Success Stories

Gustavo Silva says he knew as early as middle school that he would go on to college. The son of immigrant parents who came to the United States from Mexico in 1999, Silva grew up in a household that emphasized higher education. “My parents’ message was ‘College is the route to a better quality of life.’ It was a way for us to make it out of the mud,” he says.

In his senior year of high school, Silva applied to the University of Michigan. “I had pretty good grades so my counselors invited me to apply. I was looking to get into a larger school. What struck me about U-M was the crazy wide range of opportunities it offered,” says Silva.

Realizing a Dream

He was delighted to find out he’d been accepted to U-M, but he still had significant concerns about how to pay for his education, given the family’s limited resources. Then Silva learned he had qualified for the U-M Go Blue Guarantee, which covers the cost of in-state tuition for up to four years of full-time undergraduate study for qualified Michigan residents.

“Finding out about the Go Blue Guarantee was a game changer. Just having that financial stability at such a great school was more than I could have hoped for. Now I could take advantage of all the opportunities that the University of Michigan had to offer, without the burden of debt and student loans. I could focus on my education,” he says. “Without the guarantee, I would have gone to a smaller college. And I don't think I would have been able to develop as much or would have done as well academically at a smaller school with fewer resources.”

Bridging the Gap

Silva is a student at Michigan Engineering, majoring in mechanical engineering with a minor in computer science. “I’ve placed a lot of value on my time here,” he says. “Hopefully, I’m bridging the gap between the struggles my parents faced as immigrants and a better future for myself. Although I’m not the first in my family of five siblings to go to college, I am the first to go to the University of Michigan. At U-M, not only do you gain a high-quality education, but also a prestige that opens doors in the professional world. I really believe that coming to U-M was one of the best decisions I’ve made.”

Finding Community

Silva, who grew up in Pullman, a predominantly rural area of western Michigan with a large Hispanic population, says his high school was small and opportunities were limited. “Coming from a small town to the University of Michigan with over 40,000 students was a really big change. I wanted to find a way to stay in touch with my Hispanic heritage, which is really important to me,” he says.

So he was especially glad to discover the U-M chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), an organization that aims to promote educational and professional opportunities for Hispanic engineering and science students. “If you join SHPE, you can really develop academically and professionally,” he says. “I have been able to attend national engineering conferences and land out-of-state internships, among other things. In a professional and academic sense, the resources here are invaluable.”

Silva is also part of La Casa, a Hispanic organization that promotes the advancement and well-being of the U-M Latina/o community through the development of cultural, educational, professional, and social programs. “Finding other individuals that were struggling and that looked like me made me feel a lot better about traversing a new territory, which can be daunting,” he notes.

Last year, Silva performed at the La Casa annual culture show. “I have played the accordion for about three years now,” he says. “So we put a little band together and played at this show. This was my first musical performance and definitely one of my favorite moments.”

Tapping into the Future

Currently in his junior year, Silva is glad he decided to major in mechanical engineering. “A mechanical engineering degree can open doors for me to do the things I'm interested in. I really want to work in the aerospace sector. I'm interested in space companies and jet and airplane companies. But specifically, I want to work with something that advances the exploration of space like SpaceX.”

This summer, he will intern at Aerojet Rocketdyne in Los Angeles, a company that builds propulsion and power systems for rockets, spacecraft, and other space vehicles.

Silva feels prepared and poised for a bright future. He has worked hard to realize the dream his parents carried for him since he was a young boy. “Without the Go Blue Guarantee, none of this would have happened,” he says.