March 25, 2022
Javier Menjivar, a son of Mexican and El Salvadoran immigrants, has found acceptance, encouragement and hope at Hartnell College – all of which were in short supply during a childhood marred by poverty, mistreatment, dislocation and ultimately estrangement.
After graduating from Alisal High School in May 2019, Menjivar sought direction in life by enlisting in the Marine Corps but was discharged within months due to ankle tendonitis. Back in Salinas and still in “Marine mode,” he took a bus to Hartnell, went straight to the TRIO office and within hours had an educational plan in hand and was registered for fall classes. Hartnell, he says, has helped him find his footing again.
He has received academic honors, and now he plans to transfer to a four-year university and complete a bachelor’s degree in economics, possibly followed by another try at the Marines through the Reserve Officers Training Corps. “Even though I was not able to complete my enlistment in the Marine Corps, I was determined to complete my education at Hartnell College,” Menjivar said. He applied the discipline he’d learned in boot camp to his classes and earned a 4.0 his first semester, despite having struggled through much of high school. He remained successful during the pandemic while completing his online classes from his aunt’s home in southern Mexico because he was not welcome at his mother’s house. While there, he struggled with spotty internet and, worse, threats from a violent drug cartel.
Menjivar has taken full advantage of opportunities and support available at Hartnell, including the Salinas Valley Promise tuition and mentorship program and TRIO, which provides support services for low-income and first-generation students programs, and Extended Opportunity Programs and Services, also offering extra support to low-income students. He has been an avid student worker, first as a Student Ambassador in the Panther Learning Lab and then helping with Mi CASA, which serves undocumented students. Despite his lingering injury, Menjivar went out for cross country, though not fast enough to truly compete, and he joined the Umoja program to explore his newly discovered Afro-Latin heritage. He avoided homelessness thanks to help from the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, managed by the Hartnell College Foundation, and was a featured student speaker at the foundation’s President’s Circle Holiday Reception on Dec. 8, 2021.
Naturally an introvert, Menjivar said he’s constantly seeking to move beyond his comfort zone: “I told myself I have to put myself in uncomfortable situations if I want to better myself. I worked in the restaurants, I worked in the fields. I can’t make a big impact in those jobs.”