Student Profile: Heysell Cruz
Written By: EMily Tang
In 2017, high school senior Heysell Cruz was approached at her own front door by Tracy Young and Melinda Dibb with a peculiar opportunity: to be the first subject for The Reach Foundation. Yet In the midst of shock and confusement, there was also curiosity and intrigue, leading Heysell to agree to give it a shot. Today, Heysell is a college graduate majoring in biomedical science and applying for PhD in audiology.
Heysell grew up in El Salvador, but moved to the United States with her parents and younger brother when she was six years old. After receiving a relief from DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), she attended Santa Clara High School, and everything went smoothly until the first signs of her hearing disability arose. In her freshman year, after experiencing health issues, Heysell sat at 40% deaf until she lost another 30% in the span of 6 months. Despite this, she still performed at an average level in her academics, and even played basketball for the school team. But in sophomore year, she had to take a step back. She says, “it felt like I had to start back from square one, like all the progress I made had been lost.” Indefinitely, she was in a state of distress, especially having to take a step back from all her honors courses due to her hearing setbacks.
That was when the Reach Foundation, which was only developing at the time, found her. Heysell recalls, “it was like they had given me a ‘golden egg,’ and realistic approaches to get me to my goal.” Melinda Dibb, a long-time proponent of educational equality and an educator herself, became Heysell’s “guardian angel.” She was able to call Melinda at least once a week, in the downest of dumps, about anything and everything. Through Melinda, Heysell was able to move past her obstacles and reach her goal: college.
One aspect of Melinda’s coaching that particularly stood out to her mentee, was her ability to provide a guideline in the right direction, but never directly giving instructions on what to do. “She never said things like ‘I think you should’ or along those lines, she asked the right questions and kind of pushed me to make my own decisions.”
A key piece of advice from Melinda that has stuck with Heysell to today is “do not regret anything.”Throughout her four years in attending Brigham Young University (ID), Heysell changed her major three times before settling on biomedical science. And through all four of those years she felt at a minority in both her major and her school as a whole, it being dominantly male and white. “I felt incapable, and that I was wrong,” Heysell reminisces.
However, with Melinda by her side, aiding financially and emotionally through every step of her journey, Heysell overcame these setbacks. Heysell says, “I liked that The Reach provided me with a place to lean back on when I needed it, they weren’t like first responders, they let you do as much as you possibly could before giving you that last push at the end.”