Richie Mejia: 0:05

Five years ago, I wouldn't have imagined myself in this position I am in today. So if I were to go back and I think my younger self would probably lie and be like, what are you talking about? We've made it this far. Like what? Me, me, Richie Mejia, we made it there. I would probably tell'em to take it easy, take it a day at a time. Your family is always there to support you no matter what. And keep on pushing. How was election day? How was waiting for the results? And were you home with your parents, with your family? How did you find out you had been elected and what did that look like? Yeah, so for me, everyone was asking me, Hey Richie, are, are we doing a party? Are we celebrating? What are we doing? And I said to myself, I don't know if we even won yet. Election day was tough. Waking up early, talking to people at different schools, telling them, Hey, this is me. Even if you do not know who I am, this is a quick spiel on who I am. This is why you should vote for me.

Miguel Sanchez : 1:13

Welcome back to another episode of the First Gen 1 0 1 podcast Today I have Richie Mejia with us today. Richie, welcome.

Richie Mejia: 1:22

Thank you so much for having me.

Miguel Sanchez : 1:23

So Richie, I know we've been in contact for a few weeks now, thank you for setting time aside to be with us today. I know you're very busy and. You have a different perspective about education and for reasons that we're gonna cover in a few moments. But before we start, Richie, tell me about your, your life during your high school years. What did that look like? What did you grow up?

Richie Mejia: 1:46

Yeah, definitely. To start off. like we mentioned before, my name is Richie Mejia, real name is Richard, but been going by Richie since I was probably, about three meters high. Five years old, years old. I grew up in Clifton, New Jersey, which is located in Passaic County. I like to say I wasn't born in the best circumstances. where I live specifically was a little bit more urban compared to the other side, of Clifton. Where you would see, big houses, yards and all this. I lived in more so of a, an apartment for. Some time of my life before transitioning. for our parents actually bought their first home and we moved literally, I like to say across the street into a nice home that we still have today. so from there on, we actually, for me, I hated school growing up. I hated the idea that I would go to school and then I would come home. to my parents, making me do more schoolwork, making sure I was doing the best I could I. remember specifically when Iwhenever, I would have a spelling test. And my mom, she would know, she would make me write down every single word over a hundred times until I got it right. And then she would test me and then she'd say, if it's not right, you're if you're not getting a hundred, then it's not good enough. Um, and that's kind of the mentality you have and it's set with you from the time you're five years old up until, the time I am now, which is 25. for me, high school was especially challenging. I was a student athlete, so I paid, I played, lacrosse, I played football track and field. so for me, I was more so focused on athletics for a time. and there was a specific moment for me where I had a teacher basically tell me, I wouldn't amount to anything in life. And So for me, it hit hard. You are a junior and hearing this From someone who's supposed to be a professional. whose space is supposed to be a mentor to you. For me, that was a shock. I remember telling my parents, oh, I'm gonna drop out. I don't wanna go back to school. And I remember my parents being angry with me saying, that's not the path you should take continuing school.

Miguel Sanchez : 3:59

I'm glad you shared this with us because not that it happened to you, that you had a negative experience at one point, but that, and this is part of the why we are doing this podcast, is because there are pivotal moments in our life where we can be. Carried it out or carried it away by the negativity, You mentioned, Felician University where you attended how was that process though? Did you visit other colleges? Did you just. Know that you were gonna Felician University, how was that process of choosing the university you attended?

Richie Mejia: 4:36

So for me, my senior year of high school we had something called a dual enrollment program. Something that at the time they offered and they still do. It was a great opportunity for me to take some classes along with my community college, which was Passaic county community college, I. ended up taking two classes. And I, I like to say this, I graduated like on a Thursday I think, and on the Friday I was already in college classes. and so for me it was always that immense pressure and motivation for my parents to keep on going forward. I know having my sister, my older sister was one of the first to go in college with my family. she went to community college and then she went to Felicia University. and for me to take a few classes at PCCC and then finally transitioned to the full on university life Felician, it felt almost natural. more so because my sister had attended before and she already had these connections at the university and I said, I might as well go. We're somewhere to a place where there is already a great connection. and There's already great things that I'm hearing about. my sister Ley is a great advisor to me Say, Hey, take this class, take this class, take this professor, it was like having a second advisor. when I had actually applied, that was, I believe that's the only school I really applied to, because I was committed. I was, saying, I'm gonna go to Felician because my sister went there and we all have this competitive. competitive. edge. sister went there, I went there. My younger sister currently goes there, so it's all more so well, who's who's trying to do better, who accomplished more in their time there. Um, I think my little sister might be beating us out right now.

Miguel Sanchez : 6:19

What, what was your vision? previous guests come and said, I wanted to be a lawyer. I wanted to be a doctor. What did that look like for you? What was your initial interest, career-wise?

Richie Mejia: 6:28

So coming in, I still have this passion for me. I wanted to study law. I wanted to go to law school. but unfortunately at the time the only path for me was to major in something that I believed would help me out. In that case, I majored in business administration and I graduated fairly young. I believe I was 20, 20 years old or 21 years old, I remember saying, well, what's a 2020 1-year-old gonna do in law school? Is that gonna be a little bit weird? I remember visiting a few and saying to myself, well, this might not be it. I saw the average age was more so like 27, 28. now it has obviously changed, but at the time I was saying to myself, you know what? The bills are gonna be high. I had seen how much tuition is ranging from as little as 23,000 to as much as$75,000. And I I can't afford That. My next best option was for me was to get a master's degree. So while I was at Felician, I had done some research on some master's degrees and MBA The perspective of just getting one, the job opportunities that could come with the cost effectiveness was basically there. And I said to myself, well, how am I gonna pay for grad school? That's The biggest question. How am I gonna pay for this? luckily for me, I had a few. great professors and staff members at the university who told me about all these great things. They told me about what a graduate assistant is. graduate assistants get their graduate school paid as well as a stipend at many schools across the country, and I told myself, this is perfect for me. I can work at the university, learn the ropes of things in and out, And then also study and get paid. So for me that was the best of both options. I stayed as a graduate assistant for one year working in the School of Education, uh, working on accreditation as well. as anything that had pertaining to school of education initiatives, for example, collecting data on assessments, edTPAs practice scores, all these types of initiatives. We were doing in the school of Ed. for me it was absorbing that knowledge. Working directly With the Dean of School education the Associate Dean of Education. I like to say this. they did the trial and error, so they could tell me what they did right and what they did wrong. That way in my Future I don't also have to go through those trial and errors. Honestly, everyone goes through their own trial and errors, but I was lucky enough to observe that. Absorb it and then say, okay, if this didn't work at this at this particular moment. then it might not work for whatever I'm trying to do. So I already know it doesn't work. Lemme try to pivot and find a different idea that might work

Miguel Sanchez : 9:22

and you'll be surprised how, years later what you've been learning. We will come back when I was doing my research about you, one of the things that really caught my eye when I, uh, when I was looking into your profile, couple years ago you sworn in as member of the Clifton Board of Education. And you also mentioned that you were not a big fan of school, that, you know, you struggled a little bit in school. So how did that happen? How did that interest in, joining the school board start?

Richie Mejia: 9:47

Yeah, so definitely I'm talking outta my own perspective. and not like on behalf of the board, but Basically, when I was first starting off, like I mentioned before, I wasn't always the biggest fan of school. I. but when after I had finished my undergraduate degree, and I was, as I was working in the school of education at my university, I realized how important education is In terms of wanting to grow your perspective, wealth over generations in terms of wanting to become a better person in terms of wanting to gain more respect from individuals. It was a holistic view for myself because I said, Well, the school system almost failed me. As I mentioned before, there was a teacher, who basically said I wouldn't amount to anything and I know my story isn't unique. I know there are millions of kids across the United States who probably heard the same thing, and at that time I said, I don't want any student to ever feel the same way I felt that day, that whole year. You know when I had graduated I. gave a speech as the senior president, and I remember standing up there talking to the crowd and saying, if only this teacher could see me now, I could get a little emotional, but I I refused not to. And then when I got my master's degree in the mail, I remember, jumping up and down, telling my older sister, look, I did it. For me, it was definitely a little emotional. because having been in that position, being told that, hey, you wouldn't amount to anything, and now I have my undergraduate degree, I have a master's degree, hopefully I'm gonna be doing a doctorate degree. soon. for me, this was, Allegria, felt so happy. I felt like I was on top of the world. And honestly, everyone has their own ups and downs And for me that was very inspirational. going back to the point where I didn't want any other student to feel that way. And I know it is almost impossible to have that reality. Every student is gonna feel some sort of way. and I like to say you take every day at a time. If it doesn't affect you in five years from now, don't stress more than at least five minutes right now everything changes, Time goes on, time changes. you have to pivot every day. Every day is a new day Today. You might wanna be a lawyer tomorrow, maybe you wanna be a doctor. And after I this was probably the the worst Three months, of three to four months of my life where it was just me campaigning, knocking on doors, talking to people, explaining what my vision was about who I am. Remember at that time I was still pretty young. You know, people don't usually take young people seriously. And I believe after having spiel what I was about, who I was, what I had done, a lot of people gained confidence in me. And for me, that was a bigger motivation, that they have the same ideas I do. They believe in what I can do here for the community in general, And it was just knocking doors. Talking to people people, slamming doors. I don't want to talk to You the usual things that happen, for me, I had a great support system in my family and my sisters who would help me out every day, I. No matter what, we were tired knocking a hundred doors. Well guess what? There's another door next door let's knock on it and it was basically from 9:00 AM up until in the summer, the sun sets a little bit later people are out. I like to say on the. block. So 11:00 PM there's still people outside whether they're in their yard. So I'd be knocking on doors saying, Hey, would you, my name is Richard Mejia, would you, mind supporting me for this year's race? and sometimes I was met with with that negativity. Sometimes I was met with positivity, but at the end of the day, you just gotta keep on moving forward.

Miguel Sanchez : 14:04

one of the things that you mentioned that, um. Really caught my attention is as you are going and you, as you were going and knocking on these doors, there's another door. And that is such a great advice that you can apply not just for campaigning, but also in life, right? As you go through trials, as you go through hardships. Yeah. But there's still an opportunity to do this one more. And so I'm glad you're bringing this up. And so in the process of the campaign and getting people behind you. what are some of the challenges that came up in convincing people that you didn't anticipate?

Richie Mejia: 14:40

They were asking, well, hey, you are only 22, 21 at the time. How am I going to fully put my confidence in you that you will more? So keep your word to the things that, that you wouldn't want to change in the school systems. I like to say this age sometimes is almost irrelevant. I would say as long as you have great intentions in what you're doing a great sense of, urgency, I believe no matter what, you'll all be always be able to accomplish what you want to accomplish This is what I've done for the past four years. I turned myself around completely. I believe in the educational system. I've worked in the school of education system. I know things frontwards and backwards. And then after hearing how knowledgeable I was and how passionate I was, for it, most of them were saying, well, you know what? I agree with you You have my support. And then some honestly, I like to say, no matter what you say, you could tell them you're giving them the best of the best Some people just I. disagree. and that is the reality. there's gonna be people who agree, there's gonna be people who com compromise with you and then there's gonna be people who completely disagree with whatever you're gonna say. And I think it is hard for a person to fully comprehend that because me and you are thinking, well, they might come into fruition. They might think, okay, we can compromise on something, but some people just can't. And that is the hard reality that sometimes you need to face. And it is hard because you self contemplate and say, well, how come they don't understand my viewpoints? How come they don't understand this is to benefit not just the students but the community? I like to say this. um, there's a quote about planting trees and the tree takes forever to grow and you never see the shade of that tree. You wanna be able to plant that seed so that even after you are gone. That That shade remains there for years to come, for generations even. And I believe people don't understand that I. You wanna be able to build a foundation that lasts not just this year, not just next year, but the next 10 to 20 years. And hopefully someone more innovative comes in and finds other innovative things to add to whatever we already have built.

Miguel Sanchez : 17:09

How was election day? How was waiting for the results? And were you home with your parents, with your family? How did you find out you had been elected and what did that look like?

Richie Mejia: 17:19

Yeah, so for me, everyone was asking me, Hey, Richie, are, are we doing a party? Are we celebrating? What are we doing? And I said to myself. I don't know if we even won yet. Election day was tough. Waking up early, Talking to people at different schools, telling them, Hey, this is me. even if you do not know who I am, this is a quick spiel on who I am. This is why you should vote for me. I. and at times there was challenges. I remember I ran against a lot of people. There was an incumbent, which is someone who was already on the board, running for their seat again. and I'm thinking, these, these, are all professional people. They all have great years of experience. They're all great candidates, in my opinion. They were all great candidates. what differentiates me from them, and it's so little. There's only so little that was different from all of us, I believe. It was not so nerve wracking. I don't think I get a lot of jitters, but it was more so of that uncertainty thinking, will I make it, will I not? If I don't make it, I could do it again next year. and That's okay. I had no issue with that. and if I do make it, well, what's next? It continues. The fight just keeps on going on. And so after all that, around 8:00 PM There was people saying, well, you can go in while they count the votes, and then you can kind of tally it for yourself. And I go inside and I'm like, okay, It looked, I basically won this specific building. Which was my hometown, my homeschool school, number 12. And I said, all right, I did really good here. And people are saying, well, I think you did just as good at the other schools as well. And And I say, well, ho, hopefully that's true. Hopefully that's true. I remember walking back with my parents to our house, which is only about 15 minutes away. And I said, well, I'm gonna take a quick nap. I was just gonna fall asleep and wake up the next day and then I get calls from different people every, somehow, some way everyone in the city of Clifton got ahold of my, phone number. They're calling me. Hey, where are we? where are we, partying? Where's, Where's the food? where's where's it happening? I'm like, I'm like, what are you talking about? I just woke up. You won. And I'm thinking to myself, oh my, I'm winning. So I, I look up the, election results and I see that, okay, I'm a little bit of ahead right now, There's another person neck and neck with me. I'm not gonna say I won because I'm not a hundred percent sure if I won. So then. next day, I think around 1:00 AM 2:00 AM I got more calls saying, no, it's finished. You definitely won. And I said, well, I don't wanna say that I won, if I don't know a hundred percent that I won. So I waited a week until I announced that I had officially won, after they counted all the votes, mail-in ballot, ballots, provisional ballots, all these other things. And I told myself, all right, now's the time to announce that I had officially won. But That's how my night went. And every time I tell people This is how it went, they're like, oh, you should have been partying. But the thing is, like I mentioned before everyone was such a great candidate. Anyone had a chance at winning that specific spot. So it was almost like you can't prepare for winning. If you do not know a hundred percent if you want. You don't wanna celebrate too early and then outta nowhere at 1:00 AM turns out you are last place. So that's another thing I didn't wanna do, but for me it was more so like making sure I had actually, won. and at the end of the day, if I didn't win, I would start my campaign again for the, for the following year.

Miguel Sanchez : 21:02

How many years? How many, I'm sorry? How many years is the, uh, the, seat?

Richie Mejia: 21:06

the the, term is about three years. It is three years, but if you, you know, if you run one year and you don't win, you can always run again the following year. So I remember telling my mom, you know, if it doesn't happen, then we could do it again next year. and if that doesn't happen, we can do it again the year after that. And I remember hearing it from other people as well. who had done races before and they said. If you don't win, don't take anything negative from it. Take this as not a loss, but as a learning opportunity to learn the things you did, what you could improve on, and it said you're correct. You're right. the only thing you could do is move forward. You can't go backwards. The only thing you could do is move forward and learn from what you had done in the past to improve the things you wanna do next time. Um, And for me that I think that was top five best moments of my life so far. but then the swearing in day was another great moment. My older sister held the Bible for me as I got sworn in, and for me it was very, I don't think it was an emotional day, but it was more so of a day full of happiness. Having my family, friends, a few mentors, a few professors of mine there as well. It was just a fantastic event. I remember when we all stood up for a photo, almost everybody in the meeting room was there for the photo with myself and I. remember it was such a great feeling. definitely top five moments of my life.

Miguel Sanchez : 22:37

That's fantastic. What are the biggest challenges for first generation students?

Richie Mejia: 22:41

the biggest one is coming in with no network. When you come, in, many of. us don't know a lick of anything. What to Major, in, what I wanna do, do I need any special certifications in order to get the job I want? Are there things in between that I need to do before I finally get to my final destination? And the other thing, you know, the the money. A lot of us don't have much money in terms of resources that we are able to dispose to, get ahold of these other great resources. and then the foundational support. Many of us don't have the foundational support at home. I know many of us, our parents are saying, well, you gotta keep working. You gotta keep working. I am working. you know, you just don't understand how hard it is To, be doing a calculus class. I don't know about you. I had to take a religious class to take a reading class. it, it it takes a lot on somebody. and our parents didn't go to college, They don't know just how hard it might be for them. It looks like, hey, you're just working on your computer. But in reality, a million things are running through the back of your mind. and for me, when I started working in admissions, it was making sure that I I was able to communicate these things to prospective Students Students coming, well, what do I need to do in order to become a nurse? Well, you need some major in nursing. You need to take a special test called the N Class exam. You got get these many credits in order to graduate. You need to take these classes. And these are things that not everyone is always told. You just go into college assuming you already know things. But the truth is most of us don't know anything that's Going on. Going back to the confidence thing that you were saying before, a lot of us don't have as much confidence to ask those questions. We don't have the confidence to go ask financial aid, Hey, I'm being charged$5,000. Can you explain to me why I'm being charged with this? some people just, let it happen. And it has a lot to do with not knowing the environment. We weren't raised in these types of environments. com compared to somebody who's, both of parents went to college and know the ins and outs. for example, I believe our children, when they finally go to college, will be able to navigate them easily because of our experiences that we've run through. And these are experiences that are unique to us because we learned them firsthand. So it's gonna be a little bit better when we finally teach our kids all these new things. But these are all things we didn't have compared to students who have had parents and generations of people going to college.

Miguel Sanchez : 25:33

first generation student, it's not limited to background or ethnicity. it's across the board. And I think that's one of the ways that we can have shared experiences that. You know, should unite us. So talking about the network, I wanna touch on, mentors. Uh, I know you mentioned mentors during the celebration. So gimme an example of how should a first gen student think about mentors?

Richie Mejia: 25:57

I don't think I've ever asking anyone If you could be my mentor, I think that connection is just mutual. for me, I had Dr. Quaia, great person. for me, he really helped navigate my classes. He told me what I should take in order to become a lawyer taking an LSAT exam, visiting, law schools, making sure I had everything in order to make sure I was in law school. And then I had a regular advisor who was mostly for my major. I had a few throughout the year, so professor, Huey, professor Tory, Dr. Scardino, all great people who helped me. Navigate my classes and see what I actually wanted to do in life. But I had one specific, two specific people who helped me out in immensely. one of them named Christina, another one named, Uma. both of them, worked in student engagement. So for me it was I was involved with student government, so we automatically had that connection and I looked up to them. at that time, they were probably around the same age I am right now. And I'm thinking to myself, wow, they are extremely success successful. they're both directors here at the university. They're young, they're helping out students in a ways I could only imagine. And I said to myself, these are people I want to be. loved. I like to say she is Uma specifically. she's the reason why I ended up being in higher education. I know right now I believe she works. at another college now, But for me, having her teach me the ropes of navigating school, navigating extracurriculars, um, pointed me in the right direction. Helping advocate for myself as well. For me, these are things that aren't always offered to everybody because you never ask, you never get that connection with a faculty me member or a staff member. And then another one for me would have been my bosses. I had, I would say all my bosses were terrific. I was doing my graduate assistantship, I was working for the the dean and the associate dean as well as the office manager of the department. And each one of them had unique perspectives of what they had been through in life. And I would always ask them, well, what would you do in this case? And they would give examples of what they had done. And I said, thank you for letting me know. I know what, And. for them they were great. Always helping me in terms of networking, how to look for jobs, being great references for me. Um, and then finally, I think, again, I graduated super early, so I went into the workplace a little bit earlier than, usual. so while I was still doing my degree, I was working full-time And while working in admissions, I looked to my boss as well as another great resource for me. She was also young also successful in what she was doing. and I said to myself, well, this is something I wanna do a little bit long term. I need to see what they're doing right and maybe mimic it a little bit and hopefully be as successful as them someday.

Miguel Sanchez : 29:20

That's great. One of the things that you mentioned, and I was listening another colleague talking about questions, And if you're looking for a mentor, sometimes just asking a question, but a well-crafted question, right? A question that shows interests in the other person, not only in about them, but also about the work they do. That's one of the ways that can lead to these mentorship relationships. what does the, what does the future look like for you? I know you talked about maybe a doctorate. I, I think I see a lot of lawyer in you. and we can talk offline about some of the, opportunities that might be out there, but what does that look like? What is the future for you?

Richie Mejia: 29:56

I mentioned this to my mom last night, I wanna be a dean, or at least an assistant vice president or vice president by the time I'm 30 years old. and she said. As you know, um, get ready, like get on it, you know, prepare yourself now. So I looked in the future, hopefully in the next three to four years in a position like that. More so specifically maybe student affairs, maybe academic affairs. I see myself in those roles. more. Hopefully it does come to fruition, sooner rather than later, in my opinion. But I would definitely love to continue in in higher education. I do plan on taking some courses in a doctor degree, program I. for educational leadership, perhaps maybe in higher education even. And then, you know, as years go on, I do wanna go to law school. That is definitely still in my future. and I know I'm still relatively young. I have all the time in the world to go back to law school. I remember taking my LSAT and there is a person who was about maybe 50, 60 years old taking his LSA exam as well. And I said, Hey, I have all the time in the world I could switch my careers later on in life and come back if I wanted to, but I do wanna do that. Ultimately though, I want to be a university president. I don't know if it's in me yet. It's definitely way down the road, but perhaps going back to my alma mater one day, that would be my dream. Probably become the President of Felician University one day. I would love to be in a position like that one day. but I know that's not soon. I know it comes with time, it comes with patience. and It comes with years of experience, so hopefully it does.

Miguel Sanchez : 32:00

And so to end, Richard, in the beginning of the episode, you mentioned that you had a particular person who, um, was not particularly optimistic and said some things about you If you can go back in time to that moment and talk to yourself, what would you say

Richie Mejia: 32:20

It's hard at the time. You don't know what was gonna happen. five years ago, I wouldn't have imagined myself in this position I am in today. So if I were to go back, I think my younger self would probably laugh, be like, what are you talking about? We've made it this far. Like what? Me, me, Richie Mejia, we made it there. I would probably tell him, take it easy, take it a day at a time. Your family is always there to support you no matter what. and keep on pushing.

Miguel Sanchez : 32:53

Well, Richard, I don't think there's any other way we can end this episode. I appreciate your time. I appreciate your wisdom. Such a young person with, uh, with words of encouragement, but also with high confidence, which is really necessary to navigate the challenges that come to us. Thank you for listening. Richard. Thank you for being here with us today.