DACA student shares her journey, encourages community to support 8th annual Dreamers Gala at Marquette

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Marquette University is celebrating their '8th Annual Dreamers Gala' in just a couple of weeks, and students are encouraging everyone to come out and support to help raise money for their scholarship fund. 

"You'd be really surprised at the fact that a lot of people don't even know like what DACA means, what a Dreamer means, so we're just trying to let people know that like, we're on campus, and we're here," said Fatima Jimenez Gonzalez, a junior at Marquette University.

Jimenez Gonzalez studies secondary education in Spanish. She moved to Milwaukee from Guadalajara-Jalisco, Mexico, at the age of 2, and says her life as an undocumented immigrant would not be possible without the DACA program.

"Because of DACA, I've been able to work jobs where I'm working with kids or work jobs where I'm performing some type of teaching, and that has allowed me to realize like 'oh I want to be a teacher,' like, 'that's what I want to do for the rest of my life,'" she said.

DACA, otherwise known as 'Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals' and was created by former President Barack Obama. The program protects immigrants from deportation and allows for work permits.

Jimenez Gonzalez said thanks to the annual gala at Marquette, she's been able to become a scholarship recipient herself.

"It's helped me out a lot considering with Marquette, tuition goes up every year, and so I've always had to pay the difference because I'm not, I can't qualify for FAFSA, I can't qualify for any federal or state aid," she explained.

For the past two years, Jimenez Gonzalez has been part of the gala's student planning committee.

She said the gala on March 21 will consist of raffle prizes, a keynote alumni speaker, food and entertainment.

The entrance fee varies:

-$75 Student-$100 Young Alumni (MU undergrad years 2012-2022)

-$150 Individual

-$1,200 Table Sponsor

The proceeds go to the Ignacio Ellacuría, S.J. Dreamers Scholarship fund.

"It's a very special event for not just us but for the community to see who we are, what we do, and that we're present on campus," she said.

The deadline to register is on March 13. Find out more information, here.