Study abroad experiences are a popular draw for prospective students of Elon University. The allure of life in a distant land is both exciting and novel. 

But there is another side to moving abroad, whether temporarily or for the rest of one’s life. There are a handful of international students studying at Elon, but it is clear that most of the student body is comprised of American citizens. 

Senior Juliana Sierra Bedoya, originally from Colombia, is neither the average student nor American. 

Bedoya defies not only the general demographic of Elon’s student body, but also defies misconceptions unjustly inflicted upon an entire class of the nation, as she was an undocumented immigrant.

Bedoya is a first-generation college student who will graduate in May with a degree in International Studies and has been accepted into the City Year program in Washington, D.C., that brings diverse, young adults into under-privileged schools.

She worked to make the most out of her college experience at Elon, participating in the Semester At Sea study abroad program and traveling the world. On top of her academic achievements and involvement, she was her mother’s translator.

Coming to the United States

 

At age 3, the only thing Bedoya wanted was to go back to Colombia. She did not understand why she could not leave the United States and see her family again. When she was about 8, her mother explained to her that they were undocumented immigrants.

“In December 1997, when I was 3-years-old, my family made the decision to immigrate to the United States from our home country, Colombia,” Bedoya said. They didn’t have any money, they didn’t know how to speak English and they didn’t graduate from college. All they knew was that America was the land of opportunity and that it would be their only chance to provide me with a better life and with opportunities that they didn’t have growing up.”

At first, the idea of living so far from the place her 3-year-old-self called home didn’t seem so bad — the prospect of seeing snow especially excited her. 

As time went by and she grew older, her excitement diminished as she started to realize that there were some important differences between her family and other families. 

“My mom kept me in the loop of everything,” Bedoya said. “She never tried to hide anything from me. She was very honest with me, which in one way, I’m very grateful for because I always knew what our situation was like growing up, but at the same time, I think it sort of took away from my childhood because she never tried to preserve that innocence. She was always like, ‘You can’t do that ‘cause you’re undocumented,’ or, ‘Get your head out of the clouds because this is the reality.’” 

Rhode Island has a large Portuguese, Polish and Latino population, so Bedoya was immersed in different cultures. But this changed when she moved down the coast to North Carolina.

“I walked in and there were only two Latinos in the class. Everyone else was white and there was one African-American,” she said. “I remember feeling very uncomfortable,” 

By the time Bedoya was 11 her mother was raising her and her brother as a single mother.

“We lived every day with the fear that all her sacrifices to give me a better life would be for nothing if I could not obtain legal status in this country,” Bedoya said.

Unexpected challenges

When she turned 13, Bedoya’s life was drastically changed again. Her mother got married to a man who was in the military and lived in Maryland, so her entire family moved. For a moment Bedoya felt something she hadn’t felt in a long time — she felt safe. But it didn’t play out as expected. 

Bedoya’s experience in Maryland was one of the worst of her life.

“He had three children of his own, and then my mom had me and my brother, so we lived in a three bedroom apartment — all seven of us, and we didn’t get along,” she said. “They picked on my brother a lot. I remember just never wanting to go to school — I hated the school. It was not welcoming at all.”

Bedoya’s mom was not well mentally, and the family dealt with fights and differences. Eventually, her mom told them they were leaving to keep them from being put at risk.

Even though Bedoya’s mother wanted a better life for her children and for herself, the family couldn’t just leave.

“[My stepfather’s] dad was sick.He was dying of cancer, and his mom had called him and told him that he wanted to see the family,” Bedoya said. “So he asked my mom to stay just to help him through that, and my mom was like ‘Ok, I’ll go with you, but then after that, I’m leaving.’”

Bedoya and her family were kicked out of their step-grandmother’s house because they were Latinos. Bedoya’s step-grandmother bought them bus tickets to return home.

The bus ride took about a week, and they had to get on and off different buses several times.

“There was one bus in particular in which we were crossing the Mexico border and, thinking back, we realized that it was very much intentional,” Bedoya said. “Suddenly, the bus stopped, I looked at my mom and with a terrified look on her face, she said ‘Immigration’.”

According to Bedoya, two immigration officers came aboard the bus for an immigration checkpoint.One of the officers approached them, so Bedoya handed him her mom’s military ID and her American brother’s passport, but she couldn’t find her military ID. 

But Bedoya lucked out. As the officer looked at the IDs she handed in, she desperately looked for hers. When the officer realized Bedoya couldn’t find her ID, he called the other officer, who just looked at her and said, “They’re fine. Let them be.”

“I’ve been through some tough situations in my life,” Bedoya said. “I have had to face almost being evicted from a home, having to worry about whether we are going to have food in our table, and three years ago, I survived a car crash that should have killed me. But no hardship or fear that I have had to face has come close to the fear that I had on that day, when my entire life, my future and my family’s fate was in the hands of a complete stranger.”

Becoming a legal immigrant

Fortunately, Bedoya and her family’s string of bad luck changed. In 2010, her mother remarried and after going through a lot of paperwork, Bedoya was able to obtain legal status. 

Bedoya considers her stepfather their “guardian angel” and is so thankful for everything he did and continues to do for her and her family. After obtaining her legal status, Bedoya was able to finally visit Colombia — the thing that she had wished for since she was a child.

“I never thought I would see the day that everything I had gone through would have been worth it until I walked up to my childhood home in Colombia and was reunited with my grandfather, who is still one of the most important people in my life,” Bedoya said. “Seeing him cry tears of joy and say, ‘Welcome home, mija’ was worth the wait.” 

Bedoya is seen by her peers as a strong woman who can achieve her goals no matter what.

“Juliana’s story was amazing and terrifying,’ said freshman Kayla Ervin, who heard Bodoya speak at El Centro. “Living her life on-edge every day must have had a significant impact on her. I can’t imagine that fear, and I think it’s great that she told it in its entirety.”  

Looking back, Bedoya sees that her struggles were well worth it for the academic opportunities she’s received. 

“I began my college application process and was able to qualify for financial aid,” she said. “I graduated [high school] having the most scholarship offers and academic acceptances in my class. I could apply for a job and I was finally able to go back to Colombia. After 14 years of living in fear, being told that I don’t belong, I could finally call the country I grew up in home.”