KENNEWICK-- For thousands of Latinos, high school is about more than just making the grade, it's about learning the language. Many of them don't know where to start when it comes to making long term plans. That's where programs like “Opening the Doors to the Future” come in. The Kennewick School District has been working the weekends to get both students and parents up to speed.

Cecilia Guillen is a mentor to Latino students at Kennewick High School, helping them prepare for college and beyond. She has a simple message for them.

“Yes, it's difficult, yest it's hard, but it can be done,” she said.

She helped organize the workshop so students and their families could to talk to Latino professionals about how to continue their education and succeed in this country.

Senior Karen Pacheco also helped organize the event, but unlike the other students, she isn't here with her parents. Her mother passed away when she was 13 years old and her father was unable to care for her, so she and her sister made the trip from Mexico in search of a brighter future.

“When I came here, I didn't know any English, only please and thank you,” she said with a smile. Within three months she was in all-English courses and excelling academically.

“We might get educated, but our parents are not, so it's very difficult for us to tell our parents that we want to go to college when they don't even know nothing about it,” she said. “They never went to college and some didn't even go to high school.”

Now Pacheco is working and going to school full-time, and has big plans for the future. She says she will enroll at Columbia Basin College next year and continue on to Washington State University. She is hopeful that fellow Latinos will work hard to take advantage of a Washington law that allows undocumented students to go to college for in-state tuition rates and get academic scholarships. Only nine states have such laws, but that does not make illegal immigrants immune from deportation if they are caught by immigration authorities.

“For us it's difficult, because we have to have perfect grades to go to college,” she said. “Some of the other students might not have perfect grades, but at least they have the support from their parents and the government.”

Gil Leal is a CBC graduate and patrol officer at Hanford. He overcame similar obstacles when he arrived in the United States as a teenager. He has now returned as a panel speaker to offer students advice.

“They are going to face a lot of barriers, they're going to face a lot of difficulties,” he said. “I'm trying to get them to go to school, to stay in school, to go to CBC or any other college, to get their degree and get a better job.”

These Latinos who have overcome the odds will not forget where they came from, or the people who helped them achieve their success. Now that Pacheco is caught up, she's made it a priority to help new arrivals.

“I love to help other students, and when they do learn English and move on, let's remember how we felt when we were new here, and come back and help the others,” she said.