Shaun Ho / The Collegian

As the Coordinator of University Migrant Services at Fresno State, Raul Moreno̢۪s job is to help and motivate students as they make their way through school. Yet many of those students he has personally helped probably don̢۪t know that Moreno actually dropped out of school.

But thanks to a couple of advisers much like he is now, Moreno worked hard to get his bachelor̢۪s degree and took the job here at Fresno State.

Experience, as Moreno said, is an essential part of life. And it̢۪s because of experience that Moreno lives a life where obstacles are not a reason to quit.

“Many incidents and many people have influenced my life to do what I do,â€Â said Moreno, who has overcome many obstacles that at different points made success seem unattainable –– the first being Moreno’s childhood of work.

“I came to this country to work, not to go to school. My father was a brasero [season worker in the U.S.]. He took a letter to the embassy in the early ‘70s to bring us to the United States,â€Â Moreno said.

Moreno̢۪s father was told by his boss that the boss would petition for Moreno̢۪s family in the United States if they all came to work for him. The rest was history.

“So we all came to work,â€Â Moreno said.

Moreno is the only member of his family that has studied and earned a degree. But he wasn̢۪t introduced to school by choice.

An automobile accident changed the route of his life when he was 15-years-old. Moreno lost 75 percent of his vision.

“I could no longer be an effective farm worker; I was useless. I wasn’t good to pick nectarines, or to pick oranges,â€Â Moreno said. “My father told me that my only choice was to go to school.â€Â

School was painful for Moreno. He spent almost one year sitting in the back of the class. His teacher just gave him scissors to cut paper, while the rest of the class learned at a normal pace.

“I didn’t know English, I had no friends and my self-esteem was low,â€Â he shared about the hardships of trying to communicate with others who didn’t lend that same effort in return.

Moreno, feeling lost and desperate –– decided to stop attending school.

“I went to my dad and told him that I didn’t want to go to school anymore and his answer was ‘OK,’ That was his answer: ‘OK’,â€Â Moreno said.

But Moreno wasn’t given the ‘OK’ for long.

Moreno said he was out from school for about a week when Benjamin Duran called his father. Duran, at the time, was part of the migrant program in Moreno̢۪s school. Today he is the president of Merced College, and Moreno̢۪s friend.

Duran asked why Moreno had been absent from school. Moreno̢۪s father told Duran it was a decision that his son had made.

But Duran wasn̢۪t going to settle for that answer.

“Benjamin Duran then asked me ‘What can I do to get you to go back to school?’ and I said ‘Get me somebody to help me,’â€Â Moreno said.

Duran agreed and Moreno went back to school.

Moreno finished high school taking English as Second Language classes, then went to Merced College. By this time Moreno said that his self-esteem had increased.

“There were no busses to take me to college, and I couldn’t drive. So I went to a dean in the college and told him my situation. His answer was, ‘If you get four people from your community to come to college I’ll give you guys a car.’ So I did find them, and he gave us a car,â€Â said Moreno, who believes that finding four students and receiving a free car wasn’t the most important thing. “The difference was that I learned to ask.â€Â

Moreno earned a bachelor̢۪s degree in linguistics/Spanish from Fresno State. He struggled after his graduation, and not being able to find a job threw him into desperation. Moreno needed money, and without a job he wasn̢۪t able to pay for his rent. He decided to move back in with his parents and work in the fields.

“I was working in the fields again, until one day I woke up and said ‘I have a bachelor’s degree! What am I doing here?’ So I went out and came back and applied to every office at Fresno State,â€Â Moreno said.

Moreno was motivated and optimistic about the possibility of getting a job related to his career, but soon realized that it was more complicated than he expected.

“I did not receive any phone calls; they all wanted experience,â€Â Moreno said.

Moreno had $800 in savings, and thought he could sustain himself for one semester. His rent was about $100 a month.

“That is when I found Dr. Ron Freeman. I begged him to let me be his assistant in class, but his answer was ‘no,’â€Â said Moreno, who explained that Freeman couldn’t pay him to be his assistant.

“So I did it for free, for experience. I used to do everything for him in his class; it got to the point where he would call me and tell me that he wasn’t going to make it to class. So I had to teach,â€Â Moreno said.

At the end of that semester, Moreno̢۪s money was gone, and he still didn̢۪t have one job offer.

“I was out of money, I was sad. But God is good,â€Â Moreno said.

At 10 a.m. the next morning, Moreno was on his way out to go back to his parents̢۪ house when he received a phone call.

“It was Dr. Freeman; he told me that there were two job openings, teaching Spanish and English here in Fresno State. I said ‘perfect’ and I took them both,â€Â Moreno said, and explained that it was the beginning of a successful career.

“From that day on I have never had to ask for a job again, because of experience. They just come and come by themselves. That is why I am here,â€Â Moreno said. “When the Director of UMS found me, with the background I had of working in the fields and teaching English at a university he knew I was perfect for the position of coordinator for the migrant program,â€Â said Moreno

Today, Moreno has accumulated 21 years of experience working at Fresno State.

As UMS coordinator, Moreno helps students with their academic and personal issues they encounter at Fresno State.

“I make sure students are taking the right classes for their major. I help them get an academic plan for their career and gain experience in their field with paid internships,â€Â Moreno said.

Moreno has helped many students plan ahead.

“He has prepared me to be better in the future with my career,â€Â said Erika Lua, a Fresno State student and assistant in Moreno’s office. “He is a very good person to talk to. Raul bonds with students. Besides being a counselor, he is a good friend.â€Â

Roberto Vaca, a Fresno State graduate student, has also earned a master̢۪s degree in counseling. Vaca is currently working at Sanger High School as a counselor. He credits much of his success to Moreno.

“Raul is that person who always has the door open to bring minority students to a university level,â€Â said Vaca, who thinks of Moreno as a hero. “Regardless of his disability, he fights for education. If he didn’t exist at Fresno State, many Hispanic students wouldn’t be in the university. He is like the Robin Hood to migrant students that want to go to the university.â€Â

Whether the problem deals with immigration, education, social services or even charity, Moreno has an answer to students̢۪ needs. He helps students who don̢۪t qualify for financial aid and he finds them scholarships and internships to prepare students with experience before they graduate.

Moreno is also a member of numerous non-profit organizations that help raise money for student scholarships.

“I’m an advocate for the service of migrant students at all levels,â€Â Moreno said, who explains that he is not paid to do it. “My paid job is to be a coordinator and counselor for students. The rest is paid off by seeing students succeed.â€Â