Jazmin Perez ’09 featured in President Obama’s education speech
Jazmin Perez ’09, a human biology and education studies concentrator who is now studying for a master’s in public health, was singled out by President Barack Obama in his much-discussed address to school children today, Tuesday, September 8.
“Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future,” the President said.
“That's what young people like you are doing every day, all across America. Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn't speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either.
“But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.”
Obama to America’s youth: “You write your own destiny.”
Perez currently is studying for her MPH with a concentration in health promotion and behavioral sciences at the University of Texas Health Science Center, according to a UT spokeswoman. When she watched the president deliver his speech on television, she found herself unexpectedly in tears.
“After [Obama] mentioned me,” she told the Houston Chronicle, “it was a blur. Then I flashed back to everything that's happened since high school … how hard it was.”
Professor of Biology Kenneth Miller, who was Perez’s academic advisor at Brown, was alerted to the speech mention on Monday by his former student. Calling Perez “a delight,” Miller said her particular interests were in the areas of health-care systems, public health, epidemiology, and the social aspects of medical care. He praised her as “upbeat, energetic, and determined to succeed.
“Jazmin comes from a large family in the little town of Roma, right on the Rio Grande,” Miller noted. “It is not an area you expect to find many students headed to the Ivy League.” He recalled that Perez’s hard work and focus helped her overcome some deficits in preparation during her first several semesters at Brown. “She is very determined,” he observed with a laugh.
“Jazmin is full of energy,” agreed Jodie Gill, science program coordinator for Women in Science and Engineering (WISE), a mentoring program at Brown that Perez participated in. Gill said that Perez had volunteered at a community center in Roma during high school and between college years. “The life experience and insight she brings to outreach events for women students is nourishing without being overbearing.”
Alumnus Suzanne M. Rivera ’91, associate vice president for research at the University of Texas Southwesterm Medical Center, came to know Perez’s work ethic and determination first-hand when the then-Brown undergraduate contacted her about potential summer and winter-break work in Rivera’s office. “Her initiative and self-confidence immediately impressed me,” Rivera recalled. “I hired her after a single phone interview, and it was one of the best decisions I have ever made.”
After performing clerical, analytical, and programmatic tasks in Rivera’s office, Perez was given the chance to serve as Rivera’s research assistant on a study. They collaborated on a project designed to determine whether racial and ethnic minorities have equitable rates of access to and participation in clinical trials – a quest that appealed to Perez “both because of her intellectual curiosity and her strong sense of justice,” Rivera said. “Her participation made the project better.”
Perez herself hopes her story will inspire other young people to seek bright futures through education. “I hope [they will] know that someone has been in their position,” she told Houston television station KHOU, “and actually feel encouraged and motivated to … stay in school and work hard.”