That advice from Farmingdale State College (FSC) Education Counselor Ken Grotell has stuck with Mario Mejia,'19. And it served him well, he said, when he prepared to enter the professional world of physical therapy after graduating from SUNY Upstate College of Health Professions in May 2022.
Mejia met Grotell when he was a part of FSC’s TRIO Program—a selective program for first generation students who may need extra support to stay in school, finish a degree, and pursue graduate study. Meija was a Science, Technology, & Society major. Grotell’s words struck a chord, because Mejia’s life has always been a bit out of his hands. To get where he is, he’s had to rely on others, make and remake expectations, and hope for the best.
His story begins in high school, when Mejia ruptured his ACL, a ligament in his knee, playing football. It was during his rehabilitation that he became interested in the science of physical therapy. As he learned more about what it might take to pursue advanced study and work in a health care setting, he became dispirited.
Mejia was an undocumented immigrant, brought to New York from Honduras by his parents when he was just 5 years old. And though he considered himself an American and Hempstead was the only home he could truly remember, he knew his status could make it difficult to pursue higher education or a career in medicine.
But in the summer of 2012, the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) immigration policy came online, allowing people like Mejia, who were brought to the country as children, to avoid deportation and obtain work permits.
Suddenly, a world of possibilities lay before Mejia: college, graduate school, and becoming a doctor of physical therapy.
But still, there were certain paths that were unavailable to Mejia as a Dreamer. DACA recipients couldn't apply for federal financial aid, including student loans and grants.
“My family is incredibly hardworking, but there was no way we could have afforded college, let alone physical therapy school,” he said. That’s where the Tortora Sillcox Family Foundation came in.
In 2015, Mejia received a full academic scholarship from the Foundation to attend Nassau Community College, and two years later he was one of six scholarship recipients to attend FSC as part of the inaugural Sillcox Scholars Program.
FSC was a perfect fit, Mejia said. “It was by far the best option for me. I was working full time, living at home, and it was close by. Most of all, it met all the criteria I needed to go on to PT school.”
As he neared the end of a seven-year educational journey made possible by philanthropy last year, Mejia was planning to give back. His first goal is to start a foundation to help students like him. “I was only able to achieve what I have because someone believed in me and sponsored me on my path to becoming a doctor,” he said.
Mejia's second goal: Open a nonprofit physical therapy clinic in his home country of Honduras.