BY JASON COHEN
Genesis Correas’s father
always told his daughter how
important education was. And
even though he passed away
in 2018, she knows he would
be proud of where she is today
having become a fi rst generation
college graduate this past
June.
Correa obtained a bachelor’s
in English from John Jay
College, regularly appeared on
the Dean’s List and plans to get
a master’s degree and Ph.D. so
she can teach others.
She spoke with the Bronx
Times about her road to success
and how her dad Pedro
Correa would feel if he were
alive to see her successes.
“For him school was something
big,” Correa said. “Because
of him I never missed a
day of school.”
Correa, 21, of Fordham,
was born in the Dominican Republic
and immigrated to the
Bronx at age 6 with her dad
and brother Luis. She did not
know English and life in New
York was quite different. With
the help of her friends, she soon
got used to her surroundings.
It took her a few years to understand
English, which is a
harder language to learn than
Spanish, she said.
As her father only had an
education level through elementary
school, he wanted
his daughter to do much more
than he did. So, even as some
of her classmates dropped out
of school or got involved with
the wrong crowd, Correa was
always focused.
“Since he didn’t have the
same opportunities as me, he
wanted me to go to school,” she
said. “He wanted me to have a
better education.”
Correa originally wanted to
be an FBI agent and enrolled at
John Jay for criminal justice.
However, she didn’t enjoy her
classes and changed majors to
English. She loved reading and
writing and at fi rst thought
about becoming a journalist,
but soon realized that teaching
was her calling.
“When I switched to English,
I wasn’t really sure what I
wanted to do,” she said.
BRONX TIMES R 40 EPORTER, OCT. 8-14, 2021 BTR
But tragedy struck during
her sophomore year of college
when her father had a heart
attack and passed away. She
was now forced to live alone
and work multiple jobs to make
ends meet.
Correa was forced to live
alone and work multiple jobs,
and her dad’s death also began
to affect her at school. When
Correa struggled at the beginning
of her time at John Jay,
her counselor Virginia Diaz
from the Search for Education,
Elevation and Knowledge
(SEEK) program wouldn’t let
her give up. Diaz saw her potential
and knew how much graduating
would mean to Correa
and her family. SEEK, a state
and CUNY academic-support
program, provides fi nancial
aid and individual counseling
to thousands of students who
are academically and fi nancially
disadvantaged.
These past few years, especially
during the pandemic,
have been quite hard on Correa.
In particular, being disconnected
Genesis Correa fulfi lls her dad’s last wish of graduating college. Her father
died in 2018 after bringing his family to the U.S. from the Dominican
Republic. Photo courtesy Genesis Correa
from her mother
who remains in the Dominican
Republican. “Growing up and
living without parents, that’s
very hard,” she said.
Correa will be starting the
paperwork to bring her mom
Carmen to America. As Correa’s
dad helped her become a
citizen a year before he died,
Correa wants to do the same for
her mother.
She also plans to attend
graduate school for a master’s
in teaching with her eyes
on Yale, Lehman College or
Hunter College. She hopes to
teach in the Bronx and help
others succeed like she did.
“I want to give back to my
community,” she said. “I want
to motivate people that came
from the same background as
me to do more.”
Student makes her late
father’s dream come true