Graduating college is a time of great expectations. For many, it’s seen as a steppingstone to bigger opportunities that may be found in places like Austin or Dallas, Texas, and it’s easy to lose sight of the meaningful reasons to build a future in El Paso.
According to an analysis of over 630,000 students done by Tallo, 61% of college students plan to stay near where they attended college when searching for a job. Despite this trend, El Paso seems to be the exception as it has even been ranked as a top U.S. city that Americans ditched, El Paso Times reports, and according to a poll done by KFOX14 82% of El Pasoans feel they need to leave the city to find a job.
With economic factors seeming to be the main reason, studies have shown that other factors such as social ties, community context and salience of social identities can strongly affect the decision to stay.
With so many reasons to leave, choosing to stay can feel like a bold decision. For Stephanie Alvarado, University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) management major minoring in commercial real estate, staying in her hometown was a no brainer as she sees it as the perfect opportunity to begin her professional career.
“I’ve been a student for so long, so I want to fully establish myself more as a professional for a little bit. I love El Paso, and I love being here so much,” Alvarado said.
One of her biggest motivators is remaining close to all her family members who have supported her through every step of her academic journey, and now as she pursues her career.
“Being able to have a lot of support from my family…helps me feel more comfortable, especially pursuing my career here. It feels like I’m not so alone. I’m a little bit more comfortable pursuing myself here instead of having to feel like I need to go somewhere else and find the support–it’s already been established here for me,” Alvarado said.
Alvarado is currently interning with River Oaks Properties, a commercial real estate company, and plans to pursue her career in commercial real estate in El Paso.
“We’re a really well-established city–especially learning so much in my real estate courses and my job–this is a really good place for both residential and commercial real estate,” Alvarado said.
Now that she has completed her education and is entering the work force with her bachelor’s degree in hand, she hopes to see growth in El Paso by having more citizens embrace the city’s potential.
“A lot of people are like, ‘I need to go somewhere else,’ and I don’t think it needs to be that way,” Alvarado said. “I hope to see people start taking us [El Paso] a little bit more seriously. I feel like we have a lot of talented people, we have a lot of opportunities–I would love to start seeing people take pride in staying here and establishing their careers.”
Graduates like Alvarado are proving that success doesn’t always require leaving home. By choosing to invest ambition into a community that raised them, graduates can now create a new narrative in which El Paso is a place for opportunity and growth.
Evelyn Palma is the editor-in-chief at The Prospector and may be reached at [email protected] and on Instagram @evelynp.media.
