was capable of maybe even more.”

Guadalupe Lamas is a 46-year-old native of Mexico, the firstborn child into a migrant farm working family. Due to this, she had to leave school in the sixth grade to take care of her seven younger siblings.  The next time she entered school again, Lamas was married and pregnant with her second child; she enrolled in an adult education program at her job site, sponsored by the Hillsborough County Adult Migrant Program.  The promise of a stipend initially motivated Lamas to participate. 

After Lamas realized that getting an education was possible, she followed her dream to make a better life for her children.  “For the first time, I think, in my life I realized that I was capable of maybe even more,” Lamas said.  Within about six weeks, Lamas obtained her GED and she continued to pursue her education.  Lamas attended Hillsborough Community College to seek a career as a nurse; she eventually earned a bachelor’s and a master’s degree.

Now Lamas is a registered nurse and an adult education instructor teaching certified nurse assistant classes in her community.  She is also an advocate on issues that affect the migrant farm worker community.

Words of Encouragement:   To let them know that they can do it too.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist and that everybody has the same mental capabilities, it’s just how you develop it that matters and I don’t know how you would say it, I’m not that good at ad campaigns or that sort of thing, I’m not that creative but I do know that they don’t know, because I know that I didn’t know. 

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