Ludivina Calderón immigrated to the United States from Zacatecas, Mexico in August of 1980 at
the age of 13. The 6th of 9 children, she was soon enrolled at Weld Central Junior High School in
Keenesburg, Colorado. As a student, Ludivina tried her best to do well in school. However, as
new immigrants to a country much different than their own, Ludivina and her family faced many
challenges. For Ludivina, one of the greatest challenges was overcoming the language barrier in
school. Consequently, she became discouraged and dropped out of school. She went to work at
Tagawa Greenhouse Enterprises in Brighton, Colorado where she would remain a faithful
employee throughout the following 25 years.
During those years, Ludivina married and started her family. She was happy with her life but
always lamented not graduating from school. One day she heard about a program called Rocky
Mountain SER, which provides financial support to individuals of migrant and seasonal
farmworker families wishing to further their education. She decided to apply for this program
and was accepted. Rocky Mountain SER then referred Ludivina to BUENO HEP where she
successfully earned her GED in 2008. Upon earning her GED, she was admitted to the CAMP
cohort for the 2008-09 academic school year. Having completed her first year of college through
CAMP, Ludivina wanted to continue pushing forward with her education and, once again, Rocky
Mountain SER agreed to assist her. In May of 2011 Ludivina earned an Associates of Liberal
Arts degree in Elementary Education at AIMS Community College in Greeley.
When offered the opportunity to work with Rocky Mountain SER following her graduation,
Ludivina did not have to give it a lot of thought. Going to work as a field representative for
Rocky Mountain SER would give her the opportunity to give back and help others take
advantage of the same opportunities which helped her achieve her dream. Currently, Ludivina
continues to work for Rocky Mountain SER in the project’s Greeley office.
Now a mother of three and the proud grandmother of two, Ludivina looks back at these past
years with great pride and satisfaction, “I am very fortunate and blessed to have been part of
these wonderful programs. Their help allowed me to achieve success in my life.”
We are so proud that Ludivina is a BUENO HEP + BUENO CAMP alumna and that she is
helping others in her life’s work!