My first memory of Harold is of me buying him some M&M’s that saved me from fainting at the end of one of those horrible, common days at Colegio where one barely has time to eat at all. This is an experience that I share with many Colegiales, especially with my peers, the Chardonitas, who think of Harold as a legend. There are many speculations surrounding him, and the reasons why it took him nineteen years to finally graduate. Yet, the self-proclaimed fan of Her Campus UPRM (made me blush) opened up his heart to the Colegial community and revealed his true story; his beginnings, his background, his fears, what held him back, but mostly, what pushed him past those obstacles to become a legend, a walking reality of how dreams come true.
For most of his extensive academic journey he sold chocolates for a living. “I had done this before, as a kid, to pay for some of my stuff, so I knew it was more effective than what it might have seemed to the eyes of the people around me.” The support from the UPRM community was immense from the very beginning. Everyone who had a chance to interact with him showed solidarity with his cause and admiration for his hard work, which helped him succeed at his mission of paying for his career, counting solely on this income. “When I got my diploma I thought, is it finally over?”, he fondly remembers with the wide smile that sets him apart.
Not everyone has the courage to pursue their dreams like he did; it took him 10 years, cumulatively, to graduate from his B.A. in History. He began his journey on August 1994, but eight months later abandoned school due to his battle with depression. “I really wasn’t focused. What interested me about attending college was obtaining a career that would help me make money to escape the poverty in which I lived. I didn’t think I would be able to do any of it with a BA in History, but that was the only program I could get into, due to my high school GPA.” But people are far more than numbers. It only takes you a few minutes of conversation with him to notice that he is a brilliant mind, eloquent, wise, and absolutely inspiring.
Harold was raised in a “caserío,” and he is the first person in his family to obtain a college degree. “They supported me on the idea of going to college, but they couldn’t do much to actually help me with the process. I had to learn to do everything by myself (including how to apply) therefore, part of the problem I faced during my first period of years at UPRM was lack of counseling. It took me some time to trust people, to seek advice, to realize that it wasn’t all about the competition, that at the university there were actually empathetic people willing to give you a hand to progress.”
Despite his efforts to succeed, for a long time, he wasn’t pleased with his own work. “I thought I was a loser for studying History. Everyone thinks that only people who major in science or engineering can actually succeed. That was one of the reasons why I left in the first place. I let the stigma everyone sets on the Chardonitas get to me. But now I am so proud of being the most famous Chardón student in the history of Colegio.” He certainly is.
Special people find special people. That is why his aunt took him under her wing and taught him what she treasured most, her Christian faith. This is a central aspect of his life; the morals and values he learned, stayed with him and kept him safe from the many negative influences that surrounded him. “To serve God is a personal experience. If you push it on someone, it lacks genuinity and purpose, but experiencing it certainly changes your life. That is how you distinguish someone who lives a relationship with God from someone who is merely religious, by the way they treat others. It is impossible to proclaim yourself a Christian, yet be arrogant, non-empathic, or defiant.”
Harold’s faith has been a motor to keep him on track, even when the circumstances around him invite him to give up. “Life happens, and you can’t control that, but you can choose what to do with what you have. It took me time, ‘darme de baja del Colegio un par de veces,’ to realize that giving up to my circumstances, to all the excuses that could have been valid to the eyes of many was not an option. I had the opportunity to succeed, of becoming someone, of being able to inspire people with my story; why not do so?”
And so he did, but there was an event in particular that led him to make the ultimate decision of staying at college for good. When he worked as a security guard in 2001, during one of the periods he was off school, he found himself in a legal battle that pushed him towards finishing his goal. To be continued…