Jocelyn Valencia’s best memory as a sociology undergrad at UCI is hearing her parents scream for joy when she told them she was receiving the 2012 Outstanding Undergraduate Honors Thesis and Robin M. Williams awards. Immigrants from El Salvador, her parents fled to the U.S. to escape civil war and poverty in their home country.

“They came to the U.S. to start a new beginning where they could provide their children with political, economic and social opportunities and freedoms,” Valencia says.

While education was something they emphasized and valued, her parents had been unable to pursue a formal education of their own.

“They made it their responsibility to ensure their children had the educational opportunity they were denied,” she says.

Their sacrifice was not lost on Valencia; she worked hard through school, graduating as valedictorian of her high school class. As an honors sociology student at UCI, she involved herself in outreach programs including COP, SAM, and SAL which help children from disadvantaged communities to become competent college applicants. She also pursued research on dynamics of transnational parenthood - the difficult context immigrant parents face in leaving their children behind in their country of origin in search of better opportunities.

“I became interested in this topic because it pertains to the ongoing issue of immigration,” she says. “I feel that transnational parenthood is just one of the many topics that humanizes the immigrant community and brings to light the complexities of being an immigrant.”

With help from the El Salvadoran consulate’s office, Valencia interviewed newly arrived immigrants to learn how mothers and fathers managed and moved money between their lives in the U.S. and their families back home. She found that, on average, the women made less money yet sent back more remittances to their families in El Salvador than did the men interviewed.
 
Her culminating thesis, conducted under the guidance of sociology lecturer Sam Gilmore and professor Cynthia Feliciano, was selected from among all honors work in social sciences as the top undergraduate thesis.    

“Becoming part of the honors program and completing my thesis was absolutely my biggest accomplishment at UCI,” she says.

On June 15, with her parents looking on proudly from among the crowded seats of family and friends, Valencia will walk with her graduating class in the 2012 commencement ceremonies.

Watch the ceremonies live to hear more stories of success from keynote student speakers Brenda Ayón Verduzco and Alina Sookasian.

The Williams award honors the late Robin M. Williams, Jr. who served as a Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Department of Sociology at UCI for more than 15 years.

-Heather Wuebker, Social Sciences Communications