IDEA Alumni: Marcos Cadenas

During his sophomore year at IDEA, Marcos Cadenas received a letter in the mail from Wabash College, asking a simple yet profound question: "What kind of man do you want to be?"

WITH ONLY TWO YEARS LEFT IN HIS HIGH SCHOOL

CAREER, he had been considering the next steps in his academic career. However, the weight of the question stuck with Marcos.

He immediately told his college counselor at IDEA College Preparatory Mission about the letter and how deeply it resonated with him. He had asked himself the same question many times before, and here it was in his hands, begging a response.

His counselor encouraged him to learn more and set up a campus visit. Upon arriving at the small men’s college northwest of Indianapolis, he knew Wabash College was the place for him. "That support and motivation at that time were crucial," he says. "I was a junior, and I wasn’t thinking about going to see a college in Indiana. To have that mentor at school, guiding me to sign up and try meant everything to me. It was a life-changing experience because IDEA allowed me to find my path."

It was the start of a journey that would see Marcos ultimately bid farewell to his family and travel over 1,100 miles from home to begin a new chapter as a first-generation college student at Wabash College in Indiana.

The experience is far removed from where his story began as a child moving around different parts of Mexico. He remembers moving to the U.S. during his 7th-grade year after his father was offered a job. It was a decision for the family that truly reflected and reinforced his parents’ values. "Coming from Mexico to the U.S. is what kept my family and me going," he recalls. "I have a very loving and supportive family. My parents taught us the value of hard work and keeping a positive attitude. They always made sure that my sisters and I had opportunities to grow."

Marcos’ two older sisters went to college, and it was expected for him to continue the tradition as a first-generation college student. "It was never a matter of ‘if’ I would go to college," he says. "It was always understood that I would go because my family values education as a means to create opportunities. My eldest sister studied in Mexico and is an engineer for PepsiCo. My other sister studied accounting at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and is an accountant at Ernst & Young, one of the top four accounting firms in the world."

Marcos graduated from IDEA Mission in 2018 and headed for Indiana. Though the weather, the landscape, and even the people were different, Marcos says there is a real sense of family and community at the college.

"There are about 850 students here, and everyone knows each other," he says. "I joined a fraternity as well, so the family atmosphere here reminds me of IDEA. It feels like people know you and want you to succeed, and that’s exactly how I felt at IDEA Mission."

In 2019, Marco was dealt the first of two significant challenges. First, the United States’ political climate had created a situation in which his parents had to sell the family home and return to Mexico because of their immigration status. "I was able to help my family pack up their belongings and move back to Mexico because there was a clear deadline for their exit," he says. "They had to leave by a certain date or risk compliance in the immigration process. They have limited English skills, so I did my research and helped translate with the lawyers. But the U.S. immigration process is time-consuming and expensive."

While the experience was difficult, Marcos was dealt an even greater blow in 2020 when COVID-19 began to touch communities across America, and Wabash College was officially shut down until further notice.

Without his parents, or a home to return to in the Rio Grande Valley, Marcos needed a way to return to stay with his sister living in Houston while the pandemic played out. Like many alumni, Marcos turned to IDEA for help and was granted emergency funding from IDEA’s Give Me 5 scholarship program to travel home.

Founded in 2008 to support students even further on their quest for a college degree, IDEA’s Give Me 5 is an all-staff giving campaign that awards scholarships and loans to students facing financial hardships related to college.

With an annual goal of at least 90% of staff contributing to the campaign, the 2019-2020 academic year achieved its signature goal despite the challenges presented by COVID-19.

Students often use the money for tuition, textbooks, living expenses, and unexpected emergencies such as the one Marcos was experiencing due to the pandemic.

In total, IDEA spent $200,000 in emergency funding in 2020 due to unforeseen circumstances stemming from COVID-19.

Marcos says he has not seen his parents in over a year because of the challenges presented by freely crossing the border with a student visa. Still, the family remains close and hopes for the day they can all be together.

The situation merely fuels Marcos to focus on success in college and beyond. "There is even more motivation for me to do well in college, graduate, and find a good job," he says. "Because I am on a student visa, I will have a short grace period after graduating from college in which to find a job and remain in the U.S."

Despite his challenges, Marcos is laser-focused on seeing other IDEA alumni succeed. Alongside his studies, Marcos serves IDEA as an Alumni Funding Fellow on IDEA's National To & Through College team, Marcos encourages other IDEA alumni to go as far as they can to reach their goals.

He is a co-founder of the "GM5 Scholars Program," where he manages and coaches an alumni cohort of 130 and has achieved a 93% collegiate sophomore persistence rate among Give Me 5 scholars from IDEA's Class of 2019. "I have been on the other side of the conversation where I had the uncertainty of not knowing what I wanted to do," Marcos said. "But just getting that extra little push by someone that believes in you, it goes a long way. It changed my life and where I wanted it to be. If I can do that for someone else—pay it forward—that would be mean everything to me."

Today, Cadenas is back in Indiana at Wabash College well into his junior year. He is majoring in economics with a minor in religion and considering several paths after college, including law school.

He remains optimistic and hopeful about his future. His Wabash College family has become his surrogate family, and they all support each other through their obstacles. "You have to come to the campus to experience it for yourself," he said. "It’s hard to explain it. I am becoming the best version of myself here. The sense of community, the brotherhood, and the shared mission, that’s why I fell in love with this college—because it feels just like IDEA." ♦