Melissa Lizbeth Grijalva Hernandez

Melissa Grijalva is currently a student at New Mexico State University, School of Nursing with a double major in Spanish. She was born in Arizona but was raised her entire life in Taos, NM. She graduated high school and later transferred to Las Cruces to attend NMSU, which she now calls home. She is the first in her family to attend college. After seeing the struggles of her mother who raised her and her sister as a single Mexican immigrant parent, she understood the importance of receiving an education. She knew she wanted to become a nurse after a personal experience. As a result of many years of labor and untreated diseases due to the lack of medical treatment, her mother became chronically ill. As a young adult, she took care of her mother becoming her primary caregiver. Melissa grew a profound love to help and care for people at their most vulnerable points in life when they need it most. Upon graduation of nursing school, she aspires to become a labor and delivery nurse and continue to graduate school to become a Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner. She is currently involved in various school organizations and always tries to give back to her community through community service. She works at NMSU as a mentor for students who are first generation as well as non-traditional, and our goal is to help them succeed and graduate college.