Drive and determination key to success from Mexico to Mount Mercy

By Andria Pooley-Sports Editor

Sitting in a comfy chair surrounded with notes, reading a Global Interdependence text, and listening to Beethoven’s Symphony #9 is where you will find Yesenia Mendoza.

How does an individual go from growing up in Mexico, to coming to Mount Mercy College? For Mendoza, hard work, a good attitude, and perseverance, have proved essential in making her the first member of her family to attend college.

As an International Studies major with a concentration in Business, Mendoza has lofty goals of eventually working in the competitive world of international business. She also has an Art minor, just because it is something she loves to do.
“I love to travel, and I love politics,” said Mendoza. “I am really interested in how the world is changing, and how we are all interacting with each other.”

Mendoza spent the first years of her life in Puruandiro, Mexico. She moved with her family to Nebraska when she was six years old, and later moved to

Minnesota. Spanish is the official language in the Mendoza household.

Mendoza learned about Mount Mercy through a brochure in the mail.

“I liked the look of the small school,” said Mendoza. “When I came to visit, it seemed like a great community, so I came here”.

Mendoza has worked diligently to receive grants and scholarships in order to come to Mount Mercy. She is also the RA on sixth floor Regina, and can usually be caught having lunch with the girls on her floor.

Mendoza has made the cultural transition from Mexico to Mount Mercy appear seamless. She is a member of multiple clubs and plays on the soccer team, and somehow she still finds time to do her homework and study for tests.
“I love Mount Mercy,” Said Mendoza. “It has been a great school for me and I really like it here…because it is so small.”

Mendoza, youngest of five children, has set an example for her siblings by making the decision to educate herself beyond high school.

“Usually the youngest siblings look up to older siblings,” said Mendoza. “They now look up to me instead, because I didn’t make the same mistake. Because of this, I’m carrying a lot of weight on my back, but I carry it with pride.”