Ana Mora with her parents, celebrating graduation
Ana as a child
Ana and her family at SMC
Ana speaking at SMC's First Latinx Graduation Celebration
Ana, enjoying some down time with family
Ana & friends at SMC
Ana Mora, honors graduate
Ana with her partner
Ana at a Pride event
When Ana Mora earned the honor of speaking at the first-ever Latinx/e Graduation Celebration at Santa Monica College, she reflected on her journey from being a high school dropout to honors graduate. To take that initial step toward higher education, she had to overcome doubts about being the first in her family to attend college—and doing so in her 30s.
More crucially, she needed to reverse the spiral into substance-use disorder that began after she escaped an abusive relationship. “I would hope and pray that she would change, but she never did,” Ana says about her then partner. After nine years together, the bruises on Ana’s face ran nearly as deep as the emotional trauma she felt. Her parents and brother worried that staying with her partner would eventually get Ana killed.
So Ana left—only to turn to drugs for solace, and what should have been a fresh beginning became a well of despair. Always hardworking, she lost her job as a store manager. Trying to turn her life around, she went into treatment, but fell into a familiar pattern of use. “I would lie to myself and my family, saying I’m going to stop—but I didn’t,” Ana admits.
As her life spun out of control, she overdosed and was hospitalized. “I thought I was dying,” Ana says. Instead, she found the strength to survive and dramatically change her life. “I did it for my family,” she says, “because I knew they deserved a better version of me than they were getting.”
First, Ana completed her high school degree at Abram Friedman Occupational Center. Then, that diploma in hand, she resolved to attend college at SMC. Her mother was the first to hear about the decision. “She cried,” Ana says—but with tears of joy, and her father and brother were proud as well. The family had emigrated with Ana from a small village in Mexico when she was little, and now she was going to achieve that better, happier life her parents had always wished for her.
Second Home
Ana graduated from SMC with an associate’s degree in medical coding and billing and is pursuing her bachelor’s in business administration at UCLA. Earlier on, though, she changed majors so often that she jokes about having given headaches to Eric Barnard, her counselor in SMC’s Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS) program. “But not once did he complain,” Ana recalls, as he guided her through her college journey and checked in to make sure she was keeping up with her classes. “He gave me the support I needed, and I appreciate him so much,” she says.
Ana was also part of SMC’s Adelante Program. Then, as her grades improved, she qualified to join the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. “It just boomed from there,” she says about thriving at the college.
“SMC has been my second home,” Ana adds, noting its extra resources for students needing more than educational support. “I would struggle financially sometimes, and I don’t like to depend on my parents,” she says. So she was grateful for the free groceries available at the on-campus pantry The Bodega, as well as for SMC’s partnership with Bento, which connects eligible students to donated meals from participating restaurants.
“It’s such a blessing,” Ana says of SMC’s programs to ease food insecurity—especially during exams, when schedules can be tight and stress high. One holiday season, through the Giving Thanks(giving) event spearheaded by the SMC Foundation, she was even given a turkey that she brought to her family’s Thanksgiving as well as a $50 gift card. “I was so thankful,” she recalls.
Ana also enjoyed inviting her family to campus for the annual Adelante and EOPS award ceremonies celebrating excellence and achievement. “My family is busy, and if one can get the day off, the other one can’t,” she explains. “But they’re always supportive, so they would prioritize the awards ceremony and make sure we could go together. SMC really brought my family together.”
Pushing Forward
Ana has a big heart—figuratively and, unfortunately, literally. She has a widened coronary artery caused by Marfan syndrome, increasing her risk of heart failure. “Doctors tell me I’m not supposed to get mad or sad,” she says. So she’s grateful to replace the anxieties triggered by previous abuse and addiction with resilience and the happiness of a positive future.
She now applies her SMC education to being a hospital billing specialist, even as she continues building skills through her business administration studies at UCLA. Ana has also found a significant other—a dispatch officer working to become a detective—who loves and supports her. They share a home in Las Vegas, from where Ana pursues her studies online.
So regardless of “how old you are, how little someone makes you feel or how many people doubt you, you can prove them wrong—no matter your age, sexual preference, race or disabilities,” Ana told her fellow graduates at the commencement celebration. As she continues building her personal life and career—with plans to start a hospitality business with her significant other—Ana stands as living proof that it’s never too late to accomplish your dreams.
“Just keep pushing,” she advises. “You’re valuable, and somebody will eventually see your worth.”
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SMC in Focus Volume X, Issue 4
Never Too Late
Ana Mora survived an abusive relationship and substance use and gained a fresh start in life at Santa Monica College. Read Article
Post-Game Strategy
From hoops to standard deviations, Kant and stellate ganglia, this outstanding Corsair has a proven gameplan for personal success. Read Article
Fostering Futures
As former foster youth, Sabrina Conner and Shirel Omidi have faced numerous hardships, which they are overcoming through their own resilience and support at Santa Monica College. Read Article
No Looking Back for Ma’isha Reid
This dedicated student services specialist & SMC alum deferred her dreams for decades. But she has zero regrets, and stands on the cusp of a brand-new chapter of her life. Read Article
Bragging Rights
An opera, advocacy for arthrogryposis, taking a trick horse onto national TV, awards, helping & feeding students, boundary-breaking dance. Read Article
Soaring in the Unknown
This Asian-Latina from Ecuador came to SMC with trepidations about the unfamiliar. Through grit and determination, she found courage to flourish in the unknown. Read Article