Marisol: campo to career 
By Jan Rife; Photos by Jerry Rife

Marisol and Alexa Marisol awakened in darkness to the sound of rain on the roof of her family’s small home in Corral de Piedras, a rancho east of San Miguel de Allende. Quietly, carefully, she moved through the room she shared with eight of her eleven siblings.

She washed, dressed, brushed hair and teeth. Donning a heavy backpack, Marisol braced herself for the long, solitary walk through darkness to where she would catch the bus. A steady rain was falling when she stepped from the house. She followed the unpaved road, which ran like a stream bed, filled with rocks and mud. Slipping and sliding, she hurried toward the highway. 

Suddenly, lightning split the darkness, turning trees into grotesque, dripping monsters looming overhead. Marisol recoiled, then adjusted her backpack and continued through the darkness.

Finally, an hour later, dawn was breaking as she climbed the steps of Pipila Preparatoria in San Miguel. She headed for the girls’ restroom to change clothes. After a few falls in the dark, she’d learned to carry her school uniform folded in her backpack. Another day of prepa, high school in Mexico, was about to begin.

Prepa is a three-year program. For Marisol’s first two years, she traveled from the rancho to school and back each day. The daily journey was only part of her struggle—going against the grain of tradition in her home and community was even harder. 

“In the country,” she said, “it’s hard to get an education.” For women, it’s especially hard. Women are supposed to be submissive. From her mother, Marisol inherited a hunger for education and for a career of her own. 

“My mother was a nurse,” Marisol said. “She completed just three years of primary school, but she was trained. That was before she got married and had children.”

Her mother supported Marisol’s education from the start. Her teachers encouraged her as well. As she excelled, a dream began to grow: Marisol wanted a career.

Her father was not supportive at first. What might happen to a daughter who bucked tradition? Her determination and academic success won him over. “He saw my good grades and he became proud. Both my parents are proud of me now,” she says with a smile. 

For her third and final year of prepa, Marisol moved into her aunt’s home in San Miguel. She eliminated her long daily commute and gained the support of a woman who became, she says, like a second mother. She gained another luxury: a room of her own, a place to study.

Marisol used her new situation to great advantage. She studied hard and graduated from prepa with excellent grades. Now three adults were on her side: mother, father, aunt. But a seemingly insurmountable problem loomed. How to pay for a university education?

Enter Jóvenes Adelante, a San Miguel organization that provides scholarships to promising students. Virginia Wheelwright, one of JA’s founders, remembers interviewing Marisol. 

“She wasn’t one to make a splash or demand attention,” Virginia said. “Marisol never spoke a word more than necessary, but from the start she was completely capable.”

Marisol became one of JA’s first scholarship students, and Virginia and her husband Farley became her sponsors. For the next five years, Marisol studied accounting at the University of León’s San Miguel campus. She lived with her aunt during the week and returned to her family in the countryside every weekend. She worked at Hotel Real de Minas, which provided some income and allowed her to practice her growing accounting skills.

“She proved herself as a dedicated student, daughter and worker,” said Virginia. “She did everything right.”

Marisol was a frequent dinner guest at the Wheelwright’s home overlooking San Miguel. Virginia reciprocated by visiting Marisol’s home in the rancho. 

“Her family had a small house on a plot of land where they grew beans and, when the weather was good, some corn,” Virginia recalls. “Her brothers and sisters were all dressed up, the little girls wearing hand-crocheted dresses. Marisol’s mother had certainly prepared for our visit.” 

Through grit and ability, the girl from the rancho worked hard to enlarge her world. For four years and eight months she studied, worked and commuted home on weekends. Finally, in 2006, she achieved her goal: graduation. With it came a surprise.

“It was a complete shock,” Marisol said, “when I learned I had graduated with honors.” To achieve honors, a student’s final grade point average must be 9.5 out of 10 points. Marisol’s grades were an astounding 9.89. Cause for celebration!

Marisol was in charge of the Jóvenes Adelantes graduation party. Virginia remembers the evening. “It was held at the Hotel Real de Minas, and we saw a completely new side to Marisol that night. She was entirely in control. She told the band when to play and when to stop. She told the servers when to serve the food. She was completely and beautifully in charge of everything,” Virginia says.

“Farley and I sat at the table with Marisol’s family. The party included a dance for fathers and daughters. Marisol approached her father and asked him to dance. He stood up and removed his sombrero.” Virginia said. “Then he took her into his arms...and off they waltzed, around and around the room.”

Today, Marisol is married to Alfonso García González, a classmate she met in her accounting class. They are the proud parents of Alexa, who will turn two in a few months. Their little family lives in Querétaro. 

Both Marisol and Alfonso work for accounting firms; Alexa attends day care while her parents work. Like many young families, they struggle to balance careers and parenthood. 

“Jóvenes Adelante has completely changed my life.” Marisol says. “I’m very grateful for the support I received over four years of study,” 

When asked of her dreams for the future, she smiles. “My dream for Alexa is that she achieve, at the very least, a bachelor’s degree so she may choose a career she enjoys. For me, I would love to study for my master’s degree.”

Her mother, she adds, has returned to school. “She has finished her primary education in an open enrollment program, as well as her first year of secundaria. She’s still going.”

Marisol’s story says much about the empowerment of women in Mexico. But Jóvenes Adelante does more than empower women; it empowers the youth of Mexico and even promising students who are not so young. 

Visit www.jovenesadelante.org to learn more about how JA rewards ability and determination. Click on “Our Students” to see San Miguel’s future movers and shakers. Click on “Student of the Month” to read of the former nun who turned policewoman and, now, law student. 

The organization has just completed the fall application process and selected 24 new students who will receive up to five years’ financial support as well as benefit from the range of services JA offers. Qualified applicants are on hold as the organization makes last-minute fundraising efforts hoping to be able to grant one or more additional scholarships. Your donation now could make an immediate difference in the future of a hopeful, deserving applicant. Your contribution is more than a gift; it’s an investment in Mexico’s future.

For information on how to contribute, sponsor a student, or volunteer, write jovenesadelante@gmail.org.  


Jan and Jerry Rife are Jóvenes Adelante supporters who contribute their writing and photography skills to promoting the organization’s goals. 



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Democrats Abroad meet with Lucy Núñez
By Carol Schmidt and Misty Haskett

Bruce Rossley, Mayor-Elect Lucy Nuñez, Dr. José Luis Gallegos and Misty Haskett

On July 30, San Miguel Democrats Abroad hosted a reception for Mayor-Elect Lucy Núñez at Los Milagros Restaurant. A crowd of over 160 welcomed the new Mayor at her first formal meeting with the foreign community since her election on July 5. Most attendees came with what they called “an open mind” to hear her plans for the new administration which takes office in October.

Bruce Rossley, Chairperson of Democrats Abroad, introduced Mayor-Elect Núñez and thanked Dr. José Luis Gallegos, President of the San Miguel Red Cross, for his efforts in arranging the meeting.

San Miguel’s first woman mayor spoke for nearly an hour and answered questions for another half hour.

Núñez began with the issue of crime, telling expats that she will ask the Mexican military to send a liaison to San Miguel to advise local officials on how to deal with the drug cartels that are extending their criminal influence in many areas of Mexico. It should be emphasized that the Mayor-Elect is not calling for a military presence in San Miguel, but rather a liaison officer to work with local law enforcement officials. During her campaign, Núñez emphasized improving the local police with better and more sensitive training, higher salaries, and attention to corruption.

Her promise to contact the Secretaria de la Defensa Nacional to ask for a military liaison to be present in San Miguel drew much attention at the Thursday meeting. “I want to have a military presence here, both for the image that we are serious about fighting crime and for the certainty that we are doing the best we can do.”

She said that the highest priorities of her administration would be the economy and improving health care delivery, with security issues very high on her agenda.

Núñez promised frequently to “change the way things always have been done here, to emphasize qualifications and fairness, not who you know.”

She is aware of all that the foreign community does for San Miguel, and she intends to involve expats in her administration, “because you are a part of San Miguel. I know how much your organizations contribute.”

She disavowed what she said were rumors during the campaign that she doesn’t like foreigners in San Miguel. “That is absolutely not true. I want to facilitate your efforts, not obstruct them. I want us to be a team for the betterment of all sanmiguelenses.”

Rossley asked Núñez to address the issue of the federal government requiring expat volunteers in charitable organizations to obtain work permits before volunteering. She said that changing the federal law can take years, and she understood why the government wanted knowledge of volunteers who were handling donations and business contracts, hiring employees, and otherwise operating in many ways as a business. “I can understand both sides,” she said. “But we want to make it easy for you to share your time for San Miguel.”

This address was her first attempt to do an entire presentation solely in English, and she said she sympathized with the difficulties many foreigners have in learning Spanish. She promised to have more translation services available within the government for non-Spanish-speaking foreigners.

She spoke against the industrial park proposed for an area near the city offices. “The previous government promoted the industrial use of one of the most important ecological areas of San Miguel,” Núñez said. “We need to safeguard all our wetlands, our water, our ecological treasures.”

She intends to have representatives go to all new developments to verify that they have plans for sufficient water and other ecological concerns. “We have to be fair and equal in our delivery of city services.” She vowed to be active in meeting the needs of the poorest citizens, not just business interests.

Tourism is San Miguel’s number-one activity, and Núñez promised to continue to encourage and support that industry. “The highway that is being built to connect San Miguel and the state capital of Guanajuato is important, and it will keep us close to the heart of the state. It will also make us closer to the (BJX) airport.”

Tourists now often come to San Miguel for only a day and don’t know what to do during their stay, she said. “We want them to know more about what San Miguel has to offer so that they will stay longer.” She said that hotel and restaurant owners will be asked to contribute for the additional services that will draw more tourists and help their business.

Asked about the problem of litter and waste, Núñez said, “We need to push education. We need recycling. We don’t have a lot of money in the city budget for new programs. We need to be creative in finding special boxes for trash separation.”

One audience member questioned why development companies bring in lower-priced construction employees from outside of San Miguel when so many sanmiguelenses are out of work. Núñez said that it is the buyer’s responsibility to insist on quality and not demand the lowest prices possible. “The image is that San Miguel businesses charge too much. We are an expensive city, but it is not the cost of the construction workers that is too high. The big profits are being made on speculation, not workers’ wages.”

Asked how San Miguel can protect its image as being safe for tourists, with more positive advertising to the US, Núñez said she wants more positive publicity about San Miguel not only in the US but in the rest of the world. “We not only have to keep the image of being safe, we have to be safe.”

As the first woman mayor of San Miguel, Núñez was asked to address the empowerment of women and the problems of the women in the campos who must be heads of households while their husbands are working in the United States. “In so much of our larger community, almost all of the population is made up of women, children and the elderly.” She closed her remarks with a promise to serve all sanmiguelenses.

Audience members left expressing a “new level of optimism” for the future of San Miguel and enthusiasm for the Mayor-Elect’s expressed desire to include the foreign community and their concerns in her administration.



Carol Schmidt is coauthor of Falling in Love with San Miguel and The Best How-To Book on Moving to Mexico. Her website is www.fallinginlovewithsanmiguel.com. 

Misty Haskett is Vice Chairperson of San Miguel Democrats Abroad.