First Gen College Student Making Her Mark at UCI and Beyond

Family, education and running have shaped 21-year old Daisy Garcia into the young woman she is today.

For most of her childhood, Daisy lived with her grandparents, mother and younger sister in Whittier, California. She also has seven uncles and 12 cousins who lived nearby and have always been a big part of her life.

“I see my uncles like father figures and my cousins like siblings,” Daisy said. “We all grew up together; especially celebrating birthdays and holidays, we would always be together.”

Also central to Daisy and her family is staying connected to their roots with frequent trips to Mexico. Daisy’s grandfather, who came to the United States for work and eventually brought over his wife and eight children, still has a house in Ayotlan, Jalisco, where his side of the family is from. Her grandmother grew up about 75 miles away in Guadalajara. 

Every year when she was younger, Daisy would make the trip with her grandparents, mother, siblings, uncles and cousins, to Ayotlan, opening her eyes to her family’s history and heritage. They were times Daisy reminisces about fondly.

“It was a very important part of my life,” Daisy said about the visits to her family’s hometown in Mexico. “We would go back every year during the summer and holidays. My grandparents have a house, and most of my grandpa’s brothers had a little ranch where they would grow crops and things like that. That was always a big part of our lives. And, just the small things like going to eat at our favorite taco place, or going out to get a chocolate milk before making breakfast at home, having those memories is really nice.”

Although she isn’t able to stay for months at a time anymore due to her schedule, Daisy definitely plans to continue the tradition of her yearly trips to Mexico to remain connected with family, and to create new memories.

A NEW GENERATION

Growing up as the oldest of all the cousins, Daisy was aware that her actions would set the tone for her generation of the family. 

“I knew what I did would make an impression on them, so I wanted to make sure it was a good one,” Daisy said. “I always saw myself as a role model because I knew anything I did would impact them, and I just wanted to be the best role model I could.”

One of the ways she did that was in school where she was a good student and became the first in her family to pursue a higher education. Although her grandparents, mother and uncles did not attend college, they emphasized the importance of education, which was well-received by Daisy who didn’t see herself doing anything other than going to college after graduating from high school.

“My family never forced me or made it seem like I had to go to college, but they made it the norm by emphasizing education,” Daisy recalled. “They stressed the importance of continuing our education so that we could have more opportunities and make a better life for ourselves.” 

With her mind set on attending college, Daisy completed the application process, and then with some influence from her grandfather, ultimately chose UC Irvine for its academics and location. 

“My grandpa is someone I have always gone to for advice,” Daisy said. “He is always supportive in whatever I need help with. When I was choosing colleges, he really wanted me to stay close to home, emphasizing family and how we’re all so close. I’m really grateful for that now, because I was able to make it home for family parties, birthdays and holidays. Seeing some of my friends who moved away and weren’t even able to come back for Thanksgiving or Christmas, that would have been really hard on me.”

Another benefit to staying close to home was the opportunity to continue to play an active role in the lives of her cousins and siblings. Having first-hand experience with the process of applying to, choosing and attending college, Daisy was able to provide input and advice for her cousin who is now a junior at UCLA, as well as her sister, who has joined her as a freshman at UCI this fall.

FROM A FAVOR TO A PASSION

Daisy didn’t start running competitively until her sophomore year of high school when she agreed to accompany her friend to a tryout for the track & field team. She did the time trial for the mile and ended up making the squad. After a few practices, Daisy really started to enjoy running, especially with the improvements she was seeing on the track.

Prior to her junior year, Daisy moved with her growing family, which now included her mother, stepfather, and three younger siblings, to Corona where she enrolled at Centennial High School. She wanted to continue running and also saw it as an opportunity to meet people at her new school, so she joined the cross country and track teams. Daisy, who ended up earning all-league honors both years in cross country, was encouraged by her coach to run in college, but it wasn’t something she wanted to pursue at the time. 

As a freshman at UC Irvine, Daisy got settled in to the college life, spending most of her time focusing on her school work. But, it didn’t take long for her to realize how much she missed running competitively.

“At the end of my freshman year, I emailed the coach to see if I could try out for the team,” Daisy said. “We set up a meeting, then during the summer I did the training, came back for practice and joined the team from there.”

Daisy competed in two cross country meets her first year on the squad, and started to come into her own last year with personal bests in both the 5K and 6K. She ran in five of the team’s six meets, including at her first Big West Championships.

“Daisy is a really hard worker with a strong desire to improve at everything she does,” praised UCI distance coach Casey Kear, who joined the Anteater cross country/track & field staff in August 2019. “She made some of the most impressive improvements of anyone on our entire team last year. She leads by example and constantly displays the industriousness we want all of our student-athletes to embody.”

In addition to the hard work she was putting in, Daisy attributes some of her success to Coach Kear’s training plan and coaching style.

“One of the first things he did was have a meeting with us one-on-one to talk about our journey and how we trained,” Daisy said. “He was very open and everyone got a chance to get to know him, what he expected of us and his plan for the year. I thought that was important and it was comforting to know that we were working through it together. And during training, his plan really worked for us.”

Now, after months of training on her own due to the pandemic, Daisy is looking forward to eventually getting back out on the course and the track with her teammates for her senior year.

“One of my favorite things about running competitively is seeing how far I can go, and how much my teammates and competition can push me,” Daisy said. “I’m excited to get back and run with my teammates, and just be there for each other. I think that’s one of the best parts about the experience, is training with your teammates and having that sense of family.”

CHANGING COURSE

Joining the cross country and track teams wasn’t the only change Daisy has seen since her freshman year. 

After going to an engineering camp in middle school, and growing up in schools that emphasized women in STEM, she had her mind set on becoming an engineer. To no surprise, Daisy started her college journey as a civil engineering major, but like many young adults, her path would change course. 

“After a year and a half of taking engineering classes, I realized it wasn’t something I wanted to do, which was really hard, especially after all those years of telling myself I was going to be an engineer,” Daisy explained. “So, I talked with Alexis McDonald (academic advisor), my counselors and teammates, and they all told me to take some other classes to figure out what I enjoyed.”

In the latter half of her sophomore year, Daisy found what she was looking for in UCI’s criminology, law and society major. Then, last year, she also added education into the mix.

“Last year, I was thinking about what I wanted to do and I knew I had always enjoyed being around kids,” Daisy said. “So I took some education classes and really liked them. Now, I’m thinking about becoming a teacher, maybe getting my master’s, and then maybe going to law school. I did a remote internship this summer with LawyerUp and it seems like something I’d enjoy, but right now I want to hold off for a little bit to go the teaching route first.”

In June 2021, Daisy will be the first in her family to graduate from college, and will do so as a double major in criminology and education. While she will continue to achieve new personal milestones, Daisy is more than ready to make an impact in other people’s lives, just as she has done at UCI and within her own family.

“Daisy is one who is always putting others before herself,” added Coach Kear. “She has such a gentle, nurturing soul that can make others feel comfortable instantly. I see her continuing to give back to communities in need and being an agent for change. I can’t wait to see what she accomplishes beyond her time here at UCI.”