translated from Spanish: Montserrat Garcia, Michoacana that makes Mexico proud

Morelia, Michoacán.- At just 22 years old Montserrat García Arreguín is already one of the most outstanding women in the world of scientific research when graduating with honors from the University of Texas Usa, with the highest distinction as A Bachelor Science in Cellular and Molecular Biochemistry.
Her hardened character and thirst to know and research have led her to be one of the few students out of 2,500 who graduated on December 15 of this year to receive the highest recognition granted by the American academic system in education uperior, so his life story that hasn’t been easy is a clear example of overcoming, which he had reading at the graduation ceremony.
During Montserrat’s telephone interview to this media outlet, she recounted the obstacles she had to overcome, from sexist comments and economic hardships, in order to achieve her dream of studying and becoming a scientist.
Excited and proud to graduate Montserrat recalled how she had to emigrate from her native Tepalcatepec first to Morelia, capital of Michoacán and then to the United States.
“I am grateful that my family of farmers taught me what it’s like to be hard-working and to make a goal,” he said, acknowledging the unconditional support he has always had from his mother Carolina Arreguín Madriz, his grandparents Etelvina Madriz Vargas and David Arreguín Ortiz, and her uncle Aurelio Arreguín Madriz, “my mom, my uncles, and my grandparents have been with me on every difficult transition even though I have been separated from my grandparents for long periods of time in my life,” she said wistfully.
When he was just in Elementary Montse as he was affectionately called his relatives he arrived in Morelia, which he concluded at La Salle Cayroche College, then entered Federal High School No. 9, he began high school at the Rector Hidalgo, where he participated in the State Osctitude of Biology and won a bronze medal, he was preparing for the national competition with Professor Homero Galarza Horrostieta, but when he was less than a year away to conclude he had to emigrate again now to the US, where he began a new story.
New challenges
Montse arrived in El Paso, Texas in 2014, where he took the last year of high school and his main fear was not being able to continue studying, since in the United States, every semester at the university costs between 3 thousand and 5 thousand dollars, not counting books and other expenses Mentioned.
However, her hardened character led her to seek a scholarship, achieving one of the most contested among American students the Building Scholars, founded by the National Institute of Health in that country.
This scholarship allowed the young woman to take the 4 and a half years of bachelor’s degree, as well as participate in research projects one of them was on breast cancer, another in 2017 on nicotine addiction that led her to write a scientific article about this Ma.
This is how his academic preparation was very active as he participated in several projects in conjunction with other universities such as New Mexico, in Albuquerque where he learned how to detect staph toxins, he also delved into the issue of differences how neutrophils react to bacterial infections.
From then on Montserrat did not stop and in 2018, he traveled to Houston to the Baylor Collage of Medicine to participate in the vaccine research project to treat prostate cancer; “my project was on how to optimize cells to improve vaccines. The next year I traveled to New York, the headquarters was Rochester, where I went to study the mutations in the sequence of genes that are important for the transition that occurs at puberty.”
Other academic activities in which she has participated are conferences, one of them offered in Seattle before the American Society of Immunology, in 2016, another in Long Beach, which presented her to the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in the Science, SACNAS.
“Today I feel good, because I have been able to show that despite everything I have experienced in the past I have shown that I can be at the level of the greatest, with a family that supports me.”
She stressed that there are no scientists in her family because she has always had to look for mentors to support her, “Young people would say that we have to prepare to be independent, motivate, and even if no one around us knows what we are going to do or how to get there , we always have to look for people to guide us to it.”
“That has always been a very important thing, I have always been able to recognize what I do not know, so I try to talk, to look and investigate and so I have gotten to where I am, because I look for the opportunities.”
In this same tenor the young scientist sent a message to all the young Michoacans, “look for opportunities, in Michoacán there are some, I achieved very good things and I know that sometimes it feels that no one else understands you but you have to seek help, there will always be doors that open r.”
Among the talk comes to Montse’s mind, the memory of the sexist comment made to him by his chemistry teacher in high school, who told him that “science is not for pretty women, you should be a television reporter.”
“Back then it didn’t shock me, I thought weird, It was until I got to college that she understood the scope of her teacher’s words; “until then I realized what she said to me” but she proved him to be very wrong.
“La Montse, five years ago, when I started everything, would be proud of me, because I was afraid of getting stuck, of not being able to pay for college, I’ve always been afraid of not being at the level of others.”
However, she knows that she is an example for her three brothers Ismael Rogelio and Laura Elena García Arreguín and Sebastián Miranda Arreguín the youngest.
Goals for 2020
Montserrat says that he plans to study for the next year a doctorate in science, he would also love to return to Michoacán to give some lecture but will take things easy, for the time soon he will enjoy the Christmas festivities in the company of his family in his native Tepalcatepec.

Original source in Spanish

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