Cecilia Lopez

Cecilia Lopez is a first generation college student, born and raised by two immigrant parents in Bakersfield, California.

While in high school, she was featured in the award-winning documentary First Generation that followed four students facing different struggles to become the first person in their family to go to college. After graduating high school she earned a running/athletic scholarship and began studies in Criminal Justice and Political Science at the California State University, in Bakersfield in the fall of 2009 and graduated in 2013. She continued her education in the fall of 2014 and earned her Masters degree from the Homeland Security Graduate Program at San Diego State University in August of 2016. With a fulltime graduate student workload she simultaneously worked full-time as a legal assistant/paralegal in various immigration law firms in San Diego, CA.

Today, Cecilia continues to work at an immigration law firm while saving money to attend law school.

[Programming descriptions are generated by participants and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SXSW.]