A CASA Story: Evelyn Reyes

Evelyn Reyes was born and raised in Fresno, CA. One of five children, she was a first-generation Latina college student and, with her attendance at the University of Michigan, the first in her family to attend college outside of California. At a “Welcome to Michigan” event for Latine students, Reyes recalls hearing GEAR UP Program Director Laura Saavedra share her first-gen college experiences, which “resonated” with Reyes during her early days on the Ann Arbor campus. “I really wanted to work for her.”

Reyes joined the Center for Educational Outreach during the second semester of her freshman year, working for CEO as a College Access and Success Ambassador (CASA) throughout her four years of undergrad. While leading campus tours, Reyes says that she was “encouraged to share authentic stories.” In particular, she reflects, “I wasn’t just given bullet points of speaker notes. The good, the bad, the ugly, I was supported in sharing my story.”

Connecting with her community continued with involvement in La Casa and Lambda Theta Alpha, the first Latina sorority in the nation. “That was a really pivotal time,” Reyes recounts. “Not only was I building community, but I had a more active role in the Michigan community,” where she planned programming around voting rights, undocumented students and mental health.

Reyes credits her work with CEO, and the leadership development she received from CEO staff, as informing her work starting a nonprofit while still a U-M student. Mi Casa Es Tu Casa, a Central California outreach program that helps families with limited opportunities learn about their post-secondary options through online and in-person resources, strongly aligns with CEO’s mission of expanding educational outreach. Since graduating from U-M and entering the workforce, she still contributes to the local student outreach efforts, as CEO modeled that “you can still make an impact in your free time, even if my day-to-day is not supporting students.”

This story originally appeared in “Celebrating 15 Years of Educational Outreach.”