>>Narrator: How do I know which path is best for me?

Is it possible to take on these challenges and obstacles?

Where do I even start?

What should I do with my life?

Sometimes, the only way to find out is to go see what's possible Since 2001, we've been sharing the stories of people who ventured out and explored different career paths and different possibilities for their futures.

This is one of those stories.

This is Roadtrip Nation.

[MUSIC] >> Aislynn: It's so hard to feel successful in a world where you need a degree for anything.

[MUSIC] >> Ruby: I'm behind compared to everybody else.

All my friends are college ready and I'm not.

>> Eric: I still don't really know what college ready really means.

>> Aislynn: It's expensive.

It's hard to find any information.

>> Eric: The whole idea of if you don't go to a top school, you're not as good as the students that go to a top school really got to me.

>> Aislynn: College is just a huge part of who you become.

>> Ruby: What if I don't get into college?

What if I'm stuck?

[MUSIC] >> Ruby: [LAUGH] [INAUDIBLE] >> Ruby: Hi, my name is Ruby Savala.

>> Aislynn: My name is Aislynn Fait.

>> Eric: Aloha, my name is Eric Pomaika'i Gee.

The value of education is something that is brought up constantly.

Is going to college worth it?

Is it worth it for the price?

Am I gonna get more from my investment than it costs me financially and emotionally?

Am I gonna have a good time?

>> Ruby: So that's why we're going to be traveling in an RV.

>> Aislynn: Across the country.

>> Eric: Talking to people about just that.

We wanna learn about their educational path.

>> Ruby: Their process into higher education.

>> Aislynn: Why they have chosen their careers and what college means to them.

>> Wil: Cuz I think there's a lot of expectations that students show up to college college-ready.

When are we gonna hold institutions accountable to being student-ready?

>> Eric: Just the idea of driving an RV that's the size of some of my classrooms, if we're being honest.

It's huge, and it's awesome that I get to have this opportunity to do what so many people don't.

[MUSIC] >> Ruby: Wow.

>> Eric: Awesome, okay.

>> Ruby: We'll be here- >> Aislynn: Wow- >> Ruby: For a month.

>> Aislynn: That's crazy.

[MUSIC] >> Ruby: It's so spacious.

>> Eric: I can't believe I'm gonna be driving this.

>> [LAUGH] >> Ruby: Are you nervous?

>> Eric: I'm not, actually.

I feel pretty good.

So I just graduated from high school.

I definitely was having a little dilemma on what I really wanted my next four years to look like.

It was always my dream to attend a private university on the East Coast, but the financial aspect scared me, and it definitely scared my family a little bit.

>> Aislynn: I just graduated with my associate's degree.

I'm actually taking a gap year right now.

I'm going back to college next year.

I want to find the best program for me.

I just don't really know where to go next.

>> Ruby: As of right now, I am a student at community college.

In my small town, it was very sheltered.

There wasn't many opportunities when it came to education, so there's a lot of pressure.

I value education so much, and I fear failure.

>> Eric: Where do you all think you wanna sleep?

>> Ruby: I wanna sleep in the hallway.

>> Aislynn: I wanna sleep in the bunk bed too.

[MUSIC] >> Aislynn: My name is Aislynn Fait.

I'm 20 years old.

I'm from New Jersey, and I just graduated with my associate's degree in liberal arts and sciences.

>> [APPLAUSE] >> Aislynn: I just got my degree.

So I was home schooled my entire life until I turned 17.

It was really tough for me.

I was not in a really good place in my life.

I really started to place a lot more expectation on college because of that, because I finally had the opportunity to meet people and be outside of my house.

I had the chance to work on different service projects and community-based projects that really started a passion for me in helping others.

I also really love fashion.

I feel like I've always loved dressing up and styling clothes.

And I realized that there's a lot of issues in the fashion industry.

So I'm interested in the sustainability portion of fashion marketing and merchandising.

So I want to take something I'm passionate about, which is helping others, and something that I'm very interested in, and kind of put them together in this one role that I'm not sure if really exists out there.

I have no idea where to go to get any information for something so specific.

[MUSIC] >> Eric: So the first interview that we did was with Rodney.

Hello.

>> Aislynn: Hi, I'm Aislynn, nice to meet you.

>> Rodney: Rodney, nice to meet y'all.

Nice to meet you y'all.

>> Aislynn: He was a past Roadtripper that went on a trip in this very RV.

He went to a community college, and I also went to community college.

So I'm really interested in seeing how he's lived and how he's maintained his professional career with what he's been able to do.

>> Rodney: Definitely bring back memories.

September of 2019, I had the opportunity to travel with Roadtrip Nation.

It was an eye opening experience, to say the least, and that was definitely the trip of a lifetime.

Growing up in an impoverished environment, I was introduced to a lot that I had to kinda question whether it was beneficial for myself.

And for myself, I had to kinda get out of that environment in order to hear my own voice and find my own direction.

So I came out to California.

I went to Fresno Pacific University, which was a four-year university.

I didn't quite finish there.

I spent four years there working and eventually couldn't afford rent.

Ended up landing a job at Hoag Hospital, and that brought me down to Orange County.

And started working there, making a lot more money, was a lot more stable.

And then re-enrolled into Orange Coast College, which is a community college, and I finished up there and got my AA in kinesiology.

Now I'm a travel anesthesia tech, a lot of unconventional routes.

And I want to lay it out that way to let you guys know that there is no script, there is no set instructions on how to get to where you're going.

You just have to focus on listening to what life is telling you.

>> Ruby: You're very zen.

I love your aura.

>> Aislynn: [LAUGH] >> Rodney: [LAUGH] Thank you.

>> Eric: What would you say to the person who's currently contemplating college because of financial constraints?

>> Rodney: I think to each and every single person, they should reflect on what it is that they're trying to do specifically.

How many different resources do you have that can contribute to this goal of learning, either how to open a business, if it's how to be a doctor, if it's how to heal somebody?

All of those questions that you might type in on Google, just really ask yourself, how many accessible resources do I have to get towards this goal?

If you don't have the money to go to school, go meet new people, go see something different in order to broaden your perspective.

Skills pay bills at the end of the day.

So whatever your skill is, whatever your hobby is that you can leverage into some sort of income, go out there and get hands-on.

I think that's what community colleges kinda tend to cater more towards, those two-year degrees and certifications that you can go get real quick, make a living for yourself until you decide, okay, what's my next step?

>> Eric: I love that, skills pay the bills.

I think that - that's a great way to put it.

And now I'm thinking about on my resume, where I put life skills, now I'm thinking about, where is that gonna get the bills paid?

>> Rodney: Right, yeah [LAUGH].

Being in college really did kinda test my sense of purpose, test my sense of intention, test my presence.

And so I think college did a number for me to be just more literate with any sort of information.

But everything that I experienced, every mistake, every obstacle, it was all worth it.

So I think seize every opportunity, be present, put yourself out there, try to make the most out of every single conversation, even if it's not curated to the things that you truly want to to do, and remember skills pay bills.

>> Ruby: Skills pay bills.

>> Rodney: [LAUGH] >> Aislynn: Talking with Rodney made me feel like the value of college is what the individual can do with it.

>> Eric: He's very successful now, and more so I see that he's happy, and it just shows that there's really no limits in what you can learn.

Rodney was talking about his experience when he used to drive the RV.

And being able to drive the RV and talk to him while he was navigating and taking me to the park was great.

Am I going straight at this light?

>> Rodney: No, you're gonna make a right, a left, sorry.

>> Eric: Even though I will be honest, we did get lost twice.

[LAUGH] [MUSIC] >> Ruby: My name is Ruby Savala, I am 18 years old, and I am from Houston, Texas.

I'm very much an animal lover, I love to rescue animals.

Currently replacing the water for our chicken coop, which is right there.

I have nine dogs, four cats, a bunch of chickens, two geese, and then I'm wanting to get a goat.

I did lie, I have five cats.

[LAUGH] As of right now, I am a student at San Jacinto Community College.

I am going to pursue obtaining my associate's degree in criminal justice.

So I have my level two security license, I am also CPR certified.

So those are two big achievements that are pushing me in the direction of my career path already.

In third grade, I would watch the Investigation Discovery channel.

Watching people do the investigations, watching people piece together everything like a puzzle, that was so interesting to me, and I wanted to do more of that.

For me, education is my livelihood, I value education so much that I've made it a priority for me.

For college my parents have had to pay out of pocket, which is something that I know is putting a toll on my family.

Watching them struggle really made it important for me to get my education.

I wanna be comfortable, and later on, I would like to have my family be comfortable.

And they're in that awkward bracket, where I don't get enough for FAFSA, but we're living check to check.

I wanna understand why FAFSA is such an exclusive thing.

Why is it so difficult to get the help you need when you desperately need it?

[MUSIC] >> Eric: So today, we are going to be talking to Will Del Pilar and Estrella Serrato.

>> Aislynn: Both are first-generation graduates, so it would be really valuable to hear their perspective on what education means to them.

>> Estrella: There should be more representation, and representation in the sense of not only do they look like us, but they also have very similar experiences, very similar stories.

I am a first-generation graduate, and I'm also the proud founder, CEO of Cafecita con Estrellita, a Latinx digital media company that is designed to support first-gen students.

>> Wil: I'm a senior vice president at EdTrust in Washington, D.C., and we really focus on early childhood through higher education.

And we work with different coalitions of parents and students to try and change narrative and ultimately change policy.

>> Ruby: Wow, so you are literally changing lives?

>> Wil: I change policies that hopefully change lives.

But ultimately, the goal is to create better opportunities for students through policies that impact everyone, right?

>> Estrella: I was the first in my family to graduate from university, but it was not easy.

A lot of the times, there's a lot of Latino families that they're still learning what the value of an education is.

And they may not see that until they see the first generation graduate.

And then they see the first generation graduate get their career that isn't similar to the careers that they've known of.

>> Wil: And my parents didn't have the information, they had not been to college, so they couldn't give me the guidance that I was lacking at that point.

And so I was trying to navigate this all by myself without really any guidance, without understanding financial aid.

With trying to figure out the FAFSA, I didn't know the difference between a grant and a loan.

And so I got into this work because I wanted to provide students with what I think were the opportunities that I wasn't provided.

>> Ruby: What was your motivation during college when you were struggling going through really hard times for your classes?

What was your motivation to keep going?

>> Estrella: I'm just such a doer, and knowing everything from the stories and things I would experience as a young Latina, I'm like, I want better for my family, I want better for my community.

And how is that gonna happen?

It all starts with me, but it's important to remind ourselves that we're doing this for the first time, we are doing the best that we can.

And just know that on a college campus, you can ask for help.

That's why there's mentors on campus, that's why there's counselors.

That's gonna play a huge factor in helping you navigate those pressures, it gave me that reassurance that I really can do it.

>> Ruby: Us knowing that you're first generation, do you feel a sense of pride knowing that you're the first to do this?

>> Wil: Being the first does come with pride, but it also comes with pressure.

Sometimes we actually put that pressure on ourselves, and we allow ourselves to question our own abilities and skills.

And I think that what we should be is we should step into who we are and the professionalism that we bring to the table.

>> Aislynn: Yeah.

>> Ruby: And I feel very inspired sitting here and talking to you and understanding your experience and seeing how they are similar in some sense.

I was scared not knowing whether or not I could pay for school.

How would you talk to somebody in my position?

>> Wil: I would advise students, look at all these other avenues of financing that you have, maybe at your disposal, that you don't know about.

And then be willing to negotiate with the financial aid counselor and say this isn't enough.

>> Aislynn: After everything, you provide opportunities to people who might not have had those opportunities, do you look back and you think that it's worth it?

>> Estrella: Yes, I would not be where I am today, literally talking to the three of you, if it wasn't for all the hard work that myself, my sisters, and my parents contributed to my academic success, which is now what has led to my entrepreneurial success.

>> Wil: I think there's a lot of expectations that students show up to college college-ready.

And I always wonder when are we gonna hold institutions accountable to being student-ready?

So if you're going out and admitting and enrolling LGBTQ students, then you should be providing supports for LGBTQ students, right?

And so I think if I don't see opportunities that are reflective of my own experience, maybe I don't engage as much.

And so I think that it's critical for institutions to really explore and think about if what we're doing meets the needs of the students that we're enrolling.

Or is it what we've been doing historically because we think this works for students?

>> Eric: To hear about where Wil and Estrella are today is really, really inspiring cuz it just shows that education doesn't always have to fit a traditional mold.

>> Ruby: At the end of the day, I want to know who I am, as much as Estrella knows who she is, in the sense of knowing what I wanna do and what I want to accomplish.

Everyone deserves an opportunity that just doesn't stop at you have more money, you have better opportunities, it's everybody.

>>Eveyone: Roadtrip!

>> Eric: So it really feels like we're hitting the road.

It feels surreal that we are actually doing this.

[MUSIC] >> Eric: Aloha, my name is Eric Pomaika'i Gee, I was born and raised in the beautiful state of Hawaii, and I am 18 years old.

And I think that growing up in such a geographically isolated location, my family was my number one support always.

So I just graduated from Kealakehe High School in Kailua-Kona.

I definitely was having a little dilemma on what I really wanted my next four years to look like.

I had the opportunity to attend my state university.

To attend a private university and to take a gap year, and I was really leaning towards the gap year option.

Just because I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted.

It was always my dream to attend a private university on the East Coast, but the financial aspect scared me and it definitely scared my family a little bit.

It just didn't make sense, it was never feasible.

But now that I'm going to be attending the University of Hawai'i at Manoa, I definitely am happy that I've taken that route.

Definitely what's promoted most in Hawai'i is going straight into the workforce, community college, or a four-year university.

We never really talk about ways to do something instead of that four-year track.

Apprenticeships, certification programs, other ways that you continue a higher education are not really promoted at all.

It's an honor to be here today on behalf of Senator Chang's office.

So in high school I focused a lot on public policy, and I definitely was moving towards a political science route, right now, I'm definitely moving towards studying business in college.

Business felt comforting and it felt safe to me, but I feel like I eventually do want to be involved with education.

I would love to come back to Hawai'i after I've had some experience in the workforce, and really help change education for the better.

So we're on our way to the University of California Riverside.

We are interviewing Mai Do, who is a community college transfer student, who has her undergrad and master's in political science, and is currently pursuing their PhD.

>> Ruby: To be able to talk to near peers, feels like talking to myself within a few years.

>> Mai: My family is primarily working class Vietnamese refugees, we were able to keep food on the table, but that doesn't mean we were wealthy by any means.

And so for me, a lot of the differences between myself and my peers have been a lot about not just race, but also class, things like social capital and having knowledge of how to navigate things like higher education.

I study primarily immigrant and refugee communities, and issues of poverty and immigration enforcement.

And so being able to do this research really is important to me, to be able to show the general public, that these are issues that are real >> Eric: I think that's really, really awesome.

>> Ruby: Do you think you could tell us a little bit about your educational process as to how you got here today?

>> Mai: Yeah, so I had applied to graduate school on a whim, luckily, because of the community college experience, I had gained enough credits that I didn't have to pay for a full four-year degree.

I did not actually have the best grades.

People think that people who are getting a PhD must be really smart, but actually it's really about being someone who is really interested in gathering and developing knowledge.

So once I got to my four-year institution, I was only taking political science classes, and so I did a lot better because then I'm able to focus on the topics and the communities that I care about.

>> Ruby: What was the hardest part for you during your educational career, whether that be the application process or while you were in school?

>> Mai: The biggest issue has always been the financial aspect.

So for applying to college it was just, how do I get my bachelor's degree for the least amount of money possible?

For most of my adult life and for most my educational career, there's been rarely a time where I haven't worked at least two jobs.

>> Aislynn: Did you notice a strong difference between community colleges and four-year colleges?

>> Mai: I think the main difference is the student population, right?

The student population at community colleges, oftentimes you have people who already are well into their professional adult careers, right?

Versus at a four-year, sometimes you have a lot of people who are just starting to find themselves and figure out, here's what I'm interested in, or here's the skills that I'm good at.

And so when I got to community college, I think I felt more in place than I had previously.

>> Eric: I'd say that for, in my opinion, a general stereotype related to social and political science is you need to get a college degree, and you need to get a four-year degree to be successful in that field.

Do you think that there should be more room for learning with political and social sciences that is outside of getting a traditional college degree?

>> Mai: A lot of people I know, who are some of the most successful people I know who work in politics, don't have college degrees.

Because those skills that you gain that make you successful in those fields are not gained through a four-year degree.

Learning how to fundraise, you don't learn that at college.

There are some things that the four-year degree is really useful for and necessary for, but there's a lot of other skills that you got to go out there and volunteer, and do that practical hands on work.

I think there's a misconception that you need to check off particular boxes, or that you need to have accomplished certain things at certain times.

There is no one way to get to anywhere, and when you try to stick to a plan too tightly, I think that also closes you off from a lot of opportunities that you otherwise wouldn't have ecountered.

>> Eric: It was really interesting to hear from someone who's getting their PhD right now, and hearing them say there's other ways that you can get education.

There's other ways that you can learn and continue learning throughout life.

And when I heard that, I was kind of like, am I really going to school now for the right reasons?

And I'm not sure if I am, but for me, that conversation just kinda gave me a lot of perspective.

>> Aislynn: Mai talked about the importance of building skills with hands on work outside of a degree.

So I am really excited to maybe try working on things outside of my education and outside of my school.

[MUSIC] >> Eric: Today we are at the The Colorado National Monument.

We were able to drive the RV up this really windy road.

So there were points where I was kind of a little bit nervous about it, but we were able to get up here safely.

We started off the morning with a nice little short hike.

>> Aislynn: It's really pretty it feels like we're in a movie.

>> Eric: It's a little warm.

>> Aislynn: It's a little hot.

>> Ruby: The nature here is pretty cool.

Whenever you looked inside of a hole inside of the wall, you could see the bundle of web, which a spider's nesting.

Everyone kind of welcomed my special interest whenever it comes to nature and wildlife, and it was very eye-opening to me.

So being out there kind of opened my eyes to consider other options.

It changed the way I looked at my opportunities.

>> [MUSIC] >> Eric: It's Eric Pomaika'i Gee signing in, we're on the road, it is day five.

Being able to spend all this time on the road is so, so, so cool.

>> Aislynn: The conversations with the leaders have been incredibly illuminating.

I feel like I'm not really scared to lose momentum just because I'm taking a gap year right now.

>> Ruby: I get to do things my family didn't get to do.

My grandparents had to stop in elementary and middle school from continuing their education.

It should be a right to continue learning, but for whatever reason, it's a privilege to learn.

So I'm honored to be able to learn, to have the support from my family to continue learning.

>> Aislynn: I feel like there's no value to be gained from college if you don't want to gain anything from it.

>> Eric: I think that learning more about people's perspectives on education has really gotten me motivated, it's got me pumped.

[MUSIC] >> Aislynn: Getting to meet so many people who've had such unique experiences with their education.

It's been really, really inspiring.

>>Eric: Colleges need to create a space that is friendly, equitable and a place where every single person can thrive.

>>Brad: My advice would be explore.

>> Nieves: Be accepting toward changes and don't fear them.

>>Ruby: I don't need approval from people.

It's helped me realize that I'm doing the right thing because I know I am.

>> Aislynn: The things that I want to do are achieved will impossible.

Wondering what to do with your life?

Well we've been there and we're here to help Our website has some awesome tools to help you find your path And you can check out all our documentaries, interviews and more Start exploring at roadtripnation.com