UTPA student to attend Harvard Divinity School
Note: This article originally appeared online May 7, 2013 in The Pan American website. The Pan American was the student newspaper at my former university, The University of Texas - Pan American, where I got into writing. Ultimately, TPA was shut down as a result of a merger with neighboring university to make way for The University of Texas - Rio Grande Valley and the new student publication did not transfer anything from TPA. Here's one of my articles for them that was saved thanks to the miracle of Google Docs.
According to Lourdes Servantes, the director of Career Placement Services, six UTPA graduates have attended an Ivy League school since 2005. These students went to either Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, Yale, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Columbia or Brown University, and now Francisco Patiño joins them.
Patiño feels that there are not enough physicians in the Rio Grande Valley.
“I remember a few years back when my older sister was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and I saw how overworked the specialist was,” he said. “He was only of of two endocrinologists in the Valley.
To face this issue, the pre-med biology and general studies major decided to become a physician to open his own practice in the Valley. Patiño is one step closer to reaching his goal of attending Harvard Medical School, his dream university, after being accepted into Harvard Divinity School March 13.
Divinity is one of Harvard’s 13 constituent schools in Cambridge, Mass. At the university, students are taught in the study of religion.
For his graduate studies the 22 year old will pursue a master’s degree in science and religion, a field he said interested him.
“I’ve always wondered why a lot of people are into religion,” Patiño said. “I want to go (to Divinity) to understand more about it and see if I can maybe find a religion I can identify with.”
Aside from studying religion, Patiño plans on doing stem cell research at Divinity to fulfill a science background for his medical school application.
Patiño is a first generation college student - the first to attend and graduate from college in his family.
“We are so proud of him,” said his mother Martha Mendez. “I remember thinking that him attending Harvard was just a distant dream, but he accomplished it. He has worked hard for this, he deserves it. I know he can do anything he sets his mind to and wish him the best.”
Patiño was one of six UTPA students who were invited summer 2012 to visit Harvard Kennedy School of Government at Cambridge for a weeklong stay by the Latino Leadership Initiative. The LLI is a Harvard organization that promotes education among the Latino community.
David Carrasco, an LLI speaker and history of religions professor at Harvard, recommended that Patiño apply to the school. Carrasco would eventually write him a letter of recommendation.
The following November, Patiño visited Divinity School as part of the Diversity and Explorations program, a Harvard program geared toward minorities.
“After staying at the dorms for a week and meeting several faculty and staff members, I enjoyed my experience. The idea of studying religion interested me and I’ve always been curious about it. I thought that I could handle going to school there,” Patiño said.
Patiño decided to apply to graduate school to attend Divinity fall 2013, after he graduates from UTPA this semester.
“It felt like it was a now or never situation for me,” he said. “I had to do it immediately or risk losing the contacts I had made at Divinity.”
His mother explained why achieving an education in health is personal for her son.
“An aunt of his died of diabetes when he was young, it really affected him,” the Tamaulipas, Mexico native explained. “He wants to learn about medicine to help people so that other families don’t suffer like we did.”
For Patiño, his parents are another motivation.
“My parents are proud of me. They’ve worked so hard for me and my siblings and have made so many sacrifices for us,” he said. “They live in Reynosa while me and my siblings live here. I’ve been pushing myself to do the best I can because of them.”
Patiño is also active at UTPA, being an officer of three student organizations: Student Engagement Alliance, Tri-Beta Biological Honors Society and Sigma Delta Pi Spanish Honor Society and works as a mentor in the Sophomore Academic Mentoring Program.
Patiño also gave advice to students who aspire to attend an Ivy League school.
“The fact that I am a first generation college graduate and that I am going to Harvard shows that everything is possible when you work hard enough,” he said. “I don't think there is nothing special about me. In fact, anyone can go to Harvard (or any other Ivy League School) as long as they have the desire to learn and the determination to work hard enough.”
