TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) -
Dare to dream, that's
what one girl growing up on Tucson's west side did, and now she's living the
dream.
Her inspirational story
started in the Barrio Hollywood neighborhood.
She's all grown up now and a doctor, inspiring kids at Manzo Elementary
to dream big just like she did.
"Getting here was a
culmination of a lot of baby steps," said Dr. Quihuis-Alvarez. The idea of becoming a doctor seemed too far
out of reach, but today, in her white coat Dr. Bernadette Quihuis-Alvarez has
beaten the odds. Growing up in Barrio
Hollywood neighborhood, and wanting to go to medical school, she says wasn't
the norm.
"I haven't been here in
30 years. I don't know if things have
changed, but when I was here being smart and liking to read and learn wasn't
very cool. Is it still not cool?" said
Dr. Quihuis-Alvarez.
She is sharing her
story with the kids at Manzo Elementary, the same school she grew up going
to. And judging by her school photos,
many of the students can see she is more like them than they think.
"I walked to school
like they did. I didn't come from a rich
family. I didn't come from an
influential family," said Dr. Quihuis-Alvarez.
"I got to where I was with just starting with a dream."
On her walks to and from
school, she remembers taking a break in the same spot. She would stand and stare at St. Mary's
Hospital, telling herself she'd be a doctor there someday.
But her peers didn't
make it easy for her. Remember it wasn't ‘cool' to be smart and Dr.
Quihuis-Alvarez loved science.
"One of the ways I kind
of bypassed those negative feelings, if people didn't want to be my friend
because I was smart, I would search out people that did like me. My qualities
because I liked to read, because I liked to study."
Dr. Quihuis-Alvarez has
come back to Southern Arizona because she wants to relate to the community she's
serving, and no better place to do that she says than at home. So she is getting herself out there.
"Letting people know
and the children that I'm available, approachable," she said. "I can understand and relate to the struggles
they may encounter if they're trying to achieve a dream and no matter what it
is doesn't have to be in the medical field."
Proof for these
children that anything is possible with hard work and determination. After graduating high school, she spent a
year at Pima Community College and then transferred to the University of
Arizona. After graduation from college
she went onto Medical school in New Jersey.
She now sees patients at St. Mary's Hospital and the El Rio Clinics.
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