December 2021
The first generation of Thomas's to graduate college.
In the late 1800s, my family fled from Ireland amidst the ongoing turmoil between the Catholics and the protestants, and they immigrated to the United States. They left behind their friends, their family, their home, and their property and sought a better life free from persecution. I am sure there were days when they felt like leaving everything behind wasn’t worth it, days where they felt defeated by abject poverty, aching bones, and the general hatred targeted at Irish immigrants. But if they could not do anything else, they could work. They could strive for a better life and a brighter future. At the end of every misery-inducing, stomach-grumbling, sweat-dripping day, they gave up everything in the hopes of gaining something better. And that was enough for them to keep going.
I grew up with a strong sense of family. We are the Thomas’s. We are able; we are smart; we are strong. Generation after generation of farmers, blue collar union workers, and veterans, we sought, became, and are the American Dream. I was raised on stories of living through the Great Depression, of uncles who were captured in POW camps, and of grandfathers who stormed the beaches at Normandy. A helmet with bullets embedded in it, furniture hand-crafted by my great-great-grandfather, a World War II letter saying, “I’ll see you next month” never followed home by the soldier. This is my family legacy.
My father was told he would never get into college, that the cycle of high school dropout, blue-collar Thomas’s could never be broken. We were made for hard work, not higher education. This was a reality that was ground into him and his brothers every day. They grew up poor with a drunk who beat them and a community who hated them. They learned to fight at a young age to protect themselves from neighbors and strangers who wanted to hurt them, and they learned to work at a young age because nobody was ever going to financially help them get anywhere further than their hometown of Laguna Heights, TX.
My dad and two uncles were the first generation of Thomas’s to graduate college purely due to their own determination. One is an engineer; one is a doctor; and one is a computer technician. In one generation, my family went from having no emotional or fiscal support in pursuing a college education to the expectation and means of accomplishing any form of higher education. This is the promise of America.
From the poorest of immigrants to the most successful of entrepreneurs, this is the opportunity the United States offers. My family has hoped for it on a boat leaving an Irish harbor; my family has pursued it through the blood of soldiers, the sweat of union workers, and the tears of those who have suffered loss; and my family has lived it with the first generation of Thomas’s to graduate college. Generation after generation, the hope and drive to create a better existence and future for ourselves and our family has redefined the very trajectory of our Irish ancestors’ legacies from one of Catholic persecution to one of boundless opportunity. This is the American Dream.
As a nation, we are not perfect. We are separated by a great divide between ourselves on all fronts. We cannot see past the differences of our brothers and sisters, and we focus too much on the insignificant details, placing our identities in fading trends and empty promises. We wish for ease and champion for comfort. But the American Dream does not guarantee a life free from strife or anger or disappointment. It is merely the promise that blood, sweat, and tears mean something. That we can bleed to protect our countrymen, that we can sweat to create a better life for our children, that we can cry for change and be heard.
I am the heritage of immigrants. I am the daughter of trail blazers. I am the culmination of all the Thomas family has ever endured, lost, and obtained. This is my family legacy. This is the promise of America. This is the American Dream.
– Abigail Graves (Thomas)
Abigail is a master's student in the College of Engineering.
In the late 1800s, my family fled from Ireland amidst the ongoing turmoil between the Catholics and the protestants, and they immigrated to the United States. They left behind their friends, their family, their home, and their property and sought a better life free from persecution. I am sure there were days when they felt like leaving everything behind wasn’t worth it, days where they felt defeated by abject poverty, aching bones, and the general hatred targeted at Irish immigrants. But if they could not do anything else, they could work. They could strive for a better life and a brighter future. At the end of every misery-inducing, stomach-grumbling, sweat-dripping day, they gave up everything in the hopes of gaining something better. And that was enough for them to keep going.
I grew up with a strong sense of family. We are the Thomas’s. We are able; we are smart; we are strong. Generation after generation of farmers, blue collar union workers, and veterans, we sought, became, and are the American Dream. I was raised on stories of living through the Great Depression, of uncles who were captured in POW camps, and of grandfathers who stormed the beaches at Normandy. A helmet with bullets embedded in it, furniture hand-crafted by my great-great-grandfather, a World War II letter saying, “I’ll see you next month” never followed home by the soldier. This is my family legacy.
My father was told he would never get into college, that the cycle of high school dropout, blue-collar Thomas’s could never be broken. We were made for hard work, not higher education. This was a reality that was ground into him and his brothers every day. They grew up poor with a drunk who beat them and a community who hated them. They learned to fight at a young age to protect themselves from neighbors and strangers who wanted to hurt them, and they learned to work at a young age because nobody was ever going to financially help them get anywhere further than their hometown of Laguna Heights, TX.
My dad and two uncles were the first generation of Thomas’s to graduate college purely due to their own determination. One is an engineer; one is a doctor; and one is a computer technician. In one generation, my family went from having no emotional or fiscal support in pursuing a college education to the expectation and means of accomplishing any form of higher education. This is the promise of America.
From the poorest of immigrants to the most successful of entrepreneurs, this is the opportunity the United States offers. My family has hoped for it on a boat leaving an Irish harbor; my family has pursued it through the blood of soldiers, the sweat of union workers, and the tears of those who have suffered loss; and my family has lived it with the first generation of Thomas’s to graduate college. Generation after generation, the hope and drive to create a better existence and future for ourselves and our family has redefined the very trajectory of our Irish ancestors’ legacies from one of Catholic persecution to one of boundless opportunity. This is the American Dream.
As a nation, we are not perfect. We are separated by a great divide between ourselves on all fronts. We cannot see past the differences of our brothers and sisters, and we focus too much on the insignificant details, placing our identities in fading trends and empty promises. We wish for ease and champion for comfort. But the American Dream does not guarantee a life free from strife or anger or disappointment. It is merely the promise that blood, sweat, and tears mean something. That we can bleed to protect our countrymen, that we can sweat to create a better life for our children, that we can cry for change and be heard.
I am the heritage of immigrants. I am the daughter of trail blazers. I am the culmination of all the Thomas family has ever endured, lost, and obtained. This is my family legacy. This is the promise of America. This is the American Dream.
– Abigail Graves (Thomas)
Abigail is a master's student in the College of Engineering.