Consider the semicolon; it’s the oft-maligned punctuation that first appeared in an account of climbing Mount Aetna by one Aldus Manutius in 1494[i], much later than most of our typical punctuation marks. From courtrooms to literary salons, it has been controversial ever since. However, literati perhaps did not notice that the semicolon has taken on a new meaning beyond a pause connecting two sentences; it is now a metaphor for life itself. This was my discovery on this particular study abroad trip, but permit a modest digression before we return to this odd little symbol.
“All in life is connected,” as spoken earnestly by Fernanda Rojas-Ramirez. This
is her story.
Fernanda first connected with our
study abroad program in 2017, about the time we integrated multiple academic
programs within our college into a single study abroad mission, including
Integrated Behavioral Health (IBH). Still
in college at the University of Costa Rica (UCR), she was brought into the
program as a host for her particular connections to people and places students
could study in San Ramon.
2017
With an older sister by three
years and a younger brother by seven, she learned early to be independent. As
her mother doted on her infant brother, she became tired of always answering
the perennial childhood questions about what words were that she taught
Fernanda to read and write by age 5, with Cinderella her first book she
still possesses. A voracious reader and
learner, she wears a small tattoo above her ankle that reflects continuous
learning. In high school, she was
interested in sports, but not about athletics, rather about the athletes
themselves. She wanted to be a sportswriter, a journalist, to give them a voice as she sensed they needed a better
support network.
Because she surreptitiously got her
eyebrow pierced (by a friend) early in high school, her mother tried to pull
her out of high school, but her counselor intervened and convinced her mother
to keep her in school. Fernanda did not have
a close loving relationship with her mother, especially for this attempt to
stifle her most ardent love: learning. Nor
was her father a part of her life; he was psychologically abusive to her mother,
her sister and herself, and was incarcerated for four months for attempting
murder upon them, laying out pictures of the three of them on a table, altar
style, as if on display at their own funeral.
The only reason her death did not come by his hand was that he called in
the threat to her mother as she was reporting the abuse to the (somewhat
disbelieving) police, who heard the conversation and arrested him.
Against her mother’s wishes (as she
thought her to be chasing a boyfriend), she enrolled in the International
Baccalaureate School in 2011, matriculating there by the official consent of her
then 19-year old sister. In Costa Rica,
the IBS program is six years where high school is normally five. Therein, she excelled, for the program was
rich with research as a basis of learning.
Because of the research focus, and not the “box-checking” series of rote
testing done by traditional high schools, Fernanda did not score as well on standardized tests as she
was capable of, and thus did not get into the journalism program at the University of Costa Rica, part
of a larger college of public relations and marketing. Her test scores revealed she would be a good
meteorologist, but when she discovered an abundant content of math and physics
therein, she knew she needed something else, but not certain what that was to
be.
She took a job at a clothing store while pursuing General Studies in 2013 and soon was a “floater” at any of their five stores on any given day, learning the art and management of selling. Along the way, she met Johanna, a retired social worker who agreed to help her practice for the admission test to the University of Costa Rica, but with a condition. Not requiring payment, she would work to help Fernanda pass the necessary exams that would get her past the college gates, where she could then choose her path. The condition placed upon this mentorship was that Fernanda would have to pay it back by volunteering. She passed her exams easily, though her path was still not clear. A skills assessment test taken at the time revealed she would be good at philology (study of words), a nurse, or a social worker. Greatly influenced by Johanna’s own career and friendship, she chose social work – she believed it to be her calling.
Her remittance for Johanna’s
efforts brought her to the Community Action Alliance (CAA), a non-profit
organization primarily of ex-pat Americans dedicated toward local good
works. They sought to help the George
Washington School obtain solar panels by helping to sell books in 2014. Initially assigned to help out for only one
day, she instead helped out for the entire event. With a surplus of books remaining to be sold,
she set up a way to sell the surplus online.
She soon found herself in charge of the CAA’s scholarship committee, a position
she held for seven years and one that would lead her to meet Dustin Dresser,
the host and former student of mine managing our local Study Abroad
program. She eventually became President
of CAA, a position she held until just recently, all while going through her various academic achievements.
This determination paid off, not
only by the networking accomplished but by the recognition of the
bright star she was (is). Her Education Committee
of the CAA found out that her father had stolen her computer while she was away
from home, and they paid for a new computer for her to start her program in
Social Work at the UCR. While there in
2017, she earned a scholarship to the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile
for a special program of Specialization Studies in Social Work, easily admitted
with fourteen letters of recommendation and as the only student, and a rare
undergraduate from Central America, to earn this honor. While in Santiago, she volunteered at a jail
for teenagers, honing her ability to understand this age group.
Returning to Costa Rica to finish her Bachelor’s degree in Social Work in 2018, she enrolled in the Social Worker Licensing program that required she defend her chosen thesis on suicide prevention. With her determination, she convinced a skeptical thesis committee of her research premise that suicide was not tied to any particular socio-economic class, but rather is determined by other social factors. Her determined pursuit of her thesis resulted in a 500+ page tome entitled Suicide and youth: analysis of socialization processes as explanatory factors of the experience of suicidal ideation in a group of young people residing in the canton of Palmares, in the period 2019-2021, rich with qualitative interviews that delve deep into the reasons for suicide, leading her to discover ways of preventing it. Whilst on my bicycle trip this past summer (2021), I listened to her thesis defense presentation with a mixture of pride and awe. Her thesis has received honor recognition from a university tribunal. Further, while working on her thesis, she completed a diploma program in suicidology at the Universidad de Manizales in Colombia in 2020, receiving special recognition from the program. The dedication of her thesis is translated as follows:
I dedicate this
thesis to all the young people who have experienced suicidal ideation. This
investigative process was a significant experience that gave me strength and hope
to resist, feel and reflect from the affirmation of life. I dedicate myself to validate
your experiences, meanings and feelings. From my humble position I hope to
break the stigma and silence and facilitate awareness of the suicidal
phenomenon. You are the yellow color of my life.
So why am I writing about her? Because of her heart, because of her passion, because of her accomplishments.
She was going through much of this experience while also helping our program do its good work in San Ramon. Every year since 2017 when she started as a 22-year old, we enjoyed many walks and talks where I learned about the beauty in her heart, the earnest need to care for others less fortunate, not just to care, but to truly learn about them. We have talked of her remarkable, unselfish commitment to not bear her own children but to adopt children to eventually form her family. We have touched base every year, and sometimes in-between, where on every occasion I have fed her with encouragement . . . and ice cream!
2019
In 2020, we went swimming on the north beach
of Manuel Antonio National Park, where she revealed she did not know how to
swim. I tried to teach her, to get her
to float without sinking, to swim any possible stroke that felt natural. As I
mentioned, she is a learner, and after my departure, she took up swimming
lessons and now swims regularly. She
asked me to bring special shampoo for chlorine-infused hair – that is serious!
2020
And we have talked about, and with,
Aldo, her sweetheart, her friend, her supporter, about his patience as she continues
to pursue her quest. We spoke of plans, dreams, and love. And on this particular trip, I enjoyed the company of both Aldo and Fernanda as we shared meals, a love of bicycling (at least Aldo anyway) as we toured parts of Costa Rica I had never before experienced. I am eternally grateful to both of them. All the while they nurtured my Spanish.
2022
Today, she works as a social worker
in San Jose, with IRCA CasAbierta, an
organization that assists and defends the rights of LGBT migrants and refugees as
they integrate into Costa Rican society, tasked with, among other things,
social research.
This brings me back to the
semi-colon; I learned something on this recent visit, resulting from a
breakfast discussion over the earrings worn by Fernanda, one a round disc, the
other an apostrophe, and together: a semi-colon. According to Project Semicolon, “a semicolon is
used when an author could've chosen to end their sentence, but chose not to.
The author is you, and the sentence is your life.”
Fernanda is, in some way, a
semi-colonic metaphor. Her path is a
series of phrases, all connected in some way, and never-ending. She possesses “phrases” that speak simultaneously
of love and compassion for people and their worlds. In a word, she is remarkable, and I am honored and proud to know her.
From my perspective, though, Fernanda
is an exclamation point!
[i]
Source: Watson, Cecelia, Semicolon; The Past Present and Future of a
Misunderstood Mark, Ecco, 2019
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