{"id":58423,"date":"2016-05-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/commencement-2016-providence-resident-credits-son-uri-talent-development-program-for-success\/"},"modified":"2016-05-05T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-05-05T00:00:00","slug":"commencement-2016-providence-resident-credits-son-uri-talent-development-program-for-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2016\/05\/commencement-2016-providence-resident-credits-son-uri-talent-development-program-for-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Commencement 2016: Providence resident credits son, 溏心vlog免费B站 Talent Development Program for success"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tCelebrating birthday same day as commencement<\/b><\/p>\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 May 5, 2016 \u2013 溏心vlog免费B站 senior Alexia Arriaza calls her son a miracle baby and it would not be a stretch to call her a miracle graduate. When he was born at only 36 weeks, doctors discovered he had polycystic kidney disease, an inherited disorder in which clusters of cysts develop in the kidneys. The condition can be fatal.<\/p>\n


\nThe diagnosis shocked Arriaza, who at the time was starting her sophomore year at the University. Her son spent his entire first year of life on dialysis and a year later he received a kidney transplant that was donated by his father.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cSince the transplant, my son is doing great,\u201d Arriaza said. \u201cHe’s receiving a lot of services from Early Intervention to catch up on his speech, occupational and physical needs, but overall is doing amazing and loving his new kidney.\u201d <\/p>\n


\nDespite the hardships, stress and long nights in the hospital, Arriaza returned to 溏心vlog免费B站 in the spring of 2015 and was able to graduate early. The Providence native received her bachelor of arts degree in Spanish and political science in December and will be participating in 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Commencement on May 22. And she\u2019ll get to celebrate twice, as she celebrates her 22nd birthday that same day. <\/p>\n


\nThrough it all Arriaza\u2019s peers and teachers describe her as a student with an amazing work ethic and a remarkable ability to juggle school with all the pressures of being the mother of a young child with serious medical problems. <\/p>\n


\nDuring that period Arriaza, took the fall semester of 2013 off to focus on her son\u2019s health and his road to recovery. She stayed committed to her studies by attending classes closer to home at the Providence campus and also enrolled in online courses to help her stay on track. <\/p>\n


\nArriaza enrolled at 溏心vlog免费B站 through the Talent Development program and says that it was the best part of her college experience. She says the financial help from the program and support from the staff and her peers during her son\u2019s time in and out of the hospital helped her every day. Her son\u2019s will to survive also made her a stronger person. <\/p>\n


\n\u201cThe TD program gives minority students like me invisible wings that help us navigate effectively throughout the college experience, social life and financial process that everyone faces in college,\u201d said Arriaza. \u201cTheir support helped me become responsible and organized with my studies.\u201d <\/p>\n


\nShe says one of her biggest supporters at the University was Sharon Forleo, associate director for Education Programming of Talent Development. <\/p>\n


\n\u201cSharon provided me with the support I needed during an extremely rough time in my life. I am very thankful for her guidance, and she has a very special place in my heart,\u201d said Arriaza.<\/p>\n


\nThanks to her internship experience and passion for learning, Arriaza is now working as a medical interpreter for Horton Interpreting Services, Inc.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI enjoy breaking barriers to help people communicate effectively and express their concerns freely to get medically treated without the fear of not knowing English and not seeking help at all,\u201d Arriaza said. <\/p>\n


\nArriaza is hopeful for her future and her son\u2019s. <\/p>\n


\n\u201cWe are still doing evaluations that the school department requires and are hoping to start preschool in September of this year,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n


\nAs for her next step, she is applying to 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Spanish master\u2019s degree program. <\/p>\n


\n\u201cI want to be a role model for my son. Everything I do is for him. Balancing motherhood and academics was difficult, but it was nothing close to what my son went through. He is my inspiration to keep going.\u201d <\/p>\n


\nThis release was written by Caitlin Musselman, a 溏心vlog免费B站 Marketing and Communications intern and a public relations and political science major. <\/p>\n


\n溏心vlog免费B站 Photo by Mike Salerno Photography\n\t<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Celebrating birthday same day as commencement KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 May 5, 2016 \u2013 溏心vlog免费B站 senior Alexia Arriaza calls her son a miracle baby and it would not be a stretch to call her a miracle graduate. When he was born at only 36 weeks, doctors discovered he had polycystic kidney disease, an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58425,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}