Nataly Morales Villa

In August 2019, Nataly Morales Villa became the first in her family to earn a college degree when she graduated from the University of North Georgia (UNG). It was a historic moment for her.

"I wasn't sure going to college would be a possibility," said the native of Durango, Mexico, who was undocumented until she received her green card on her 11th birthday in 2007. "I was raised by a single mom in a low-income household, and I lacked the role models to make it possible."

Now, the UNG alumna with a Bachelor of Science degree in political science is a role model. In summer 2020, Morales Villa was accepted into the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She was on a flight to Mexico to care for her grandfather when she received the news.

"I hugged my mom, reflecting on all her sacrifices," Morales Villa said. "My mom always encouraged me to study and get good grades so I could go to college. She told me, 'One day you will go to college, so you don't have to work as hard as me at a poultry plant.'"

To accomplish that, she applied to several scholarships to fund her education. It paid off. Morales Villa received the HOPE scholarship, the Pell Grant and Goizueta Foundation Scholarship.

"I also received a scholarship from Mar-Jac Poultry Inc., which is where my mother works," she said. "Now, that's my motto: Apply for everything because you never know where it can lead you."

Her motto has served her well. Morales Villa earned three scholarships to study abroad in Spain and won the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, which funded her trip to Peru. The Gilman offers scholarships to U.S. undergraduate Pell Grant recipients to study or intern abroad.

Morales Villa also gained entry into the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program. It is designed to identify and prepare sophomores, juniors and seniors from all UNG campuses for post-graduate studies through involvement in research and other scholarly activities.

Because of the McNair Program, Morales Villa conducted research on Hispanic serving institutions. It led her to attend the 2020 Harvard Latina Empowerment and Development Conference and ultimately apply to graduate school there. Now, she is enrolled in the online program with plans to graduate in May 2021.

"In 2001, my mom risked her life crossing the U.S.-Mexico border so I could have a better future," Morales Villa said. "By 2021, I’ll cross a graduation stage at Harvard."