I Am Consequential: FYE's Oliver Juarez
When Oliver Juarez found out he’d been accepted to Purdue University after applying to 15 colleges through a nonprofit program, he freaked out.
The 18-year-old didn’t just freak out because he got in. Juarez is the first in his family to go to college. And the first from his small Texas high school to attend Purdue.
College was never something he’d thought or heard much about growing up about 40 miles northwest of Dallas. But he seemed destined for it.
The oldest child of Mexican immigrant parents, Juarez had a knack for math and an interest in space fueled by watching documentaries as a child. A student in the First-Year Engineering Program, his goal is to work on propulsion systems or “anything that flies.”
At Purdue, Juarez discovered the Minority Engineering Program when he went to seek tutoring help during his first semester in 2024. For 50 years, MEP has been providing support and programs to historically underrepresented students to help them succeed in engineering.
Through MEP, Juarez said he’s found friends – and a community to support him.
Though Juarez initially went in for tutoring because he was struggling with chemistry 11500, he said he’s gotten more out of MEP than he ever expected. The peer-mentoring initiative paired him with upperclassmen who helped Juarez better understand the chemistry material.
He also found an invaluable mentor: Jessica L. Perkins, senior recruitment and retention analyst, with whom he meets weekly. He credited her with helping him set academic goals and providing him tips to help him learn how to study and manage his time.
“She was the one pushing me,” he said. “It was mainly her that helped me get through.”
One of Juarez’s favorite aspects of MEP has been the exam prep sessions he’s attended before midterms and finals. In a small group setting, Juarez said he and other students have the opportunity to ask professors questions about material with which they are struggling.
Now that Juarez is in his second semester at Purdue, he said he is applying for summer internships. He also hopes to give back to the university by being involved in high school outreach and providing prospective students tours of the College of Engineering.