School of Writing, Literature, and Film alumna Joselyne Tellez uses her life experience and master’s degree to connect with students from marginalized communities.
Joselyne Tellez
By Katie Livermore, CLA Student Writer - October 23, 2024
Growing up as a Mexican-American in Beaverton, Joselyne Tellez, MA ‘24, felt overlooked in the classroom. Now, with a master’s degree in rhetoric, writing, and culture under her belt, she uses her position as an academic advisor at the School of Education to encourage students to achieve their dreams–even if they feel the odds are against them.
Tellez was born in Los Angeles, California, in a prominently Latino community. The first language she learned was Spanish, which she’d speak more than English. When she was three-years-old, she moved to Oregon following her father’s job opportunity.
“I grew up in a neighborhood surrounded by my family,” Tellez said. “Family is really, really big for me, and it was really hard for me growing up, once we moved to Oregon. We were the only ones out here.”
Later on, Tellez’s parents separated and her father moved to Chicago. Her single mother worked to support the family and Tellez picked up the slack of caring for her younger brother and sister.
“As the oldest, I felt like I carried a really big burden on my shoulders to care for my siblings,” Tellez said. “My mom always told us that education was so important and I had the biggest dreams. As a kid, I was like, ‘I'm gonna be the first female president. Then going to school and having teachers tell me, ‘oh, you're not good enough’ and just feeling like I wasn't adequate with my peers, I developed a pretty negative experience.”
In just seventh grade, Tellez visited a Latinx college fair at a local community college. Professors and administrators from the college sat Tellez and her group in a circle and shared statistics of what often happened to Latinos in higher education.
“They went around the room and pointed at us saying, ‘you're gonna drop out because of x,’ ‘you're gonna drop out because of y,’” Tellez said.
They pointed at Tellez and said she’d drop out due to teen pregnancy. Immediately after, she felt defeated. She was labeled with a future before she even had a chance to prove anyone wrong.
“It was to make the point that ‘oh, not this many Latinos will go to college or even graduate high school,’” Tellez said. “Already having a negative relationship with school, having that really solidified that there are so many things against me. Why am I even trying?”
At home, Tellez couldn’t get help from her mother, who worked full-time. In school, Tellez didn’t feel like teachers cared about her education–all but one. Though nothing seemed to get through to Tellez, her homeroom teacher finally started to break through to her at the end of her freshman year. She related to the feeling of having no support system and encouraged Tellez to find it within herself to work harder.
This led to a shift in gears during her sophomore year, when she finally started to believe in herself. Despite high school counselors saying she’d never earn a scholarship with her grades, that didn’t stop her. She enrolled in AP classes to boost her GPA to override her freshman year.
Tellez began to truly appreciate her identity, seeking out social activism and multicultural groups during her sophomore year of high school. Learning that others felt the same way about not feeling supported in school, she didn’t feel as isolated anymore.
“We were all in it together,” Tellez said. “I started learning more about college and started getting invested again and realizing that, yeah, there are barriers, but that I wasn't doomed.”
At just 16-years-old, Tellez began working after school to help her mother buy groceries and save for college with her newfound motivation for education. Eventually, she found it difficult to work after school, so she spent her weekends working 12-hour shifts instead.
“It was really hard seeing my mom struggle,” Tellez said. “That's another part that motivated me to continue going to school.”
Ever since she could remember, Tellez dreamed of becoming President of the United States. Since many politicians start out in law, she decided to pursue a career in the justice system.Learning about the pre-law program at University of Oregon during her sophomore year of high school, Tellez worked to earn grades high enough to receive a full-ride scholarship for Oregon residents majoring in pre-law studies.
“I also ended up adding a few other things to my degree,” Tellez said. “When I got to college, I loved English and I took an English class as an elective. It was Chicano literature and I fell in love.”
Tellez didn’t just stop there. In the end, she graduated with degrees in political science and English with minors in legal studies and anthropology.
At UO, Tellez worked in the student orientation program and Office of Admissions as a multicultural ambassador, where she spoke to marginalized groups about college. She often told students that were like her, feeling like the odds were stacked against them, that they could pursue college.
“I've always loved doing that work,” Tellez said. “I did that throughout my entire four years.”
Upon graduation, Tellez decided against applying to law school. Instead, she considered graduate school, on the path to another English degree. At last, Tellez felt she found the perfect match: OSU. Her professor, Ana Ribero, was ultimately the one who convinced Tellez to join the program. She credits Ribero for success in her studies.
“Oregon State University was a no-brainer,” Tellez said. “The master's program was fully-funded, and close by, so I applied and met with a faculty member.”
She was accepted into the Master of Arts in Rhetoric, Writing, and Culture program in the School of Writing, Literature, and Film. In her first year, Tellez was nominated for a fellowship that only two graduate students receive each year–and ended up receiving it.
“That was really, really exciting,” Tellez said. “I went from someone who didn't think college was for them, was told I would never get scholarships, to being nominated.”
Out of her classes, Tellez loved Intro to Literacy Studies (WR 595) and Critical Race Feminism (ES 575) the most. She even taught English Composition (WR 121) as part of her master’s degree program, teaching students college-level writing.
As a master’s student, Tellez completed a thesis titled Uncovering the Shadows: The Politics of Migrant Visuality on a subject in which she became very passionate about–the theory of the non-image. In her study, she analyzed how former president Donald Trump evoked the image of a migrant child to portray other immigrants as dangerous criminals. She discussed the idea of “coyotes,” those who smuggle immigrants over the U.S. border, and the obscurity of others’ perceptions of them.
“Trump, in evoking the image of the migrant child, was trying to paint a narrative of the immigration crisis as a whole,” Tellez said. “I was really intrigued by that idea, and like how he was using, again, the image of a suffering child to, kind of like portray other migrants as dangerous, as criminal.”
During spring term of 2024, Tellez stumbled upon a job listing for an academic adviser in OSU’s College of Education, working with prospective and first-year students. With her studies and experiences, she realized it would be a great opportunity to intersect all the subjects she loves. Just three weeks before graduation, she found out she got the job.
This summer, she’s been working to help first-year students with their schedules and answering questions from prospective students. Above all, she always tells students that they are worthy and can achieve their dreams of attending college.
“It’s so fulfilling for me to help students,” Tellez said. “I want to be the support I ended up having, but wish I had throughout my high school experience.”