Edison High School graduate receives early admission to prestigious university

When Edison High School senior Mayra Hernández García saw the early admission letter to Johns Hopkins University on her computer screen back in December, her “hands were trembling.”

After all, the prestigious university has a 7% acceptance rate.

The oldest of four siblings, the Fresno native will be moving to Baltimore in August thanks to a full-ride scholarship to start her undergraduate studies in political science with a minor in applied mathematics.

This will be her first time living outside of Fresno.

Hernández García, who is graduating as one of the school valedictorians, applied to more than 20 colleges – 10 in the state, including four UC campuses, four CSU universities, as well as out-of-state colleges like Yale.

While Johns Hopkins University was not Hernández García top choice for college, it was her eighth choice. She couldn’t pass up early admission with a full ride and withdrew her other college applications. The school even paid for her travel to tour the campus.

“I put them on my list because I knew it was a good location for the type of focus I wanted to do,” Hernández García said. “I wanted to do political science and Baltimore is like, really close to Washington, DC.”

“I knew I wanted a university that would allow me to do things sort of my way and have more control of like where I want to do, where I want to go. And Johns Hopkins had a good plan,” she said.

Hernández García’s overall goal is to go to law school after completing her four years at Johns Hopkins University to become a lawyer.

Getting “early admission” into a four-year university was very relieving for Hernández García.

“It made everything so much easier,” she said.

Overcoming adversity

Hernández García had lived through many challenges during her high school career. From her family facing housing insecurity as renters during the pandemic to starting her freshman year during the pandemic to her father being diagnosed with lymphoma cancer her junior year.

Hernández García said her father Gabriel Hernández had to go into disability because he couldn’t work. Her mother Lola García went to work part time while taking care of her siblings.

Her father, who does auto detailing, barely recovered from his illness, she said, and was able to go back to work in February after he got cleared from his chemotherapy.

Both of her parents were born in México and are Indigenous people from the state of Oaxaca who speak their native indigenous language Triqui.

While Hernández García can’t speak it now, Triqui was her first language.

“I didn’t know Spanish or English. That’s what I was raised,” she said. “I can’t speak it, but I can understand it. I lost it over time.”

She now speaks, English, Spanish and French.

While helping her parents with many responsibilities at home including language barriers, Hernández García had to prioritize which homework to do first for her classes without hurting her grades.

She managed to meet all her deadlines during her father’s cancer diagnosis.

Being an Upward Bound student

Hernández García was involved in Upward Bound, a preparatory program offered through Fresno State’s Division of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management that offers tutoring, mentorship and skill development to help high school students overcome adversity and achieve their academic and career aspirations since her freshman year during the pandemic.

Upward Bound primarily serves students from low-income families or those who would be first-generation college students. The program currently serves students at Edison, Madera, Madera South, Fresno, McLane and Roosevelt high schools.

“It was during quarantine time, and I felt like I needed something to guide me more, especially since online wasn’t helping me enough,” she said, adding that the Saturday academies of the program guide her on figuring out the four-year college plan after high school, applications, information, etc.

Thanks to Upward Bound, she was be selected to attend the virtual National Student Leadership Conference, which helped her decide to major in political science.

Hernández García said while her parents are scared, she is leaving home and moving to the East Coast, at the same time, “they know the type of person that they raise, they know who I am. And so, they’re fine with me leaving.”

Ojo: The retention rate for the spring 2019 cohort of Upward Bound students was 93.7%. That compares with an overall 84.3% retention rate for all California State University students.

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