Eleazar Gamez has endured as a student at Portland State University despite several challenges, like having a parent with cancer or being denied participation in a research program because of his legal status. A first-generation immigrant to the United States, Gamez found a home at PSU and has thrived as both a Child, Youth, and Family Studies (CYFS) and a Social Sciences student. He’s also a leader engaged with our community. Gamez started at PSU in 2018 and plans to graduate in 2023.
Before PSU, Gamez was born in Mexico and immigrated to the United States when he was just four months old. Undocumented for the majority of his life, Gamez navigated the world with restrictions on the resources available to him.
“In reality,” he said, “I’ve been raised in this country. This is home.”
He recognizes that his journey at Portland State wasn’t traditional. Without the efforts and guidance of his high-school teachers Mrs. Cook and Mrs. Shelton, he may not have gone to college. In fact, when he first applied to the university, he didn’t meet its GPA requirement. But with the assistance of Tania Sanchez, the Associate Director of Multicultural Recruitment and Outreach, Gamez was eventually accepted to PSU.
“Who knows where I would be at this moment if it hadn’t been for her believing in me and helping with my journey,” Gamez said. “Without her, without the assistance she provided, I wouldn’t hold the positions or different leadership opportunities that I have right now. I wouldn’t be helping create change at Portland State. I’m very grateful for that.”
Currently under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), Gamez connects with his classes about Family Law and Policy or Structures of Oppression, due to his lived experience as an undocumented, first-generation college student.
Gamez said, “It’s given me a much more in-depth realization of the different struggles, as well as the barriers people overcome in this country.”
Now in his last year at PSU, Gamez is double majoring in both CYFS and Social Sciences. When Gamez’s mother was diagnosed with stage four terminal breast cancer during his freshman year at PSU, his professors in CYFS were very understanding and supported him so he could continue to find academic success.
“CYFS felt right. It felt natural for me. I connected with the material, with the classes I was taking,” Gamez said. “I have a passion and interest in learning more about the family dynamic, how family works within society, and the aspects of it all.”
Gamez called out educators like Keela Johnson, MCR and Ben Anderson-Nathe, PhD, MSW, MPP, as having a particular impact on him, helping him develop a new perspective about the world. Johnson taught Gamez’s Family and Society course, where he described having “amazing conversations,” with “one-of-a-kind care.”
“I genuinely miss being his instructor,” said Johnson. “Eleazar touched my heart and spirit, navigating such a traumatic experience as a student. For as much as he feels I taught him, he taught me that much more. I am in awe of his determination and strength, as well as his dedication to his little brother. I wish and hope all his goals and dreams are achieved. Our world needs this young man.”
In his Interpersonal Violence: Impact on Children & Families class with Traci Boyle-Galestiantz, MSW, LCSW, Gamez said he learned about the effects violence has on child development and how much care, counseling, and assistance they need to overcome such events. He’s also taken Structural Oppression with Anderson-Nathe.
“As a teacher, I love when students connect what we're doing in the classroom to the world outside those walls,” said Anderson-Nathe. “Eleazar did that all through our course, pulling together the threads of his experience before and at PSU, in legislation, in research, and in practice. He's a force for change!”
In response, Gamez said, “The professors in the CYFS program have been amazing and made an impact on the leadership roles I currently hold.”
When Gamez mentions his many leadership roles, he’s not exaggerating. First, he is the chair for the committee leading the establishment of a Dreamer Student Success Center. This group recently secured a physical space for the center as well as funding. They hope to see construction of the space by the end of the 2022–2023 academic year.
“There’s only a few institutions in the state of Oregon that have a center dedicated to bringing a community and resources aimed at undocumented Dreamer students,” said Gamez. “So it’s been a great sense of accomplishment helping establish a center at Portland State.”
Gamez is also the Director of Dream PSU, an organization aimed at bringing resources, a sense of community, and a voice for undocumented, DACA, immigrant students, and their allies. He also serves as a lead mentor for the GANAS (Gaining Awareness and Networking for Academic Success) Program for first-generation, Latinx, low-income students. Additionally, he serves as the community liaison for SOAR Immigration Legal Services, which leads efforts to bring more awareness to Oregon’s undocumented community regarding their rights and updates to immigration policy.
On top of all of that, Gamez is also a Ford Family Foundation Scholar, a scholar from the Diversity Scholarship Program, and a brother of the Omega Delta Phi fraternity.
But he feels his biggest accomplishment at Portland State is joining the EXITO program as a recruitment specialist for undocumented Dreamer students. Ironically, Gamez applied to the EXITO program when he first started at PSU, but was denied the opportunity to participate because of his legal status. He wanted to focus on cancer research, to try to learn more about his mother’s diagnosis and how to help other folks battling the disease.
Since then, the EXITO program secured funding from the Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission, the University Foundation, and PSU President Stephen Percy, specifically to help undocumented and DACA students at Portland State participate in research programs like EXITO.
Thomas Keller, PhD, MPA, Duncan & Cindy Campbell Professor in the School of Social Work and the Co-Investigator for BUILD EXITO said, “Since EXITO obtained institutional funding designated to open research training opportunities to undocumented students restricted from participation by federal program sponsors, Eleazar has provided amazing leadership in working with us to conduct outreach to undocumented students, build relationships with the Dreamer Student Center, and engage in advocacy. Eleazar has impressed us tremendously with his enthusiasm, initiative, knowledge, and especially his strong commitment to supporting Dreamers coming after him by improving their access to programs and services.”
“It’s truly a complete circle,” said Gamez, “Now I’m able to work alongside them and help create more opportunities. I love it. It’s great being a part of the family and working to really make change in our university.”
In addition to all of these roles on campus, Gamez also completed an internship with the Oregon Student Association (OSA), the only organized group in Oregon that lobbies the state legislature in the interest of higher education at the direction of students. Through this internship Gamez was able to work with legislators from both parties in the Oregon Senate and House of Representatives.
“We helped pass six bills into law,” said Gamez, “All focus on making college more accessible and easier for students in the state of Oregon.”
With the OSA, Gamez and other students were able to secure $29 million additional dollars to the Oregon Opportunity Grant, Oregon’s largest state-funded, need-based grant program for college students.
“It is a great sense of fulfillment,” said Gamez, “Looking back to my upbringing, being undocumented. It took me years to learn the English language. So going from not knowing English to where I am today is wonderful. It’s the American dream I would say.”
Gamez said that after graduation his goal is to apply to law school, focusing on family law and immigration. He’d like to stay in Oregon and is considering Lewis and Clark and the University of Oregon as possibilities, depending on who can provide him the right financial assistance.
“My majors really are setting me up to better serve the clients I’ll represent in the near future,” he said. “They equipped me with a new mentality and a new perspective on policy and laws with regard to the family dynamic.”
What are his plans after law school? Gamez said he wants to establish a foundation to focus on two topics. First, he wants to provide financial to first-generation undocumented/Dreamer students graduating from high school and going to college. Second, he aims to provide financial support and resources to Latinx mothers diagnosed with breast cancer.
After that?
“If things go as planned I would definitely like to run for a position as a senator in the state of Oregon.”