In 2016, I attended my first American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE) conference thanks to the support of my doctoral advisor and mentor at San Diego State University, Dr. Felisha Herrera Villarreal. We returned to AAHHE in 2017 to present our research focused on the experiences of Latinx community college transfer students pursuing STEM degrees. My first two years at AAHHE were incredibly important for my academic and personal development as a graduate student and emerging scholar. Being surrounded by Latinx scholars and practitioners, who like me, were committed to serving and supporting Latinx communities, was such a validating experience.

Given these formative experiences, I recognized the value of AAHHE’s Graduate Student Fellows Program (GSFP), and in 2018, I was accepted to participate in this program. My GSFP cohort was comprised of stellar Latinx graduate students who are all addressing various and important issues within the Latinx community. I was also thrilled to be paired with Dr. Cati de los Rios who served as my faculty mentor during the conference and provided valuable feedback regarding the dissertation process, as well as entering the job market.

As a recent doctoral candidate in the Joint Doctoral Program in Education at San Diego State University and Claremont Graduate University, the AAHHE graduate fellows program could not have been timelier. I participated in a number of workshops that covered aspects of the tenure-track application process, which included writing strong research statements and negotiating salaries. These workshops truly put things into perspective for me and allowed me to create a clear timeline for my own job application journey this coming fall.

In addition to the workshops, the Graduate Student Research Symposium provided us a great opportunity to share our work with the fellows cohort and mentors in a very supportive and friendly environment. Unlike other professional conferences I’ve attended, the research symposium fostered rich conversations in a uniquely relaxed setting. I presented an overview of my doctoral research on indigenous Mexican college student experiences in the U.S., which sheds light on the historical complexities of multi-layered colonialisms and the impact of ethnic studies on students’ identity development.

Beyond the academic activities, our late-night debriefs in the hotel suite with our GSFP coordinators and faculty fellows were both stimulating and comforting. Spending time with them reminded me that finding time to laugh and express joy is necessary in our academic journeys. The friendships I developed with my colleagues during this experience have definitely enriched my doctoral experience. The collaborative nature of AAHHE and the relationships I’ve established through the GSFP represent a powerful counter narrative to the traditional, individualistic nature of Ph.D. programs. As a GSFP alumna, I am proud to call AAHHE my academic familia and be part of a powerful network of Latinx scholars. •